Abandoning the 3 pass shave

[Kilroy6644]

I've given up on the three pass. I didn't find any noticable difference between the WTG and the XTG, so I quickly dropped the XTG, and went with two passes, WTG & ATG. But my skin is tough enough that I can do one pass ATG, so I usually do that. Occasionally I'll still do a two pass, but the resulting shave isn't really that much better than one pass. It's usually not worth the extra time to me.

 

[Rusty Blade]

I gave up on the 3 pass shave long ago. I shave the way my Dad used to shave. One pass and some touch ups. A fine shave to start the day. For me chasing a BBS is like trying to shovel the driveway while it's still snowing.

 

[Whilliam]

I used to take just one ATG pass, but now I take two (WTG, ATG) as it is ultimately quicker.

Let me explain. A single pass necessitated getting everything done at once, which meant spending a long time on that pass. Now I take a quick first WTG pass to reduce my beard, then finish with a quality ATG pass. Together, they take me less time than that single, long ATG pass.

Never have seen a need for a third pass. But, hey, after 55 years of DE shaving, I'm still learning.

 

[TexOkie Shaver]

Like the OP, I had irritation if I did three passes and clean up plus I found the third pass wasn’t really necessary. So I adopted a two pass system (XTG ATG) with a cleanup pass. It yielded a DFS, but not a BBS shave.

That was with Mitchell’s Wool Fat soap. I then discovered Kaizen based soap from A&E. The incredible slickness of Kaizen is allowing me to do as many passes as I want. I have not found the limit yet. Yesterday I did three passes with two cleanup passes under my right jawline and a single cleanup passes in other places.

Now I have what’s left of my current Mitchell’s puck, and two new pucks on deck. But I really don’t want to put the Kaizen away until the Wool Fat is gone. Oh, and I have another Kaizen based soap on the way.

 

[Burundian Hawk]

The only case that i might abbandon the 3 pass shave that i can foresee, is if in a future because of old age, my skin becomes so old that ATG causes me regular weepers. Fortunately, for now, my skin is aging well, like most Africans do and i have no troubles. I also want to do 3 pass shaves, because it is the best way to keep soap consumption high without deliberately throwing it away! Also being particularly fond of brushes, the lathering part with the brush, is the best part of the shave. So, who wants to get less brush time on his face! Not me!

 

[Manannan]

I only use my left hand for shaving and generally just employ a one pass shave with straights and kamisori, a WTG/XTG mix on the sides/cheeks (and WTG under the nose - I ain’t no fool LOL) and a WTG/ATG mix on chin, jawline and throat. In my pre-shave daily stropping regime I give a few passes using a 0.25 micron diamond paste on a four sided strop (dedicated to four grades of diamond paste) to ensure blade sharpness for the one pass. I have watched videos on YouTube telling me ‘how’ to shave, but just go with what feels comfortable for me personally, including in parts using a pencil grip with straights with blade and scales in line, carried over from kamisori shaving.