I've been using my Dovo 5/8 "best quality" for about a week now and thought I was making decent progress. Until I tried an ATG pass. It pulled so much I couldn't get the razor started with fear of doing damage. The WTG pass went pretty well, I thought. It felt at least as good as my first WTG pass with my DE (EJ DE87, Derby blades). I tried re-lathering thinking my lather had dried some (I'm very slow). And I tried the ATG using my opposite hand -- that helped some, allowing for a better angle. Any secret, arcane technique I need to know about? Any advice would be appreciated. In the videos, it doesnt look any more difficult than the ATG pass. BTW. The two pass shave I ended up with was mostly very good. I had a few spots that needed some more attention. This is more fun than I thought possible.
I believe that if a razor can't go ATG, it's not really shave ready. If that's not the problem, then work on the angle. With ATG, a smaller angle is best - almost flat.
People have different skin and beard types, too. I have never been able to really enjoy a close shave against the grain even with "really shave ready" razors. It could be my shaving and/or beard prep techniques at fault, but for all my practicing, it just isn't rewarding enough to keep trying. I get a very nice shave without it so I don't do it often Anyway, like the others said, keep the razor flat if you can, and keep the whiskers standing high via stretching your skin. A light, firm, controlled grip on the razor helps
A razor that shaves well WTG but poorly ATG may be over honed. If you have a barber's hone you might try giving the razor five or so laps with the spine leading, as if you were stropping it. It's called "back-honing" and is meant to reset an edge that is keen but too thin to be stable. Best Regards goshawk
Thanks for all the good suggestions. After reading all the comments, I think it may be a combination of things, from skin tautness and prep to angle of blade. My next shave I'll play around a bit integrating your suggestions. Thanks for the help.
Two things come to mind and one of those I never believed until I saw Lee/Hoglahoo prove it to me at the NC meet up last summer.... Some people can not get an ATG pass, it just isn't going to happen, without pain or damage...Trust me here I didn't believe it either, and would have argued that fact till I was blue in the face... Adjust the angle of course, but if it doesn't happen then back off and let it go for now, try it again when you get another razor, a razor honed, or every 6 months, maybe it will come together...
I agree with Glen. I have fairly good success with ATG grain passes, but on one side I have some beard growth that grows kind of sideways. I don't care what contortions I would twist my arm into, I just won't get that spot without a little Sweeney Todd action. It isn't ALWAYS the blade. And there is NO shame in finishing with a DE if you really need to be glassy smooth.
Thanks for the advice and encouragement. I've been finishing with my DE without a shred of guilt I take it the fact that I can go ATG without discomfort with my DE doesn't necessarily translate into similar success with a straight? It's all good. Having fun, learning new stuff while making incremental progress and I haven't visited the ER once -- yet. Again, thanks all for taking the time to help.
Following a collection of tips I received in this thread, I was able to figure out my problem and complete an ATG pass. I was doing everything wrong. I was not stretching the skin enough. But the biggest clue was blade angle. I was way to high ATG, keeping it at about 30 deg. I dropped it down to almost flat (per a suggestion) and it made a huge difference. Of course after working with the tips here, I went back and re-read the tutorial and found the section on blade angle I had missed before. It states clearly that blade angle should be at 5 deg. for ATG. Anyway, I want to thank everyone participating in this thread for their excellent suggestions.
