Thread: First attempt

So the missing piece of my set came today, a beautiful Workman razor from Joed (also thanks to CarrieM for the sample creams). For this shave I used Colleen's unscented soap and my Thaeter brush. Here is the progression of events.

1. Soaked my brush in hot water and poured a little hot water over the soap.
2. Took a shower.
3. Shook out excess water from brush, then built lather in the bowl on top of soap. I had to go back to the cup of water with the brush a few times to get a good lather going. In the end I got an adequate lather on my face.
4. Began a WTG pass on my right cheek with my right hand using a standard grip. There were several things that surprised me: It took me while to figure out how to do it without my hand/scales in the way of my vision, I kept having the scales run into my nose, and the blade was very slippery in my hands. Of course I expected to have a hard time getting the correct angle (which I did), which led to the razor pulling a lot. It didn't help the cause that I couldn't see well.
5. Then did a WTG pass on the right third of my neck. Here it was easier to see, but I still had trouble keeping the scales from hitting my chin.
6. Finished the rest off my with a disposable.
7. Re-lathered my face, but I think I used to much water this time because the lather on my face seemed wet instead of puffy.
8. Repeated steps 4-6 with slightly better results.
9. Lathered a few spots I missed with the straight razor and shaved it off with the disposable.
10. Cleaned and dried everything (left leftover foam on top of soap in the bowl), and put everything away.

All-in-all it was a good learning experience. I knew shaving with a straight was going to be hard but in fact it was harder than what I was imagining (and I haven't even tried stropping yet!), and I came away with an okay shave and a bit or razor burn.

Thanks for reading and if you have any advice please share!