I'm not sure about the rest of you, but my face can't handle a 3 or 4 pass BBS shave everyday. My typical weekday routine includes two passes and maybe a little touch-up. The problem is, a two pass shave leaves a lot to be desired most of the time (compared to a full blown 3 or 4 passes). With a little bit of thought and knowing the grain of my beard fairly well, I've been able to tweak my two pass shave just a bit so it's about as close as you could expect for the time investment... consider this a 'value shave'. Each pass involves just a slight modification of the direction. The 1st pass - WTG actually goes slightly diagonal now so it is also incorporating some XTG action.... then for pass #2 - XTG, except now I also go slightly up so it incorporates a little ATG action. Basically on both passes, I am shaving diagonally to the 'standard'. The results is an extremely close shave in a very short amount of time.
Nice adaptation -- I'm gonna try this out myself. I usually go 3 passes because I refuse to not get that close on my daily shave (I should let go, I know ). Have you tried any of the "advanced" techniques (Gillette slide, J-hook, blade buff) to see if there's any difference/improvement upon your current method?
Aaron this is what I have been doing most of the time the last month doing only 2 passes if I do a 4 pass id get beyond BBS and then the next day I dont need a shave because id still be good enough to pass for one day so im doing it for a different reason then yours for me its so I have enough stubble regrowth so I can have another shave instead to skip a day. when I do a 3-4 pass I generally will skip the next day so by natures law the face gets an extra day rest automatically then. I can get BBS with 2 passes the only downside with the 2 passes the shadow returns much quicker which is the point of my 2 passes.
Aaron.... you have spent your time here and at TOP wisely, grasshopper. Very good info for all of us. Learn your face and dont be afraid to experiment a little.
I have to admit, I'm not exactly sure what these are. However, I could guess at the 'Gillette Slide' is and that may be what I'm actually doing. For example, on my WTG pass which starts at my sideburn and goes down, with my current method, the head of the HD is still parallel to the floor, but on the down stroke, I'm also moving it towards my chin slightly.... so it is creating a kind of 'slicing' motion (not a term very conducive to shave speak).
Aaron, Yeah that's the Gillette Slide I mentioned. Mark (Mantic) has one of his videos dedicated to the "advanced" techniques. I'd try to explain it with words, but the video does so much better.
That is a cool video. I actual do two of those already. The J-hook is new to me and I might have to try that. One note though, the 'Gillette Slide' is what I'm talking about in the first post, except that I use it from the start and not just after reducing like Mark is talking about.
I occasionally get a two-pass shave, but it's not planned. It's just that, when I rinse after the first pass, I happen to feel almost no stubble. So then I go to the against the grain pass and I'm done. FWIW, both times this has happened was with the Vision and a Feather. Normally, I do 3 passes: W, X, A.
The only time I can get a good two pass is with a straight. I used to two pass with the M3 before I knew any better... no wonder I wound up with all that irritation
My face can't handle what I have been doing the past 17 years, namely a modified 2 pass shave. My reason is that I think I was trying to get too much out of a "pass" so to speak. As soon as I dropped the pressure (both figuratively and literally) from my routine, BBS/no irritation became the rule rather than the exception. sure this is a YMMV type of thing, everyone has a zen. I found reduction shaving to be my way of getting there comfortably. any fewer than three passes is dangerous territory for me, to revert back to the days of pre-DE.
