The 'Single-Pass' shave ----- some observations.

About two months ago, I was in a hurry to get to work, but needed to shave. It so happened that I had shaved late the day before, and had a less-than-24h growth of stubble on my face, so I thought I'd just do an ATG pass and hope that would suffice.

I used a GEM SE razor and face-lathered some Arko and the shave was brilliant. It wasn't quite a 'single-pass' shave, because I had to do touch-ups as well. Still, it was pretty nice even though I skipped the WTG and XTG passes. It was very quick, of course.

The success I had with that led me to use the same technique almost every weekday for the last couple of months. I've used DE's, SE's and straights and they've all been pretty great (with a few caveats - see below). Here are some of my thoughts on this process.

1) Face-lathering a good soap seems to be essential. I shower the night before, so there's no soaking of the whiskers involved. Face-lathering a good soap seems to work best in these situations.

2) Synthetic brushes give better results. This is because they need no soaking. A badger brush would work as well I guess, but boar needs to be soaked, and that takes up time. Also, boar brushes eat more lather.

3) For my face, straights and SE razors work better. I think this has to do with the stiffness of the blades. DE blades are always dicey on my face, and more so on an ATG-only shave.

4) The shaves are pretty much as good as a regular 3+ pass shave.

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I think this may have long-term benefits for my skin as I'm not scraping a blade over it 3-times on each shave, though I don't have enough data to justify that feeling yet.

Regardless, 1-pass shaving seems to work for me.

When I skip a day of shaving on the weekend, a 1-pass shave is not an option. I've tried it, and I don't get good results on a 1-pass shave in that case. Stubble-reduction is important with longer growth.

I don't know what experiences other guys have had with this. I'm sure some of you have tried it.

Now, this being a hobby, I'm sure that people would prefer to take their time and enjoy their collection of razors, blades, soaps/creams and brushes over a longer shave, but I can't help but wonder if doing more passes than is necessary is actually more likely to lead to skin irritation, etc.

Nice insights, thanks for sharing. I only do two passes, so I can relate to your experience.

I typically do a 1-pass ATG shave when I'm shaving less than a day's worth of stubble; think < 16 hours. If closer to a full 24 hours then I typically do a 2-pass shave. Like you though, if I skip a day then there is no way to have a successful 1-pass shave on multiple days of growth.

There is some validity to this methodology. A few yrs ago while still active duty I would only shave WTG and XTG Mon-Thurs. night. No shave on Fri and Sat (recovery time). Sun night was a 4 pass BBS shave. Skin can only take so much abuse before the effects begin to show. Now as a civilian I shave my face every second day. 4 pass BBS every time.

Sometimes daily maintenance does not always require a BBS.

At the end of the day, what works for you is what is right. I would like to be able to do a single pass, though I need to master the three pass first!

I did a 1 pass shave only once. It looked OK, but I couldn't get my head around the sharp feel of the cut whiskers. At least that's what I remember.

The least I do is my every day type shave. That's one pass WTG, then a pass ATG, and on my neck one 1/2 pass l-r on the left side. I call it a 2 1/2 pass shave.

I settled on face lathering after my first bowl lather. Its my only, and only required, pre-shave ritual. I know lots of folks soak their boar brushes for a long time, but it literally only takes a minute for a boar to soften. Before my sink is full of water, I run the water slowly, it's softened enough. I agree that soaking a synthetic isn't required and IMO just makes the brush more difficult to use as the water releases from the fibers. I never even pre-wet a synthetic. Instead I add water to the tub of soap, or very gingerly dip just the very tips of the brush into the sink if I'm using a cream smeared onto my face. But that's very rare anymore since I don't make a cream. Once the lather starts to coat the fibers I can dip a bit more generously.

But we're all individuals with our own faces. What works for me won't work for 99.99% (or more) of other shavers. Just another way to write YMMV. :-)

I usually only ever do a 1 pass shave and it's pretty acceptable for me!

Some interesting and also familiar observations in this thread.

For me, I’ve noticed that the two big factors in the number of passes are 1) the time that has passed since the last shave, 2) the razor (and blade) being used.

What ever the answers to those factors happen to be day by day, I don’t think I’ve ever even attempted a three-pass shave. Nor do I shave against the grain. I guess you could say I’m not thick-skinned at all.   So there are definitely times when a one-pass shave makes sense. Good post and keen observations, yohannrjm!

Nice to see you posting, Yohann!

Regarding your observation on the one-pass ATG shaves, I have tried it a few times, but I just don't get a very close shave.
I have to do the typical three-passes and touch ups because of my coarse dark beard.

If this is working for your, then keep at it, my friend.

I think it goes without saying that the outcome of a one-pass shave depends on what you want to achieve, and how long it has been since you've shaved.

In these few cases where a one-pass shave was mandatory, I concur a SE razor worked better for me.

However, what i've found lately is that I can get a perfectly good 2-pass shave - with DE or SE razors - in about 6 minutes, if I really focus on good technique and "pick up the pace" more than my usual 10-12 minute shaves. In particular:

1) Use a soap that requires less water/loading to get a slick lather (slick is OK vs. full);
2) Use a synthetic brush; smaller is better (less time to load);
3) During the initial WTG pass, do some "cross" strokes on areas (e.g., chin and jawline) that usually take more work to clear;
4) Have a reasonably sharp AND comfortable blade equipped; some blades may bite if they're too sharp, but duller blades may drag.

Again...your mileage...



Todd