Today was my sixth straight shave. It went well, but as I said yesterday, there is still room to improve.

I switched things up just a bit today because yesterday I received my first SCS Soap. I'm afraid, that may have been one of the infinite variables a newbie faces with each shave that did not necessarily help. Of course I say that not as a criticism of the SCS product, but rather of my inexperience with it!

I did my usual preshave routine: soak the brush, heat the lather bowl in the sink, put a bit of hot water on top of the soap (this is a bit different because I've been using creams), and then turn to the strop for 70 passes on the leather. I followed all of this with a nice hot shower where I added conditioner to my face, wait a few minutes for it to work on the beard, and then let the hot water wash it away slowly...

After the shower, I poured my soapy water in the lather bowl and started to load the brush. I worked the brush for what seemed like a long time developing the kind of white paste on top of the soap in the wooden bowl that I see in the shave videos I've watched. I then moved to my warm lather bowl and started working the lather. It went fairly quickly from a watery slurry to a nice paste that was almost the same consistency I get from my Bigelow and my Trumpers Lime creams. With that accomplished, I lathered up and went back to the strop for 15 passes. When I turned back to the mirror, my lather was significantly broken down on my face. It looked like I'd missed large areas of my face when I lathered with a weak bubbly lather. (Any suggestions on this issue would be appreciated as I don't know whether this means my lather was too dry or too wet)...

Undaunted, I carried on for my first pass WTG. It went well, not as slick and comfortable as my creme shaves, but acceptable. In some ways it was better because the thin soap made me think more about lightening my pressure both on the razor and on my face. First pass down, and everything seemed to be going well. No nicks, no cuts.

I relathered (without rinsing) and started on an ATG pass. This time my lather began breaking down very quickly. By the time I'd finished lathering, it was already getting thin in places. I drove on, reapplying at the neck before shaving that area. Assessment after two passes while I rinsed, no cuts, no nicks, but not as smooth and close as yesterday's shave.

I decided one more pass was in me, even though I was disappointed in my shave today because I didn't feel as though I was being very successful with my lather. When I went to relather, I noticed my bowl was almost empty. All that I found was some thin, bubbly soap left. I worked some lather out of the knot in my brush into the bowl and got a bit more to use, but I barely had enough lather to cover the face (again, suggestions and/or tips welcome here). My third pass was XTG (ear to nose) and then touch ups in problem areas. That pass also completed without any nicks or cuts.

Overall, I got a decent shave out of this effort. It was my first completely bloodless straight shave--for that I was thankful and happy. As I sit here typing, I feel a number of areas I missed or didn't get well, but they are areas only I will notice because the overall result was a DFS (no BBS today like I got yesterday).

This did reinforce a few things I've read here on the board. (1) Not every day is going to be great, especially as a newbie; (2) preshave/prep is just as important as any other part of the shave; (3) If it's not coming together, don't push things, just accept what the razor gives you. Because I'd read each of these lessons on here, I knew how to apply them to today's effort. For that, I thank all of you who have gone before me and who give me help here on a daily basis!