Ahhh yes, my fourth shave and im still in love . I used my first restored vintage razor. A Wade & Butcher that I sent out to Maximilian. The man is a skilled artisan whos work is impeccable. This worn piece of history left me worn and stained with a lame faux bamboo scale. It came back in a matter of days looking like a brand new razor. Shiny, Sharp and with a great looking G10 scale. There is an indescribable feeling from holding something that old,wondering who else in its over one hundred year lifetime may have used it as a part of their own daily ritual. knowing the care that went into bringing it back to its original luster with a modern twist. Im sure some of the senior members can relate to this. Its Exciting! Now, on to stropping. This has been very intimidating to me but with a little bit of practice I am confident that im doing it right and pretty well I might add. My fellow nubies that is the key. Confidence that is. When you strop with confidence you will inevitably be stropping well IMHO. Confidently ,quietly and with a steady pace that is neither fast nor slow. At this point my only issues are soap/cream issues. I have had a wonderful experience thus far with my SRD essential oil shave soaps . Particularly the sandalwood. They lather up quickly full and rich. But with all the raves about Proraso and making uberlathers, I gave them a try a second try. In fact I must say that all in all the shave soap wins hands down! Today I began by giving the uberlather its second shot. Unscented shave soap, Glycerin and Castle forbes lime shaving cream. It came together well and felt great on my skin but once I started shaving it seemed to be sticky and preventing my blade from moving swiftly. Danger! I wiped off my face rinsed out my mug and began again with just the CF lime. Much better ! But still not as good as the SRD shave soap.Todays lesson ... If it aint broke, dont fix it. Other than that the shave went well no nics no burn just BBS smooth. I was able to shape up the goatee and mustache very nicely and I am eager to shave once again. My only dilemma will be what razor to use . I have acquired a number of razors in my short time shaving and am excited to try them all Plus I have two more out with max that I cant wait to see. I think I will try one of the filarmonicas next. everyone says there great and I hope to agree!

Good Shaving all!