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!