My new kit was waiting for me when I got home from work yesterday. After I was able to get the kids to bed - daddy is quite capable of cutting himself without the help of small hands tugging on the hem of his slacks - I set off to unpack it and tackle the challenge of the first shave.

It all went relatively smoothly. No nicks or cuts and only a very mild case of razor burn at the bottom left side of my throat where I didn't have the skin pulled tight. I could feel the blade scraping there and knew what was coming. It also didn't turn out to be that bad of a shave (three passes, two WTG and one ATG). Not BBS, but definitely passable for work.

I didn't strop this time as the razor was shave-ready and I didn't want to chance rolling the edge. I paid close attention to the angle of the blade, and did my best to keep the pressure very light. I was even able to use a slight scything motion (but only with my right hand). All in all a very enjoyable 45 minutes.

Here's what I used:
5/8 1/4 hollow french point Wapi (very nice no-nonsense str8)
Vulfix PB brush
TOBS Sandlewood SS (already had it, great stuff!) with 5 drops of Glycerin
hot towel before and between passes
Alum block
Spanish Floid AS

I'm looking forward to my next shave.