While on the search for the perfect shave, as we all are, I'm always trying to improve my technique. I still watch videos and read about shaving techniques, and the concept of "hair reduction" comes up a good bit.
Hair reduction, as opposed to hair removal, is the process of gradually removing the length of hair through the use of different directional passes and a light (but firm) touch. If you think about a modern cartridge razor, the goal of it is hair removal by dragging lots of blades over one area all at once. This naturally causes irritation as the first blades with hair contact fill with hair first and cause drag and uneven, dull cutting and pulling of hair.
I've been making the effort to do three passes on my head with the DE from now on: WTG, XTG, and ATG. Before, I was only going ATG x2. I'm using much shorter, more precise strokes and, most importantly, never going over the same area twice during a pass. The comfort level and closeness of my shaves has never been better!
This may seem like common sense, but if you try to start thinking about gradual hair reduction instead of getting one area completely smooth after one stroke of the blade, I think the quality of your shaves will improve drastically!
