Well I had my first safety razor shave this morning with a Merkur heavy duty and new feather blade in it, used taylors of old bond street sandalwood cream with a badger brush and so on. I had like a 2 day stubble going on, and I can vouch for the thing going through facial hair like butter and it doesn't take much.

Wife has shaved with these for forever and been riding me to use one as they beat disposables, and she's right they do. She even bought this Merkur for me like 3 months ago just for when I did break down and try it.

Great smooth shave with 3 passes, with the grain, across the grain and once again across the grain in opposite direction. She perched her small self on the vanity and watched me lol, instructing as I went and it went very well for my first ever shave with a double edge.

Though I did get a bit of razor burn I think, red splotches right?? She tried teaching me to build my own lather...yes I did it all myself with her instruction shaving, lather and all of that along with prep. I was proud that I made a super massive amount of lather in this huge mug we got and thought I had this thing in the bag, well turns out that I very likely picked up too much shaving cream from the tub on the brush and when the lather acted too thick or dry I had added too much water and thinned it out to where it did not protect my face as it should have so...she let me learn that one on my own lol.

No big deal it's not really bad but a handful of splotches and a bit tender to the touch, though her post shave creams likely saved me from being miserable. She said I would get the hang of making a good lather that would make it the best shave I ever had, well I think I got that this morning any way.

Also I think a contributing factor aside my lather making mishap is also what I will term as "unconscious pressure", I am a big guy at 6 feet and 220lbs...powerlifter and bull in a china shop. So I might be not knowingly placing pressure on the face, it is difficult for me to maintain a relaxed candor as I am used to pressure being a key factor but I think I will get the hang of it when muscle memory kicks in.