I guess now it's my turn to a "First Shave!" post!

It went really well. My razor came in the mail today, a W.H. Morley & Sons Clover Brand razor sent by Bill Ellis. Honestly, I was thinking about it all week after he said it was in the mail, and today was the perfect day for it to arrive; my week started off with lots of tests and papers, and so now, things are easier again, and I could devote a solid, relaxed chunk of time to learning how to shave.

I was surprised with the sharpness, it cut through everything pretty easily. Of course, like everyone has said, the chin was pretty tricky, and I ended up using my Gillette to get that. I was having a really hard time with the left side of my face though, cuz I'm a righty and I wasn't feeling very confident in my left hand for the first shave. Does anybody have any tips for dealing with that? Any good ways to use one hand for the opposite side? Sometimes my hand or arm was blocking my vision (bad) but I couldn't really get around that. I guess to learn how to use my left I'll just have to try it...eventually.

I got one little slice on my cheek when I was getting overconfident and let the tip of the blade catch, but I quickly regained my focus...

Anyways, I feel pretty great about it; once I get confident in covering my whole face, I'll probably get rid of my fusion. I need to get a strop though, I've been waiting for Tony's site to come back up so I can check. There is a local tobacconist's that I might look at; if they have anything cheap I'd rather chew that up learning before I get a nice one. Or maybe I'll ask around here... I also might get a few new things like soaps/aftershaves/stuff. I'm currently using the Proraso cream for COBigelow and it's good, but I'd like to try something different as well. Any suggestions? Any places give out free samples? I think i saw something in another thread...