I'm been wanting to try straight shaving for a while. Since I just got notice that I'm being laid off in November that put a big hault to any purchasing of supplies. I was looking at getting one of the sight unseen kits from whippeddog.com, when Lazarus offered to let me borrow one of his extras. This was an amazing offer, so I took him up on it and picked it up from his house yesterday evening. It's a nice little 5/8 Boker I believe, freshly honed and stropped.

Once I was home and my daughter was in bed I started getting ready to shave. I did all the pre shave prep, then started.

One thing I noticed was that even though I told myself over and over to only do a little, like is stated in the beginners shave, I just couldn't stop. I did the one swipe, well several little ones actually, then did more. Pretty soon my cheek was done and I was moving onto my neck. Felt a little ackward but I was able to get it done with no nicks. I then did the other side of my face, with my left hand. This felt completely foreign, but I thought I'd try it anyway. Did the same thing, once I started I just couldn't stop. Did the cheek then the neck. Now it was time to do the upper and lower lip, plus the middle of the neck. This took a bit as finding the right angle was a little ackward.

All in all it was a success. Only nicked myself once, and that's when I flinched a little. Not even sure why I flinched, but it's the only nick I got so I'm happy. This was all WTG and turned out just like a shave like that should. I then went back and did an ATG pass with my Fuzion.

Few notes that I got though:

- Lather needs a little more water to start with
- Only lather a small section at a time. I found that I was going so slow and trying to focus on technique that my lather kept drying out on my face. Not a big deal once I did the note above and added a little more water.
- Left hand felt weird, but once I got the grip right and started it was just as steady as my right and I felt like I had control over it.
- I knew these things were sharp, but dang. I can say I've never understood the term "scarry sharp" until last night.

This is a BLAST. I had more fun shaving last night than I've ever had before. I'm really looking forward to my next shave which will be a few days.

I'll keep you guys posted with my progress, especially when I feel comfortable enough to try shaving my head. I do this now with the Fuzion and can't wait to tackle it with the straight.