People with facial hair, how do you shave/trim?

[Exian]

The reason for multiple baldes isn't to shave more hairs in less passes (though I'm sure it does), it's the shave closer to the skin. There is a good reason for wanting to shave more hairs in less passes as well though; namely, that the less passes you need to make, the less chance of getting razor burn you will have.

See, my barber and I were talking on the subject. He and I are both against muti-blades, but for different reasons. My theory was that it hurt (me at least) to shave with them because you increase surface area and so increase friction. Also you're applying the same pressure and speed out of habit, but have increased the surface area being pulled through the hair, so I kind of think of it like- 100 lbs of weight isn't much spread out, but focused to a finer point and it seems like much more.

Anyhow, my barber said simply 2 blades is 2 passes, 6 blades is 6 passes. 2 passes with a Mach 3 is really 6 passes, so you increase the chance of irritation.

But, I mean, everybody's different. Obviously they work for you, so I don't think there's a definitive answer.