My brand new Böker King Cutter arrived earlier today so I tried it out. In my case, there are a lot of things involved in straight razor shaving that are completely new to me. Up until now I've been shaving with a cartridge razor all my life, so I never had to worry about stretching my skin or even looking that carefully at what I was doing with the razor and I've never used a shaving soap before.

Overall, I enjoyed the experience, although I was a little bit nervous. I got a Van Der Hagen Men's Luxury Shave Set, which costs $23.92 on Amazon.com, but on Amazon.ca it costs $83... Ouch! (Even factoring in the weak Canadian dollar at the moment, that's a ridiculous price. I should have paid more attention.) The razor itself came shave ready from Classic Edge, so I didn't have to strop it yet. I think I will only do that after my second or third shave, since I didn't do anywhere near my whole face this time.

Here are some random thoughts after straight razor shave #1:

- The way the razor is held looked a little bit awkward to me based on the YouTube videos I've watched before getting to hold one in my hand for the first time. Once I tried it, I felt completely comfortable holding the razor in my left hand (I'm left-handed), which was encouraging, because the grip was one of the things I was worried about.

- I shaved my left cheek, the left side of my neck and a little bit of the centre of my neck below my chin with the straight razor, all WTG, and then finished up with my Fusion. I tried to have a go at my sideburns on the right side using my right hand, but after a few tentative strokes I gave up. My hand was in the way when I tried to see what I was doing in the mirror and I think it will take some practice before I can get my right hand to do exactly what I ask of it. I'll also have to figure out how to turn my head so that I can see where the blade is without my hand blocking my sight.

- The only obvious mistake I made was that I didn't mix enough water with the soap and the lather was too dry, which made shaving a little bit uncomfortable. I need to work on getting the right mixture of water and soap into the brush. I did like the smell of the soap a lot - very different from the shaving gels I've been using for the past few years.

I'm normally a once-a-week shaver, but I'll try again on Sunday. I'm already looking forward to my second shave and I'll learn faster if I don't wait a full week between shaves. So far I'm liking it.