ATG only?

[rdangelo]

I am of the coarse beard, wimpy skin species. Combine that with cleft chin, and you can bet shaving is not a walk in the park for me. Enter trad. wetshaving, and obviously it's gotten infinitely better in the past year and a half.

Now, I don't generally like to shave really close seven days a week. I generally skip at least one day on the weekend unless I have a big gig I need to look sharp for, and even then, unshaven with a tux can look decent. Anyway, a couple days a week I get lazy and bust out a decent brushless cream or just something cheap. Then I do a one pass shave, rinse with warm, then wet, water, slap on some aftershave, and to the office I go. Most guys seem to do the WTG-ATG sequence, maybe with an XTG thrown in at the end for extra closeness. I've found that even though there are whiskers in the basin with WTG, the lack of closeness renders it essentially useless - why even bother?

So I figure, why not just start with ATG? I've done it a few times lately, and it seems to work fine. I relather with the brush, squeezing out the inner brush goop, and go XTG, and I've gotten DFS's without wasting any time going with the damn grain.

Anyone relate to this? Or is this pretty standard for you guys?

Thanks!

[grouse79]

Only do ATG on my cheeks my last pass. No way could do it straight off. I didn't do that even with the Mach3 and gel. Heavy growth needing daily mowing down minimum is 1 WTG and 1 XTG to be presentable.

[redwing]

i just started trying this - atg then some touch ups; alot quicker, but i still do the 3 pass techniques 4-5 times a week;

[Owens187]

All ATG, all the time! I never bother with the WTG and XTG passes, on my head or face, and never have any razor burn issues. I guess my skin is just able to "take it". :^)

ATG--->BBS--->Done!

[csmorris]

With a cart and canned goop I always used to do one pass ATG. With DE, SE or my shavette I always go WTG then ATG, sometimes with touch up. I thing the extra passes are mostly because I now actually enjoy shaving and like the extra passes.

[sirleanalot]

I can't go ATG comfortably even after WTG and a couple of XTGs. Maybe its insufficient prep or maybe I just haven't found the optimum blade-razor-prep combination yet but I dread going ATG and leave it for days when I absolutely must have a superlative shave.

[apino]

Well, I don't have a coarse beard but I've also found WTG is kind of pointless; it means one extra pass and thus more irritation. So straight to ATG it is for me. No doubt my patchy/sparse and medium-light beard makes it easier. If there's any reddening on my neck I tend to do WTG near the adam's apple though. I almost never do WTG otherwise.

ATG works fine with a couple of days' growth which is usually the maximum I go unshaven. If it's been several days, I grab my Philips For Professionals hair trimmer () that I use to shave my head - it cuts everything to stubble length with absolutely no tugging in one single pass meaning it doesn't irritate my skin.

[Eclectic]

For 40 years I have shaved my face mainly WTG, but my lower cheeks/jaw and chin XTG and my neck ATG up towards the jawline.

Nowadays I do this first pass then feel for the remaining stubble with my left hand whilst cutting it with a mix of XTG and ATG till I get the result that I am looking for.

I know someone who 2 pass shaves. First pass vertically down, second pass vertically up. Whatever works for the individual.

I think starting a shave WTG helps because it is easier and so gets you into shaving mode more easily. But ATG removes the stubble more quickly. But you can also mix and match by using an adjustable razor, whereupon the variations become infinite.

[Go West Young Man]

If I don't do 3 preliminary passes before ATG, every single hair will catch, redden and bleed.
Just the way I'm made, I guess.