I shave in two pass. I use a mach 3 and shaving cream to mix with my badger. I then shave once with the grain, rince, put cream again and shave another time slowly against the grain. The second time against the grain is easy and there isn't too much resistance since I already got rid of much hair the first time with the grain. I don't get much irritation but then my hair is rather soft. I use alum as an aftershave.