I did my second shave with the "Oxford Razor Germania Cutl" Works that I bought through the Straight Razor Place classifieds. As a reminder, I'm very much a beginner to straight razor shaving.

I thought I did a good job of face preparation. I washed my face with soap and water, scrubbing good, then I rinsed well with hot water. Then I put hot wet towels on my face in successive applications for about 3 minutes or so. Then I lathered with Geo F. Trumper Rose cream. This time I used a bit more of the cream than I did yesterday.

Then it was time to take the razor in my right hand and shave. I panicked a bit. I could not get my grip to feel right. It did not look correct, looking in the mirror at the right side of my face, using my right hand to hold the razor. I changed my grip on the razor so that the scales pointed up or down, with the edge of the blade always pointing down (which I think is "with the grain" for my face.) Nothing seemed right!

By then, the lather was starting to dry. I rinsed it off me and re-lathered. I calmed myself, and then found what seemed to be a "right" grip and positioning of the razor on my face. High up on my cheekbone. I tilted the blade this time at what seemed to be a 30 degree angle. Very cautiously I moved the blade down on my skin. I could feel hairs shaving off...on a tiny patch of skin! I thought I could see less hair on that small patch, too.

Then I repositioned the razor a few more times...uncertainly...and very gently ran it downwards on my cheek, and again, I thought some hair was coming off. I had a very narrow band of skin that seemed to be a little shaved.

I tried to do a second band of skin and again after much uncertainty, I seemed to actually shave with the razor, just a little.

I fumbled a tiny bit and the corner of the razor bumped into the skin just under my sideburn, but I didn't seem to be cut. Indeed, I had not nicked with the razor, or cut myself.

Then I stopped, and felt the area I had shaved, and then felt the other cheek in the same area for comparison. The area that I shaved did seem to feel smoother. So perhaps I truly shaved a little hair off. I am left feeling that I did better than yesterday.

I then finished shaving my entire face with my Merkur barber pole double edge razor. I got two tiny nicks from using it, one on my chin and one on the right side of my throat. After 3 shaving passes, I rinsed my face, rubbed the nicked areas with an alum block, rinsed a little while later, and put on some Polar Ice aftershave.

Tomorrow night, I will review the beginner shaving instructions to see whether I should try to shave all of my right cheek and jawline area with the straight, or just two one or two swaths like tonight. I am feeling a touch better about how I am handling the straight razor.

Question: I've only used the straight razor twice since receiving it, newly honed, in the mail. Should I strop it before my third shave?

How do you think I'm doing? Am I too cautious? Too agressive? Or doing just fine?

Any advice?

Thanks a lot!

Bob