I haven't made a single pass ATG since giving up carts. I have very course facial hair And that would be very painful with a DE.
Single pass ATG
- Thread starter Benoni
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I could never get away with this. Even the inclusion of ATG as a third pass has to be done under just the right circumstances with good technique. Otherwise, my face hurts, redness, and lots of these little tiny torn up skin shreds where the skin has been ripped up by the ATG shaving motion.
I was thinking on this myself the other day. My brain works very mechanically and I was trying to understand the mechanical influences of shaving. So what I have so far is leverage and spring tension. The whisker and skin are going to provide a spring tension laying the hair down with the grain. A longer whisker while a better lever will be able to flex more counter acting the spring tension of the skin. A shorter stiffer whisker will lift the skin against the grain, resulting in more pulling of the pore. So in my reasoning the whisker is cut on the same plane but the forces acting on the skin are not as great. I tried a two pass shave this morning with a Fatboy set on seven with a Gillette Seven O'clock blade WTG and ATG. Near BBS on my entire face with very minor irritation. I am guessing that using warm water and open pores helps to soften the skin and whiskers reducing the spring tension and making it more comfortable. I will have to try this again tomorrow. Thanks for the insight.
Same here man, i thought it would save me time. But it didn't. So I always go WTG first.
For me, I can do every pass on my neck and jawline ATG...but if I try this on my face, looks I've been in a fight with a bobcat!
Leaving aside the issue of how the blade cuts the hair, I think you've got a good start to a kinematic model of a shaft of hair. A hair could be approximated as a simple beam that can be stretched in tension (deformed longitudinally or axially,) as well as bent (deformed transversely.) After that, you've sort of gone astray with the mechanics. I'll try and ponder this while I drive home from work tonight!
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I agree with your assessment, and think that these characteristics are what I am thinking of. A longer hair will be able to deform more so the enegy is transferred to the whisker and not the face. Obviously a sharper blade will provide a better cleaving action and less of a deformation. We might be over thinking this.
Depends on the razor for me. Pre-war triangle Tech and I have to go WTG/XTG/ATG/ATG to get to BBS. Feather AS-D2 and that routine made my face horribly irritated. However, omitting the WTG pass actually reduced irritation and allowed me to drop one of the ATG passes. So now it's just XTG>ATG>touchups. So I can see ATG only working for someone easier to shave than me.
First pass ATG, touch up with XTG. The fewer the passes the better!
I don't know why, but I can find the right angle and pressure much better on my atg passes than wtg. I am always tempted to just go straight to a 2 pass atg...but, haven't found the courage just yet. I knock it down with a single wtg, then go for 2 wtg passes.
I used to shave my neck and jawline exclusively ATG when I used cartridges, and I had success with this approach over a many, many years. I've recently switched to DE shaving and for the first three weeks, I've been shaving my neck WTG, XTG and touch ups ATG. This approach (and/or my newbie technique) has led to irritation and razor bumps like I had never seen previously. This morning I shaved my neck with 1 very light pass ATG with a '54 SS and so far I have no redness or irritation whatsoever while getting a DFS. Maybe my neck was used to this approach from my cart years? I'm also thinking fewer passes (1xATG only) = lower risk of razor burn. I, like many, have a sensitive neck area so I'm looking for the right approach. Time will tell, but I will continue to give 1xATG a try unless/until I run into trouble. . .
I can do just about anything to my face, ATG, XTG, WTG..it doesn't matter. However, once I get to the neck it wimps out on me and my skin says NO ATG. If I do, then I get a good bit of irritation and the ALUM bloc lets me know it.
This is interesting. I've tried the 1xATG approach with my neck and my wire hair doesn't like it. I can instantly feel the pulling and tugging. I'm using Astra SP blades so maybe I need sharper blades to attempt this.
The traditional 3 pass tears my neck up as well. I've been experimenting with doing atg, xtg and touch up with better results and as close a shave. I may try xtg, atg but if I keep my technique improving atg xtg should work well. Still inconsistent but even the worse days are better than the 3 pass for me.
The witch hazel always burns my neck but it is barely red if at all.
Sounds like we might be in the same boat. ATG+light touch up gets me to a DFS, so I stop there. I should also mention that I shave daily Monday thru Friday, so the growth I need to cut down each morning is minimal. And if the reasoning behind the WTG+XTG+ATG approach is to reduce the size of wiskers first to a more manageable level before the ATG pass, I feel like I'm already at that more manageable level every morning because I shave daily. So I will go with ATG only below my jawline and see how that feels over time.
The one pass shave is dependent on so many factors, (razor, blade, beard length, coarseness, etc.). If it works, do it.
I tried it since I was a one pass (WTG) cart shaver (SAS). When I went to DE, I started the 3 - 4 pass shave with excellent results. (BBS)
If I attempt a one pass ATG, there are too many misses, and it hurts a little. I have to go back and catch the areas where my beard grows in two directions in the same location (half the hairs N>S and half E>W, in the same spot). Just doesn't do it for me.
I tried it since I was a one pass (WTG) cart shaver (SAS). When I went to DE, I started the 3 - 4 pass shave with excellent results. (BBS)
If I attempt a one pass ATG, there are too many misses, and it hurts a little. I have to go back and catch the areas where my beard grows in two directions in the same location (half the hairs N>S and half E>W, in the same spot). Just doesn't do it for me.
Agreed, this won't work for everyone given we all have different hair patterns. My neck hair generally grows in elongated "J" patterns, growing downward from my chin down, then sweeping out towards my ears on either side of my neck. I don't really have whirlpool patterns, so I'm hoping this might work for me. Either way, easy-does-it is the name of the game below my chin!
I have to go ATG on my mustache area because the hair lays so close to the skin that WTG and XTG are really a waste of time.
I used to be able to get away with a one-pass ATG shave with the Atra and Fusion but I haven't yet tried it with a DE razor.
I used to be able to get away with a one-pass ATG shave with the Atra and Fusion but I haven't yet tried it with a DE razor.
I could never do ATG on my neck with my Sensor. I tried actually, and it grabbed in some places and led to ingrown - right in the center of my neck... That said, it is not wrong. When you consider all of the face shapes, beard textures and growth rates, I'd be more shocked if one answer fit all faces than not.
