My First (and second) shave

Well as some of you may recall, I found out that my gf really liked my beard and wanted me to keep it. That being said and done, she broke up with me about a week and a half later (happy birthday to me! *sarcasm*). I however have come to really enjoy having a beard, as it keeps me from looking like so much of a baby face.

All of that said, as a birthday gift to myself I ordered everything I needed to start from Larry over at whippeddog and Larry did indeed provide me with great and speedy service. Ideal for a starting up without investing a boat load of money. Needless to say I went to try and shape up my neck for the first time just a day after receiving the razor, soap, strop, and brush. I thought the first shave went great! But after time passed, my neck would say other wise. This is probably due to the fact I didn't read included instructions about the shaving the beard down method with a SR. I learned from this mistake and took some beard trimmers to my face and shortening up my whiskers. I literally just finished shaving my neckline and had a great experience. Used less pressure and kept the blade as flat on my fact as possible, I think for more precision using the edge lightly will help with maintain straighter lines on my beard. However, I could immediately tell I was having a great shave. I was even brave enough to give a few short AG strokes to try and get it down as close as possible. Though as I noticed some irritation happening from too much pressure, I immediately abandoned trying for a BBS shave. I went back over with my safety razor to smooth things up, and bam throw on some after shave balm! Good experience. Part of me wishes I would go ahead and shave the entire beard!

I have noticed a couple of things. 1) I get a better pass with my left hand since it isn't my dominant hand. Which causes me to be very careful and light. Definitely going to take some time getting use to being lighter with my right hand. 2) I'm not entirely sure if my lather is great. Seems a bit thin and not nearly thick enough. Using a soap puck, in a regular ole mug not intended as use for a soap puck. I'm curious if getting a shaving bowl or mug would help with creating the lather since it would be a tighter fit and keep from water gathering in the open space around the puck. Which is where I'm finding my lather ends up being the thickest at. Thoughts/suggestions?

Thanks guys!

When I started I used a coffee cup. It worked just fine. I now have most of my soaps in their own glass containers with lids. I soak my brush in a bowl filled with hot water. When ready I shake out the brush and swirl it around the soap dish loading it with soap. Heading to the bowl to build my lather. I repeat the loading of the brush until I have enough to whip up. If you have excess water surrounding your puck of soap you need to dump it out. Too much water thins out the lather.
Happy shaving

As another newb, I've noticed that I also shave better with my non-dominant, left hand! But in my case, I suspect that I simply practiced more with my left mitt.

I have had very similar experiences recently! I have only shaved twice at this point. I had heard of beard reduction, but after my first pass, I felt like more should have come off, and I was tempted to do more passes/use more pressure, although fortunately I knew not to use more pressure. I’m still pretty sure I use too much pressure. I haven’t felt like I’ve done a great pass at this point, but I have been happy with it considering my inexperience. You’re brave for going for ATG strokes so early.

I was also expecting the non-dominant hand to be significantly worse, but that wasn’t the case. Also, I still haven’t gotten a good lather. It doesn’t build up much. I’m using Col Conk soap. One way you could consider preventing water from getting around your puck is to put the puck in a microwave safe bowl of some sort, and heat the soap for around 10 seconds. It will melt and form to the bottom of the bowl, then stick it in the fridge or freezer. I’ve heard someone recommend this, but haven’t heard of it multiple times, so I think its ok, but not totally sure.

Keep up the good work Sir!

I would suggest trying loading the brush and then moving to another mug or bowl to build a lather. Doing it on top of the puck can cause thick lather as you constantly pick up soap. If you do want to do it in the same mug soak the puck the empty all the water out and from that point on only add water little by little and only to the brush. Some pucks can be melted in the bottom of the mug but some dont melt and these can be grated and then moistened and pressed into the base. Good luck