Learning to shave with the Feather Artist Club

[Cheesepiece]

Day 81 - Feather Artist Club DX with Kai Protouch MG guarded (1)

God, why do I bother? From the first stroke until the end of the shave I was enjoying myself. With a fresh blade, of my favourite type, the whole experience is thoroughly rewarding. No scrapey-ness either.

Three passes WTG/XTG/ATG, no nicks, nice and close, super comfortable. I can find some small areas to criticise where it could be closer, but basically this is a top drawer shave. I am not sure there is a DE I enjoy shaving with more than this.

Cracked it.

 

[wintoid]

It depends. How long did the shave take @wintoid ?

Probably not much longer than a DE, but definitely a bit slower.

To be clear, I'm not saying something has changed. I'm saying that perhaps I shouldn't bother trying to master other blades at all. It works fine with the guarded Kais, and I really enjoy it, and that is (after all) the whole point.

 

[Merkurologist]

Today's shave FAC SS with a Schick Proline.

I thought I'd do something different today and try something that I tried with conventional SR but I was never too happy, I felt I needed a sharper blade to make it comfortable.

So a one pass shave, ATG.

If you really know your beard growth map then this one pass will give you a BBS otherwise you will learn where you are failing.

This was a nice surprise, not only comfortable but so close, there's no way I can achieve such a good shave with a SR.

 

[Cheesepiece]

Today's shave FAC SS with a Schick Proline.

I thought I'd do something different today and try something that I tried with conventional SR but I was never too happy, I felt I needed a sharper blade to make it comfortable.

So a one pass shave, ATG.

If you really know your beard growth map then this one pass will give you a BBS otherwise you will learn where you are failing.

This was a nice surprise, not only comfortable but so close, there's no way I can achieve such a good shave with a SR.

That's an interesting one.
Are you at all concerned about ingrown hairs?

 

[Merkurologist]

That's an interesting one.
Are you at all concerned about ingrown hairs?

Not really, I don't think I've ever had one.

I was thinking that people that suffer from irritation maybe a one pass shave reduces the risk.

 

[wintoid]

Day 82 - Feather Artist Club DX with Kai Protouch MG guarded (2)

Not as nice as yesterday. I did enjoy the shave, but I really tried to get the spots which are most problematic for me, and in doing so, I neglected some spots which are normally trivial for me. It just goes to show that there is still more to learn, even after 82 shaves!

WTG/XTG/ATG and no cuts etc. Very comfortable as usual. Definitely my favourite blade. I haven't decided how I feel about DX vs SS at this point.

 

[Cheesepiece]

Not really, I don't think I've ever had one.

I was thinking that people that suffer from irritation maybe a one pass shave reduces the risk.

Without the sharpest of sharp blades, going ATG can be problematic, especially without doing a reduction of stubble pass either W/Xtg.
Ingrowers happen for me when I'm using a less than efficient blade and the hairs when tugged/pulled and eventually cut/plucked recoil. Never an issue going Wtg but the longer the hair the greater the risk ATG.

 

[UKRob]

Without the sharpest of sharp blades, going ATG can be problematic, especially without doing a reduction of stubble pass either W/Xtg.
Never an issue going Wtg but the longer the hair the greater the risk ATG.

Now that’s an interesting concept, considering that a straight razor is being used. ‘The longer then hair the greater the risk’ seems to suggest that the blade is cognisant of the length of the hair being cut and somehow behaves differently If the hair is longer. I can’t imagine why this should be.

 

[Merkurologist]

Now that’s an interesting concept, considering that a straight razor is being used. ‘The longer then hair the greater the risk’ seems to suggest that the blade is cognisant of the length of the hair being cut and somehow behaves differently If the hair is longer. I can’t imagine why this should be.

I think he means without thinning down the beard with WTG and XTG passes first, in that case going ATG there's more resistance and unless you have a very sharp blade, tagging can occur and that was my experience with SRs when I tried.

For some people ATG it's just a bit too much but to me a shave without an ATG pass it's only half a shave. A few years ago I got a shave at Trumpet and everything was great except they don't do ATG pass. Incidentally that was my first shave with a shavette.

 

[UKRob]

I have to admit that I’ve never tried a single pass ATG shave - probably because I started shaving with a Gillette DE razor and copied my dad’s method. However, with a straight razor, why should it make any difference to the ATG pass whether you have already shaved WTG, XTG or both?
I look at it as being the same as someone who says something along the lines of their razor took off a month’s growth with ease - what difference does it make to the razor whether it’s one month or one day?

 

[Cheesepiece]

Now that’s an interesting concept, considering that a straight razor is being used. ‘The longer then hair the greater the risk’ seems to suggest that the blade is cognisant of the length of the hair being cut and somehow behaves differently If the hair is longer. I can’t imagine why this should be.

The blade has no cognisance of the hair length.
A deviance towards a shallower than optimal angle will be cutting the longer hairs much further from the skin and the potential to pull / snag is great.
A shallower than optimal angle on short hairs, ie those that have already had a W/Xtg pass, will miss the short hairs altogether and there is a greatly reduced chance of pulling / snagging and the resultant ingrowns.

 

[Merkurologist]

I have to admit that I’ve never tried a single pass ATG shave - probably because I started shaving with a Gillette DE razor and copied my dad’s method. However, with a straight razor, why should it make any difference to the ATG pass whether you have already shaved WTG, XTG or both?
I look at it as being the same as someone who says something along the lines of their razor took off a month’s growth with ease - what difference does it make to the razor whether it’s one month or one day?

I have tried ATG as a first pass with a DE and it's painful, more so with something like Derby blade.

It makes a difference with a DE one day or a month...razors tend to clog with long beard.

I can't shave at all with a SR that's not very sharp. Maybe I need to develop a skill for that, having said that, I don't think it would be comfortable.

My son has such thick bear that nothing but the sharpest blade works for him.

 

[UKRob]

The blade has no cognisance of the hair length.
A deviance towards a shallower than optimal angle will be cutting the longer hairs much further from the skin and the potential to pull / snag is great.
A shallower than optimal angle on short hairs, ie those that have already had a W/Xtg pass, will miss the short hairs altogether and there is a greatly reduced chance of pulling / snagging and the resultant ingrowns.

I have tried ATG as a first pass with a DE and it's painful, more so with something like Derby blade.

It makes a difference with a DE one day or a month...razors tend to clog with long beard.

I can't shave at all with a SR that's not very sharp. Maybe I need to develop a skill for that, having said that, I don't think it would be comfortable.

My son has such thick bear that nothing but the sharpest blade works for him.

My post was specifically referenced to a straight razor - I think we all know that DE and SE razors don’t handle long hair very well. However, assuming that the straight razor is in good condition and your technique is good enough, I would still contend that the length of hair doesn’t matter whether you are shaving with, across or against the grain. Consequently, I don’t see why a single ATG pass would be more likely to cause razor bumps or ingrown hairs than an ATG pass after WTG or XTG.

As I said, it’s not something I’ve tried because I’m conditioned to starting with a WTG - but I will give it a go apart from the upper lip area.

 

[Cheesepiece]

I look at it as being the same as someone who says something along the lines of their razor took off a month’s growth with ease - what difference does it make to the razor whether it’s one month or one day?

Consequently, I don’t see why a single ATG pass would be more likely to cause razor bumps or ingrown hairs than an ATG pass after WTG or XTG.

As I said, it’s not something I’ve tried because I’m conditioned to starting with a WTG - but I will give it a go apart from the upper lip area.

Surely it's the difference between the hanging hair test and actually shaving stubble. The hair has more room to flex away from a blade when it is of longer length, hence the tugging and ingrowns.

Why make an exception for the upper lip?

 

[UKRob]

Surely it's the difference between the hanging hair test and actually shaving stubble. The hair has more room to flex away from a blade when it is of longer length, hence the tugging and ingrowns.

Why make an exception for the upper lip?

I don’t see it that way - you are shaving at skin level, consequently the length of hair is immaterial. The hanging hair analogy is not appropriate because that is a deliberate attempt to cut hair above skin level to avoid resistance.

The upper lip exception would be because of the difficulty of getting the correct angle - I think east-west and vice versa would be easier, but even then you would still do a north-south to get immediately under the nose area.