First shave last night, seemed to go fairly well.
Dovo 6/8 Special, round point, swedish steel, honed by Mr Abrams himself (yes I know it is a simple blade, but that's what I wanted to start out with). Vulfix best badger, not too big, not too small. Large ceramic mug of bay rum soap from classicshaving.com.
I did 30 laps on the paddle strop, made sure that I went really gentle-like, no pressure, some rasping sounds when I was moving it over the fine leather side of the paddle. Also, since it was a 3" paddle I did not do the X pattern
Filled the mug with water, put in the brush, and let it all sit in a sink full of hot water.
Showered, scrubbed the face really well.
Emptied the water out of the mug, swirled really well until I got what I thought was a good lather.
Applied to face appropriately in circular and painting strokes.
Started on right side of my face going downwards, no real problems. But there seemed to be some skipping. I wasn't sure if the angle was 30 degrees, so I played with it a little bit until I found the optimum angle.
The left side of my face went well, but really slow. That was expected.
The neck was hell. :cen I started going downwards on the neck until I realized that wasn't a good idea. With the electric it never mattered which way I went, but with the razor, I quickly discovered it made all the difference. The hair on the neck tends to grow upwards, which means I had to reverse the direction and go upwards. Kind of a pain in the ass, but seemed to work.
The chin and lower lip area took forever for me to get the angles right, and I still didn't really get the area where the chin meets the neck. Consequently, that is also the area where the growth on my neck reverses direction, now growing downwards, another huge pain in the butt. There were a few hairs left on the lower lip, and honestly they were so close, I jus left them where they were for now.
The upper lip was just plain weird. I could not for the life of me get the downward angle, so I switched to diagonally upwards side stroke, using only the toe of the razor, which worked just fine. There were only a few small hairs left. I continued to use the toe for the corners of the mouth, which also seemed to work well.
I'm not sure how it happened but the jawline was a complete bust, thought I was getting it but apparently not. I also missed one small patch on the right side of my chin.
Finished off with hot water and a hot towel to get everything off the face, some cool water, and witch hazel. Three nicks, all stopped well before I did, no need for the styptic. Very, very little razor burn last night along with some very minor redness, and a small amount of irritation today, but nothing more than I am used to with the electric.
Overall good shave, but here are some particulars that I would like to throw out there for anyone who may have some advice.
1. There were a few occassions when I got to the jawline and the neck that I am positive I was pulling hairs. I swear I could feel them coming out of my neck. I also experienced something akin to that on the upper lip and the chin area (downwards strokes), but not of the same magnitude. I made sure that all the movements were coming from the arms and elbows, not the wrist, so I was wondering if maybe I should put more pressure? Not sure. Also, I did my best to stop when I met resistance, tried not to "push through" but not always to avail, sorry about that.
2. The soap I have is kind of crappy. I got it from classicshaving.com. My technique may also have something to do with it, but I had to re-lather my face often, and when the lather dried on my face - baaaaaaddddd. It was like trying to shave bubble-gum off my face, big mistake. I think maybe I should just paint one part of my face at a time, at least until I can get some stuff from Colleen;) I did refresh the lather from time to time with more water, but it seemd the best idea was just painting one part of the face at a time, about 30-60 seconds before I go there with the razor.
3. I think this paddle thing is not for me, I might need to get a real strop. I'm still gonna keep with the paddle for a while though, want to make an educated decision, instead of being rash about it.
4. One of the hardest/weirdest parts is learing how to stretch the skin the whole time and to stretch it the right way to garner the effect I desire. I had a heck of a time trying to strech it a particular way and then move my body around the razor and the mirror so I could see what I was doing.
5. Surprisingly enough, switching off to the left had wasn't bad at all. I thought for sure I would cut myself with the left hand, but nope, nary a mark.
6. That's about it, any comments or suggestions are welcome, I could use all the help I need. :D