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Against the grain - grainy?

vanNek

vanNek

Member
Hi all,

I tried my first against the grain pass tonight, it felt very very grainy/pulled a bit. Is this normal for against the grain?

I did one with the grain & one cross grain pass. Do I need to do more cross grain?

Gillette tech ball end, persona blue & prosaso red.

Thanks gents.
 
What I find intriguing in the common denominator that brings us
all here, is that different things work differently for most everyone. Only one way to conclusively know :)
 
I never go completely against the grain when shaving. BBS is overrated.
 
I think that the reason is our hair grows in different directions.

My standard shave is top to bottom on the first pass then the reverse on the second pass before going left to right (or vice versa) around the jawline.

On my face this equates to WTG then ATG. On my neck ATG then WTG with the final jawline pass being XTG.

I'm told this is a bad way to shave, it will cause problems. Works for me.
 
Rarely do it, don't need to. But it needs good reduction from previous passes and the right blade angle. Bit trickier to do when trying to move it around and upside down.
 
Against the grain will always offer a bit of resistance IME. Often gets the
Razor singing more too.

Like most of the grizzly veterans here I eschew ATG on the neck in general. Cheeks, chin and mo are all fair game though.

I tend to use shorter "buffing" strokes when going against the grain especially where the beard is densest.
 
I never go ATG unless I've done another pass first to smash down the growth. This lessens the resistance and makes for a smoother and easier pass. I try not to do it much these days, because I found that it just increases the chance of irritation or ingrown hairs, particularly around the jawline where hair changes direction. If you end up shaving every day anyway, the difference between a good 'regular' shave and the addition of an ATG pass is pretty minimal. I follow my WTG pass with an XTG and some blade buffing if there's any roughness. Gets me close enough to BBS, but with way less chance of irritation.
 
I generally never go through ATG, mainly as most blades are not sharp enough for it. Spoilers on the first 2 shave are sharp enough, as are Personna Super Stainless Ultra Chrome & Gillette Plus Platinum. But beyond that there are not many that leave anything but irritation.

I find that at the worst, a WTG > semi XTG > Opposite XTG works best in my case. My skin complains if I shave every day so I go every second day generally except for Friday (today) when I leave it and go a completely unrushed & full catastrophe Saturday morning shave. I am talking shower, scrub the face, hot towel, 3-pass shave, AS, etc etc.
 
I do ATG every shave. Preparation is key. Get your skin warm and wet, soften those bristles.

Don't open the pores because IT'S IMPOSSIBLE PORES HAVE NO OPEN CLOSE MECHANISM.
 
JugV2 said:
I do ATG every shave. Preparation is key. Get your skin warm and wet, soften those bristles.
Click to expand...

How do go ATG on the upper lip? I can do ATG in just about most places but upper lip is a killer.
 
Take your time and use the mildest razor you've got to get used to it.
For me, it's ATG for the chin area that I struggle with, either too much irritation or not close enough...
 
Lifes a Peach said:
How do go ATG on the upper lip? I can do ATG in just about most places but upper lip is a killer.
Click to expand...
borked said:
For me, it's ATG for the chin area that I struggle with, either too much irritation or not close enough...
Click to expand...

Try as I do for the upper upper lip and lower chin area;
WTG, XTG East, XTG West then ATG.

As usual, take your time with preparation, make sure your whiskers are properly hydrated and lathered for each pass.
 
It's a tricky one, but can be done. I never bother. A good XTG right on the blade sweet spot going E-W and W-E, gets as close as ATG if i want to, without the diminishing returns IMO. I'd just be shaving skin if I tried it.
 
When I DE shave I typically do a single N-S path, then a S-N pass, which equates to a bit of everything, WTG, XTG, ATG etc, and this works for me. Took me a while to get my technique to this point, but it works for me. Doesn't seem to matter what razor I use, I have three choices sitting on my shelf i the bathroom (Aristocrat Jnr, Merkur Slant, Old type) and I get a decent result from either. I will tend to reach for the slant if I haven't shaved a few days,but aside from that, those two passes work for me.

As always YMMV
 
Find that when I now use a DE(almost always use a Straight) that I'm usually in a real hurry so I'm usually only do 1 WTG and 1XTG. A lot of times only with water.
Find that with the Gillette '04 that gives me a very passable shave.
 
I can shave every day, but tend to be every second just because cbf.
WTG then XTG (exact direct depends on where I'm shaving).

On the rare ocassion i go ATG, cheeks, sides and jawline/neck are all usually OK. Just under the chin often results in a bit of agro unless I'm gentle and use short buffing and top lip is a definite no-no for pure ATG, but I can generally go a nice XTG with a slight upwards stroke.

BBS is overrated for sure.
 
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