WooHoo! I have been reading this forum for quite some time, and finally last week decided to purchase stuff to begin down the road of straight razor shaving...well the long wait was worth it. My razor arrived today..and having built up the anticipation I couldn't wait so decided for an evening shave!
Razor looked great, bought in classifieds as shave ready, passed the AHT which i know doesn't necessarily mean anything...but i tried it none the less.
I'm fairly comfortable with blades but decided against stropping my first time, I'll give that a go next time around...
Went through all the prep sans shower, splash hot water, get a nice cream up, lather it in for a minute, masssasge with my hands for a minute, and then a 2 minute hot towel soak, rinsed and re-lathered and decided to give it a go...
I had re-read lynn's post on starting out, and had decided to just give my sideburns and maybe my cheek a shot...well i'm sure we all know where this is going. As i was gliding down my sideburns, to my cheeks i was astonished at how confident and comfortable i felt. I stopped, and slowed myself down, and decided to give the jawline a shot...passed, down on to the neck...not too bad. Eventually switched hands, and started the left side of my face, a little more awkward being very dominantly right handed...and got my first nick, sat the blade on my upper cheek and put a little too much pressure, very minor, dabbed some cream on it and it was done. back to shaving...went fine again til i got to my upper lip, left hand again just a little too much pressure.
Finished up my face WTG, and decided for a XTG on my cheeks and jawbone to try and catch what I missed or didn't get quite as close. no issues here, other than awkwardly trying to go XTG on some spots but I figure i'll get them as i practice more. Didn't go ATG at all, didn't want to press my luck.
Overall, two nicks...and a very close shave...as good if not better than the results i see from my Fusion Power! I have no idea how much time it took as i made it a point to not look at my watch, i jsut took my time and had fun, i do have a big grin on my (smooth) face though - feels great to have accomplished a great shave on my first try.
So far i'm just using canned shave gel, but using a brush to get a good lather, that alone made a difference in my shaving. But I really want to get some decent shave oils and creams and aftershaves as i think my sensitive skin will appreciate them.
Thanks to everyone who helped me shop! Very much appreciated!