Different pass experiments

For months I've done three passes plus touchup with my DE: WTG, XTG, ATG

I felt like I couldn't get a closer shave without spending more time on touch up so I decided to try something over the last couple of shaves.

Yesterday I did XTG, ATG, ATG with touch up and got a closer shave

Today I tried ATG, ATG, ATG with touch up and surprisingly didn't get as close a shave in certain areas.

I'll be messing around with this some more but I'm curious if others have tried similar approaches.

My experience is similar to yours. I started with the usual WTG XTG ATG but found I was not getting close enought and the XTG pass was irriatating. I have since switched to WTG ATG ATG and a touchup XTG on the neck and get much better results.

I would skip the XTG. That just doesn't make sense to me. I do WTG, ATG, touch-ups. Enjoy your experiment.

Just remember that wet shaving is beard reduction by multiple passes to achieve a close comfortable shave. Whatever technique that achieves that is right for you.

I can get away with most things, but I get a lousy shave if I jump into the ATG too soon. It seems like the razor doesn't cut as well ATG when the hairs are longer. Almost like the blade follows the hair right into my skin instead of cutting it cleanly. I notice this most frequently on my neck where my grain will just pull a 180 around my Adam's apple.

I wound up with WTG, XTG, ATG, Hybrid. The fourth (hybrid) pass trims the Goatee, repeats the ATG on my neck (which is E>W for me), and XTG on the sides of my neck (center out in my case). Got it down to pretty much standard every shave. While I added this pass, it eliminates a touchup pass (or maybe it is my touch up pass), with less irritation than focusing on missed spots.

Hi guys,

Question - If I shave every second day I just have a bit of visible stubble (beardgrow not too fast) and only visible below cheekline (rest too blond haha).

So far have just done one pass and it's been fine. still a tiny bit visible but very smooth. Is there any point in doing more than one shave/pass in this case?

My beard grows in so many directions that WTG is meaningless for me. So my four pass shave just goes in different directions and the result is a BBS shave with practically no touchups.

DavidNZ said:

Hi guys,

Question - If I shave every second day I just have a bit of visible stubble (beardgrow not too fast) and only visible below cheekline (rest too blond haha).

So far have just done one pass and it's been fine. still a tiny bit visible but very smooth. Is there any point in doing more than one shave/pass in this case?

Click to expand...

Just do what works for you. I still have visible stubble after my first pass, so I need at least two to be socially acceptable.

RJ - Chicago
Posted from my phone, please forgive typos.

Whatever works best for you is just fine! Trying different approaches is worthwhile once you get your technique down.

In in my case the best strategy is: WTG, XTG, ATG, pretty standard.

YMMV

Parjay said:

Just do what works for you. I still have visible stubble after my first pass, so I need at least two to be socially acceptable.

RJ - Chicago
Posted from my phone, please forgive typos.

Click to expand...

Thank you - that’s helpful. I also haven't paid too much attention to the direction - just been going down and not had any issues/razorburn or anything.

[MENTION=105809]DEsafetyrazor[/MENTION] Your experimentation has inspired me to do a shave like yours tomorrow morning. I usually do something similar to what you started out doing, except that somewhere down the line my touch up became a fourth WtG pass. Keep up the great work!

Most of my adult life my shaves were sloppy, though I did not know it. I simply was not aware of the limitations of quick shaves with cartridges. My background assumption was that it was normal to still have some trace stubble after the shave.
My first DE was a north-to-south, followed by an east-west, and finally a south-to-north. In the shower, I could already feel a big difference compared to anything I knew before. Thereafter, it was a matter of mapping the beard, re-mapping, and developing technique to go from very good to near perfect.
Eventually I found I had a changing growth pattern on the throat, with a parting of the growth pattern just right of center, and could adjust the WTG and AGT accordingly. In addition, some parts are just tough to get at, like the Adam's apple and just under the jawline. Eventually I used successive passes of north-south and south-north, skipping the east-west, and then doing a lot of short-stroke buffing AGT in the tough spots, sometimes re-lathering and sometimes not. A good slick soap like Arko will leave behind a bit of residual slickness for such buffing.
I am not sure exactly what I am doing right, but with pre-shave washing, leving the face wet, generous lathering and a light touch I have been getting consistent daily BBS with no noticeable irritation.

I decided that a good shave with little irritation is better than a perfect BBS with wheepers, bleeders, and redness.
My best results are achieved with two down passes and two up passes. Short strokes with very light pressure.
XTG pass is the most irritating, especially on the lower neck and under a jaw line. But for a BBS I do need to go XTG.

Wet shaving is a lot of fun. Even the worst cuts heal quick; irritation resolves. And then you can try a new technique.

Lately I've been doing WTG, XTG left to right then XTG right to left, then some touch ups after as I saw on Nick Shaves YouTube channel and it works for me to get that nice super close shave. I found that going ATG irritates my face way too much.