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One-pass shave?

Does anybody else feel like the less passes you do the better your face feels? I feel like if I could get my technique down to do a good single ATG that would be all I need and have no irritation. Thoughts?
 
My daily goal is BBS or real close to it with no irritation or razor burn. I'm batting between .600 and .750 and I focus on it.

3 passes, light touch always, WTG and Cross Grain first, then selective neck clean up for the 3rd pass.

If I did ATG first, I'd be batting .200--not happy.
 
I think less passes is better for your skin but I would never just do one ATG.

I think you need two passes minimum for a good shave.
 
I should specify that I did an XTG with buffing one-pass today, with a very mild 23c, and found a wonderfully irritation free shave with acceptable closeness (NOT BBS though). Least imitation I've ever had, and by that I mean not even after alum and no visible redness. Haven't tried just one ATG yet though...

I just can't imagine a 4-pass. 3 was bad enough.
 
I would say for my face I do 2 passes - one with the grain and the other against the grain. for my head only one pass. Its not as smooth as my face but no razor bumps - :)
 
The only way i can shave everyday irritation free is to go one-pass, ATG. It works fine and I can finish up in less than half the time which is a big deal for me.
 
I do one ATG pass + touch ups on my scalp when I use my Flare Tip or Slim loaded with a 3 shave or less blade, then 2 passes + touch ups on my beard.

I notice that too many touch ups on my throat can lead to irritation easily.


That formula gives me a daily BBS. Irritation wise, I'm batting about .600 - .750 as someone else mentioned.


I'm also delving a bit more into straights, where I couldn't begin to fathom a one pass shave...
 
Two pass minimal with touch ups for me, but best results with a 3 pass shave on my beard. If I did a 1 pass ATG shave I know I would apply a lot of pressure and probably cut myself while still not getting a good shave. Men with less dense beards probably can get by with a single pass. We all have different beard densities. I've seen some guys that look like they could do a 6 pass daily shave. Five o'clock shadow at 10AM.
 
I can get a decent shave in one pass - enough to look clean-shaven to others.
But it helps if you are shaving every day. That way any missed or poorly shaved areas won't have long before they are corrected.
 
It might work for your beard, but I find that when I decrease the passes I spend more time on touch ups and blade buffing than I would have spent doing an additional pass.
 
2 passes and touchup for a bbs. Ive done 1 pass and get about 75% bbs. Im used to shaving bbs everyday and the last time I missed a day, I had that itchy neck.
 
For decades, I did North-South and after relathering South-North. Now, after I have learned about three passes, I still do two passes, but the second pass is more against-the-grain-minded.
 
I'm typically a two-pass (WTG then mostly XTG with some ATG on pass two) shaver; however, I've done that XTG/ATG pass in one pass before with great concentration and success. For me, the fewer passes the less irritation no matter how light my touch.

Also, my beard isn't thin, it's black and curly. And my gray hairs make it worse. On a scale of 1 (Hugh Grant) to 10 (Jason Statham) I'd give my beard a 7.2. So I don't think thickness deters from my results in a one-pass.

I have a thought, though. Some beards have a much wider variation in direction of growth. The wider the variance, the harder it would be to pull off moving in one direction with consistency.
 

JCinPA

The Lather Maestro
XTG followed by ATG will get me a shave that looks good enough to put on a suit and go to work.

I usually do a WTG/XTG/ATG/touchup (which is almost another full ATG to be honest) simply because I like it and my face tolerates it. For fun, in other words.
 
i would love to do a one-pass shave, but even with 3 passes and touch-ups, my coarse beard would not allow a decent shave!
 
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