The X-Pass Shaving Pattern

If you were expecting eerie music, suggestions of other-worldly incidents, and a mis-matched pair of FBI agents attempting to unravel a mystery -- all like a spin off of the old TV series, The X-Files -- sorry, I hope you're not disappointed. The term, X-passes, actually refers to a concept for an efficient, two-pass wet shave. No ghosts or aliens involved.

The Promise of Saving Strokes, Time

Consider the accepted three-pass shave: with grain (WG), cross grain (XG), and against grain (AG). Of course, this is a proven process. However, there may be days when you may want to save some time or simply make fewer strokes with sharpened steel against sensitive skin, and yet still get a closer shave than you might in a single WG pass or a two-pass shave WG and XG. In that circumstance, the X-pass shave, in theory, may be the answer for you.

For discussion purposes, imagine a beard with a simple, consistent downward-growing grain. The first pass of an X-pass shave would be a downward-diagonal stroke, simultaneously shaving both WG and XG. This is the mild, beard-trimming knock-down pass. The second pass would be an upward-diagonal stroke, this time simultaneously splitting the difference between the XG and AG strokes in a single pass. This would be the finishing pass.

An X-pass, in effect, shaves between the lines of a standard three-pass shave, and, thereby, saves strokes, reducing the toll on your skin, and, through elimination of an entire lather-shave pass, buys you some extra time as well.

Obviously, an X-pass shave may not achieve the closeness of a fussy three-pass shave, but it might be acceptably similar.

Razor and Technique Factors

If you use a high-capacity razor such as an open-comb or slant-bar, an X-pass shave might possibly be comfortably done whether you shave every day or only once a week. If you shave every day, even a very mild-shaving razor may be completely adequate. This is expecially true if you combine the X-pass shaving pattern with oblique razor strokes (a.k.a. the Gillette slide).

As any wood worker who uses old-school hand tools (such as hand planes) knows, oblique strokes have the effect of increasing the effective sharpness of the blade's edge, thus allowing it to slice through hair more easily. Oblique strokes also increase the effective size of the blade-bar gap, thus increasing the capacity of any razor with a safety bar (as opposed to open-comb designs).

Regarding beard grain, of course it might be simpler to use the X-pass concept if one's beard grain is consistent. But for those of us, like this writer, who have less uniform grain patterns, varying beard grain might not diminish shave outcome. It may not be necessary to make your X-pass strokes strictly on the diagonal (in relation to the grain) to achieve good results. As long as that first beard-reduction pass is more or less somewhere within the WG to XG range, it will likely do the job sufficiently to allow a comfortable, safe finishing pass that's in the XG to AG spectrum.

Does an X-Pass Shave Deliver the Goods?

After trying this process with high hopes for two days, I would have to say, for me, no. The shaves weren't particularly close and they weren't particularly face friendly. In fact, this process for me, with my highly-angled grain, sucked the joy out of my shaves. I suppose if my hair grew more upright, more perpendicularly to my skin surface and didn't lay down so extremely, it might work better.

Maybe some of you more adventurous souls could give it a try and see if if works for you and report to the rest of in as a comment to this article.

Question everything, and happy shaving!

Uninformed Opinions on DE Shaving and Gear

News flash just across the wire:
There are facts and there are opinions, and in DE shaving forums, one is often confused for the other.

The root cause of this problem is trusting, gullible souls who read an opinion and then repeat it as though it were true. (And I have to admit that I was one of those for a time, but no longer! For my earlier transgressions, I apologize; I have seen the light.)

Below are three common examples of opinions that have not been verified, and in fact are not true (or likely not true). I, myself, have previously perpetuated a few unverified opinions, mistaking them as facts by not verifying them. Here are my three examples for today:

• The Merkur 33 and the Lord L.6 razor heads have the same shaving characteristics.
• The Merkur 33 and 34 razors have the same shaving characteristics; the only difference is their weight and handle dimensions.
• The Rimei RM2003 razor is often sold as being made of stainless steel. Prospective buyers occasionally ask if it's really stainless. All too frequently, people will answer saying, yes, it's stainless (but it's not; it's chrome plated).

The Merkur 33 and Lord L.6 razor heads shave similarly, but they are not the same. Using measurements and observations rather than a vague sense of reality, I have confirmed that these razors have similar design characteristics, but differ most in their respective blade-bar gaps -- the L.6 having the larger gap and, therefore, is a bit less mild in its shaving nature. (I have come to appreciate that slightly more aggressive character.)

Regarding the 33 versus the 34 razor heads, I own and really like my Merkur 33 razor head. It is good for my uber-sensitive skin. I do NOT own nor have shaved with the Merkur 34. Yet, in the past, I, myself, have ignorantly, foolishly recommended this razor in lieu of the 33 because I read in several shaving forums that they are essentially razor heads with the same shaving characteristics. (Yeah, I do know that the 33 is a three-piece razor and the 34 is a two-piece design; still, they have been alleged to shave the same, which I now seriously doubt.)

After I recommended the 34 to a friend, he reported after months of use that he can't get a shave without blood letting, no matter what he does, no matter how light his touch. This caused me to ruminate: hmmm, I thought, this doesn't sound like how my 33 would behave. So I did some more research, and not surprisingly, there are voices in the wilderness that suggest that the 34 is a more aggressive shaver than its cousin the 33. If I could get my hands on a 34 without dropping about forty bucks, I would examine, measure, and compare the two shaving heads and get right to the bottom of the matter. I wish everyone would do that before popping off with half-baked opinions.

The Rimei misinformation is the most troubling of all. There are folk who actually OWN the bloody razor (as I do) and yet will, with a straight face (presumably), advise others WRONGLY that it's made of stainless (for $4 yet)! These guys apparently don't know the difference between stainless steel and chrome plating, yet they're posing as someone who can advise others CORRECTLY on this subject!

My bottom line on this uninformed-opinion issue is that none of us should try to pass off as truth something we have not personally verified, or for which we have not at least seen clearly-supporting data. For many months, my personal motto has been question everything. So let's all go forth and sin no more.

Question everything.

Happy shaving!