Against the grain - grainy?

Same for me I can put up with wtg +a clean up on my neck

It's a tricky area. I find if you have an adjustable turning it down to nice and mild helps there and the top lip atg. But it's not worth it if you know you're going to draw blood!
 
Same as most have said it is definitely a case of everyone is different.

My shaves go something like this (this may be difficult to follow.....)
  • First Pass - Top to bottom- except at the very bottom of my neck where I go bottom to top. Top to bottom is generally WTG for the best part of my face except at the very bottom of my neck where it would be ATG hence why I switch it up.
  • Second Pass - Outside in (e.g. from the outside of my face inward) - this is XTG for me for most of my face. Around my chin I go all the way across and back again (e.g. in the chin are I am actually doing both outside in and inside out in the same pass if that makes sense). In the middle of my bottom lip (Philtrum) I only shave top to bottom.
  • With some really aggressive razors I can stop here for a regular work day if I want to as it is often close enough to get through until around 5pm or so. Generally I will continue to the third pass.
  • Third Pass - Bottom to top. I shave bottom to top on my cheeks and also bottom to top diagonally inward here (e.g. towards my eyes). I shave bottom to top on the chin area but generally do two passes as I find this area requires stretching in a couple of different ways to get a BBS result. On the top lip I shave top to bottom in the middle (Philtrum) and then bottom to top diagonally outward (e.g towards my ears). I usually find that a small amount of tidying up is required around the jawline and under my chin.

In three passes I get a really close BBS shave for the best part (somewhat dependant upon how thorough I have been with the tidying up). On my lower neck I never get BBS close and never try to as I know that this area will get very irritated very quickly. Around the jawline I can get BBS if I spend a lot of time tidying up but I also have to be very careful and use very good technique here. The top lip is another area that I do not get BBS close on and again I will not try to as I know that it is a sensitive area and will get irritated. IMO it takes good preparation, technique and time and patience to get a BBS result.

I really do enjoy the feel of a close BBS shave but I generally settle for a nice close shave. Most days I will go for three passes with a quick tidy up and leave it at that and it is more than good enough. This past week I have used my Weber PH and for 75% of the shaves I have happily settled at just two passes.
 
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