What's new

Sixth straight razor shave question. XTG

Hello. I am still getting used to the straight razor technique but so far its been going okay. Two questions. I've done a WTG pass before and a ATG pass. A little razor burn but nothing too bad. I just can't seem to wrap my head around how I can do a XTG pass on my neck. I just can't wrap my head around the technique. It seems like an easy way to cut my throat. Could I have some guidance with this?

Second question. Due to my boar brush turning my face red, probably due to the roughness, I have been using barbasol. I've noticed that when I shave I can feel the hairs being cut. Almost like some very light tugging. Only when I shave my neck. I'm not sure if this is because of the barbasol or my technique or the razor. The razor seems to pass all the usual shave ready tests and I'm always careful when I strop. Will using a proper shave soap w/ a synthetic brush mitigate this at all?
 
I can't say why your face is turning red. If you think it is the brush and that doesn't happen when you use Barbasol without a brush...then I guess it's the brush.

Just be sure it's not just due to your shaving technique with the straight. I don't really think in terms of WTG, XTG, and ATG on the neck. You are dealing with a cylinder functionally and hair usually grows in several different directions on different parts of the neck.

I don't really shave from left to right on the neck. I just go north to south and the south to north and then maybe change to a slightly different direction if I can still feel some stubble in certain areas of the neck.

The neck is difficult for most people (along with the chin) so technique is probably all that needs to change.
 
Hello. I am still getting used to the straight razor technique but so far its been going okay. Two questions. I've done a WTG pass before and a ATG pass. A little razor burn but nothing too bad. I just can't seem to wrap my head around how I can do a XTG pass on my neck. I just can't wrap my head around the technique. It seems like an easy way to cut my throat. Could I have some guidance with this?

Second question. Due to my boar brush turning my face red, probably due to the roughness, I have been using barbasol. I've noticed that when I shave I can feel the hairs being cut. Almost like some very light tugging. Only when I shave my neck. I'm not sure if this is because of the barbasol or my technique or the razor. The razor seems to pass all the usual shave ready tests and I'm always careful when I strop. Will using a proper shave soap w/ a synthetic brush mitigate this at all?
It's hard to advise without knowing you hair mapping. What do you mean by XTG. For instance my neck hair grows diagonally away from the chin. An XTG pass is generally jaw line downwards or collar bone upwards.

How I was taught to shave was a single XTG pass diagonally on the cheeks back down the cheek across above the collar bone and up across the other side round and back across the cheeks mouth etc. Shaved like that for 20 years. Shaving one handed like that becomes quite intuitive because you are limited to perfecting a single line for your strokes.

What stroke are you trying to accomplish? If your XTG is collar to jaw, increase the skin stretching upwards as you shave. If you are trying to shave ear to Adams apple follow the curve of the neck round. If you think about the curvature as you shave you with find a line where the razor encircles your neck. The line of the razor might not be the same as the stroke.

If your brush is causing that much irritation it might be that it is not broken in correctly. Get yourself an Omega (some boar brushes are clipped to shape, Omega are not) . Soak it in cold water for 30 minutes. Rub in some hair conditioner into the stems only leaving the tips alone. Protecting the brush with your hand and ensuring that the hair and body don't warm up, dry the tips rapidly with the highest setting on a hair dryer. Soak again in water and repeat the hairdryer on the tips. Rinse out the conditioner. Rapidly drying saturated boar hair in this way causes the tips to split. The result is a brush softer than a badger but as firm as a boar.
 
While pulling the skin to the side (down toward shoulder) I shave up diagonally towards the chin from the shoulder where the skin is being pulled from - Keep the razor nearly flat - very low angle!
 
Don’t feel stuck to doing traditional 3 pass directions for everything. Sometimes a modified stroke works best for certain areas that a traditional stroke would otherwise be problematic.

For instance, on the neck I don’t do a XTG at all, only WTG and ATG (granted I don’t have thick, dark stubble there). Or sometimes for the areas I have to shave very carefully, I will sometimes not go full ATG by instead make a stroke that is half way between ATG and XTG for comfort and closeness.
 

steveclarkus

Goose Poop Connoisseur
I don’t shave across my neck it doesn’t seem possible, however, there places where I use an arc to get at some particularly difficult areas. Experiment with this method some and see if it gets at what you are after.
 
If the brush is irritating your face, try a horse hair one. Bought one when my boar's hair brush died once upon a time, and it is way softer. Too soft for me initially, but I've gotten use to it. Got it at Target for something like $20.

The key to ATG or XTG is really learning with small short strokes. As your confidence increases you can lengthen those. I tend to do a WTG pass and then a XTG on my face and ATG on my neck. It is a good enough shave for my hair for a few days, but everyone is different.
 
This really depends on your beard growth I think. I'm somewhat lucky in that mine grows from the mid line of my face more or less downwards with a slight angle down as it goes back (maybe 20 - 30 degrees) so I've developed three passes on the neck after around 7 months straight razor shaving.

Pass 1 - loosely WTG goes down and back at a slight angle from the midline (straight down around the adams apple). This one was not too hard to learn and a little bit of skin stretching goes a long way. Be careful in the hollows around the base of the throat though.

Pass 2 - XTG for me is basically straight down from jaw to base of throat and again pretty easy to learn.

Pass 3 - XTG/ATG is straight up from the base of the neck to the jawline. It sounds like this is what you are talking about. I'm about 200 shaves in and I'm still perfecting this around the chin. It took me at least 30 to 40 shaves to even attempt this and a good 70 to 80 to feel comfortable so at 6 shaves in I really would not panic! This is by far the most satisfying pass to master especially when you can get round the jawline into the cheek and sideburn area, but it's for sure the hardest to learn. It takes super light pressure plus blade control. Ultimately it's just practice so start on the flatter areas, stretch the skin and go slow.

Should add one more thing on grip for pass 3 that I've found works for me and have only seen one other person do. For each side of my neck I use the corresponding hand and hold the blade kamisori style with the fingers wrapped round the scales and thumb along the spine for stabilization. Works for me, but I think it's unusual.
 
Last edited:

Slash McCoy

I freehand dog rockets
Don't worry if your best attempt at XTG or ATG or even WTG is not exactly and precisely 0deg or 180deg or 90deg to the direction of hair growth. Just get as close to the ideal as practical.

A new boar can be torture. Depending on the brand. They all have about a 30 day break in period. Possibly even a broken in boar will irritate you. Some guys get that. But there are other options. Horse, synthetic, or badger, to name the obvious and common alternatives. Me, I don't use anything but silvertip badger. They can be expensive but they don't have to be. My favorite brushes (I have several) are three 30mm (big big brush!) silvertips that I got from Larry at www.whippeddog.com, a member here and trusted vendor of long standing. I also have a couple of nice 30mm silvertips I got from China via ebay, under the Virginia Sheng brand, that are very good. These are very cheap brushes for what you get. There really isn't much difference between a $240 silvertip and a $40 silvertip apart from the time and materials in the handle. A knot is a knot, and they are good, or poor. Even a poorly shaped knot is not a dealbreaker. Mainly you want it to not be so floppy that it won't pick up hard soap, and of course have enough loft that you can feel and appreciate the silky texture of the silvertip hair. And that it not shed excessively. There are other cheaper grades of badger but if your face is sensitive avoid the black badger brushes. They are as bad as a boar, worse than a quality boar that has been broken in well. Badgers in general pick up more water and soap than the same size brush of any other hair type. The thing about boar brushes is that even the premium brands are affordable, so if you want a luxury marque and fine workmanship on a budget, go for a recommended brand of boar. But me, I like my big silvertips. And you will be amazed at what a decent size, say 26mm+, brush makes, compared to a smaller brush.
 
Top Bottom