well my first shave is over. I only cut my face once. I got a little too confident with my right and on the right side and went a bit too fast and SLICE, right into my cheek. the left side went well, i guess because i had to concentrate so hard using my left hand. and i finished up by going ATG with my fusion so i'm definitely smooth... but let's back up a bit... I boiled some water and poured it into the sink and let a towel soak in it while i took a hot shower. by the time i got out the water/towel was a nice temp to handle so i wrung it out and relaxed for a few with it on my face. I lathered up some SRD opus x (if you read my thread "here goes nothin" you'll remember why I like it). I let that soak into my beard for a bit and did some stropping.... heres where I failed in being relaxed and slow... I finished one of the downward passes on the strop and flipped the blade too quickly... i nicked the bottom of my strop and when the blade caught, it popped out of my hand, flipped over and sliced my thumb to the bone! http://straightrazorpalace.com/image...ameshigiri.gif All was well though, i was bleeding profusely but it didn't hurt at all (thanks to my super sharp tool). The funny thing is, i then realized I don't have any band aids here!http://straightrazorpalace.com/image...s/banghead.gif so i folded some tissue into a small square and tightly wrapped a piece of gorilla tape (super strong duct tape) around my thumb and went back to stropping. over all it was super fun and i didn't totally ruin my face like i was afraid i'd do. I can't wait to shave again Tuesday night... a lot slower and hopefully no cuts. http://straightrazorpalace.com/image...s/goodluck.gif