Got home and was surprised to find my razor in the mail, Canada Post was extra slow on this one, it took almost 3 weeks to get here. The moment had finally come for my first straight shave! So what did I do? Sat down and watched tv for a couple of hours. I felt I wanted to be nice and relaxed for this.+

Took a hot shower while soaking my Omega boar brush, got out and put on the Proraso pre-shave and lathered up some Proraso cream. I added a couple of drops of glycerin just in case, being my first shave and all. Put on the cream and since the razor was sent to me honed and shave ready I didn't strop it, I spent a couple of minutes wiping off the oil and just holding it, getting a feel for different grips. The razor is a Gold Dollar (yikes!) 66. Actually, except for the clearly cheap scales it looks a lot better then I thought it would. I'll take some pics if anyone wants to see it.

Ran over in my mind what I felt were the important tips - don't press it against your face - pay attention to angles and the grain of growth - keep your skin wet and lathered - don't push the razor down, guide it and let gravity do the work. I took my time and it took me about 35 minutes. I did one WTG pass then XTG then just to review the strokes another WTG. Only hard part was on the right side where my hairline meets my sideburn area, neither hand could get the blade where I wanted it WTG so I did XTG only there. I couldn't really see with either sideburn area but I figured out pretty quick to ignore that and go by feel and I had no problem with that. I wouldn't want to do it with a spike point though! No cuts, only irritation is on my neck but it's always an irritation area, no better or worse then with a cartridge would be. Best shave ever? Nope, but plenty passable, at least as good as a cartridge with a couple of shaves on it. Followed up with the Proraso and some Nivea after shave balm then after a few minutes a splash of Clubman Pinaud.

I'm hooked! It was a lot of fun and is surely an art and a science, one I'd be proud to say I've accomplished. I do a lot of hiking and camping and I can't wait to be out on the coast somewhere sitting on a rock with the waves crashing before me and shaving like my great grandfather did.

Now I can't wait for my Dovo to arrive and see if it shaves better and with less irritation. If I find the GD holds up against it I'll keep using it, if not, fish knife!