First wet shave (DE)

I've been on the forum absorbing as much as I can about 4 hours a day for the past 8 months. I've discussed it with my father at our once a week get togethers when our schedules work out, and he got me a SRD wet shave straight kit for this upcoming christmas(i know cuz he told me since he was worried it might not be what i wanted). Whenever we talk about it he always tells me about watching his father shave with a DE and brush with a smile on his face, so i picked him up a Murker a brush and some castle forbes cream in return.

I wanted to figure it out enough to at least point him in the right direction, so i got another brush for myself, some blades, and a cheep puck of williams so i wouldnt use his nice new castle forbes cream.

I took a hot shower and soaked my brush in hot water while i was in there, and prepped my face with some leave in conditioner. After my shower was done i got my things in order, wet my brush as much as i thought would be appropriate, made a few swirls on the soap and made a two or three minute attempt at making a solid lather, slashed my face with some water lathered up made an against the grain pass, followed by alum, which hazel, and nivea sensative asb.

I have rarely ever had a shave without razor burn in my life, and for my first try with a DE it went well, i had a few small knicks and some minor razor burn under my jaw line, where i always have problems.

A few things i noticed were, the angle i needed to use to get a smooth shave without any resistance was much flatter to my face than i wold have thought, and i my lather sucked. This was also my first time using an alum block and which hazel, and its amazing how much they relieved the razor burn and how much of it simply disappeared within 10 minutes of shaving.

I went back later tonight after looking around on here and tried to practice making lather with the williams using more water, more soap and trying to swirl my brush faster(but not press any harder) and my lather was 10 times better, firm enough that when i turned my brush over the lather made peaks that stood upright and when i applied it to my had it felt much slicker than the first attempt had been on my face

I do feel a little bad for using my fathers gift, but I'm glad i can at least say "heres what I did that was wrong"

Sorry this is so lengthy and contains so many run on sentences.

-justin

Thats awesome. I'm sure your Dad will love his gift!!

I can't speak for a DE, but had my first straight shave just the other night. Against many reccomendations I did my whole face. First razor burn free shave I've had in years. Your going to love your new straight!!

The tricky thing about shaving soap is that each kind likes a different amount of water. The same amount of water that you need to get good lather from some Mitchell's Wool Fat may not be near enough for getting a good lather with Cella. The trick is to add water in little by little until you can get the consistency just right.
You might give cold water shaving a try if you haven't already. Some guys swear by it. I used to get pretty bad razor burn myself, but it has entirely disappeared since I started shaving with cold water before I shower.

Congrats on your successful shave. Things well only get better. As far as the shave cream/soap is concerned I agree with ttrendel : Add water as you make lather since you can always add more water, but not remove too much.

Happy Holidays!!

Congratulations and enjoy the shaving!!