This morning I attained shaving nirvana. Well, sort of. Perhaps just a milestone.

Dovo Ebenholz
Tabac

Warning: my beard doesn't like to be shaved and it grows kinda' fast (about 1 mm a day). So I've been taking this slowly and still have a mustahce because, frankly, I don't want to bleed out. LOL

So I lathered up, stropped, then did:
Pass 1: WTG
Pass 2: XTG

Still had lather, still had a blade... thought: let's go for it.
Pass 3: ATG

Rule #1 I had to keep reminding myself: PULL SKIN TIGHT.
Rule #2 I had to keep reminding myself: Small strokes for now.

What I found was that as long as I pulled my skin REALLY tight (okay not ridiculously nice) I was able to go ATG! When things got tough, I realized I'd slacked up on the stretch.

So I used several hot wash cloths afterward, then alum to tighten pores back up (ouch). Then Nivea aftershave balm (had to apply 3 times and massage it in). And finally some moisturizer (2 applications, massaged in well).

My face feels irritated, but there was no folicular bleeding (if I'd done this with my cartridge there would have been). Got only one small nick on my chin.

Don't think I'll do this every day unless my face adjusts to it like PRONTO. But wow! It's TOTALLY doable! I imagine that with a freshly honed blade it'd have been easier yet. Will definitely try this again!

Gotta' say: this was only because the Straight Razor has so far been TOTALLY IRRITATION FREE for me! No ingrown hairs! I'm 41 and this is the first time in my life since I was 13 that I haven't had acne caused by ingrown hairs!

There's no way I'm going to let my son (now only 3) start with a cartridge thing when he's old enough. LOL