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First Timer

Let me start by saying I have been reading the great information, reviews and posts here at B&B for several weeks. Thanks for such a great wealth of information!

I used Christmas gift money to finally take the plunge, and used the recommendations in the "Getting Started Wetshaving ~Tutorial" to make most of my purchases. Well, yesterday was the day. My goodies arrived, and it was like Christmas all over again. I quickly opened each box and setup my space by my sink in the bathroom. I even practiced making lather a couple of times. "This is going to be fun," I thought!

My wife was getting ready to shower, and I was going to shave while I had the rest of the bathroom to myself. She even joked about finding me on the floor, passed out from blood loss when she came out of the shower. Ha ha! That's it, I was ready to bleed...err, shave, for the first time.

I washed my face with nice hot water. Then I filled the sink with piping hot water and set my brush and bowl to soak. I applied the Proraso to my wet face; a nice cool feeling. I took a small snurdle (what a great word) of my Taylor's Avacado, and began to work it into a lather in my nice warm bowl. Ahh, picture perfect I thought, as I whipped my brush around my bowl. Suddenly, a moment of panic... Was I going to swirl or paint it on my face? I hadn't thought this through! Deep breath. Then I heard a voice. Mr. Miyagi was telling me "Paint fence. Wrist up. Wrist down. Long strokes." And, so I did. The lather felt great!

I reached for my shiny new Merkur HD, and felt like I was wielding a brand new light saber when I picked it up. I carefully laid the blade against my cheek and took my first stroke. No pain. No blood. Not bad! Again, I placed the blade on my cheek and took another stroke. "I'm doing fine," I thought. I was remembering to keep the pressure feather light, and taking long smooth strokes. N-S, XTG. Things are going great.

I reapplied some more of my fine lather, and prepared for the S-N passes. This is where my first shave fell apart. I suddenly couldn't remember to apply no pressure, and proceeded to bludgeon myself. I had visions of opening my eyes with my wife staring down at me and saying "I told you so!" I can't let her see me like this! Oh no, the shower just stopped. Hurry!

I rinsed my blade, washed out my brush and bowl, and washed off my face. I grabbed a bar of alum and scrubbed my face. Not as bad as I originally thought, but bad enough. I got all of those darn little nicks to stop bleeding, and inspected my handiwork. All in all, not too bad. Pretty smooth, and only 5-6 nicks. I grabbed some moisturizing aftershave and it felt cool and soothing, but I could tell I would be feeling this first shave for a while.

A lot of lather, some blood, and a bit of post-shave cajoling from my wife, and I have entered the ranks of wetshavers. I am glad to be here.
 
Welcome to B&B!! Sounds like my second shave....the first actually went quite well due to the fact that my wife was out of town at the time....:wink:
 
I do "sand the floor', then 'paint the house' (side to side) lightly, then even more lightly 'paint the fence' for lather on first pass, 2nd - 3rd pass just side to side and up and down
then grab my 38C and
BONSAAAIIII!!!!
:biggrin1:
 
greetings.remember---light pressure.

Yep. Usual beginner mistake. Do not use a heavy hand or mash the razor into your face, Its not a cartridge. Use little or no pressure and let the weight of the razor do the work. You get closeness not by adding extra pressure to the razor, but by taking multiple passes.

PS - If you want to practice blade angle / technique, Bic Metals are a hell of a good way to start.
 
You shoudl shave for a few weeks and get your technique down before trying s-n passes. Start with the n-s passes untill you get it down for a few weeks well. Than onto xtg passes, untill youve got them down and lastly, atg passes.
 
You shoudl shave for a few weeks and get your technique down before trying s-n passes. Start with the n-s passes untill you get it down for a few weeks well. Than onto xtg passes, untill youve got them down and lastly, atg passes.

The problem with a quality razor and a great lather is that you are tempted to get ahead of yourself. It feels so slick and smooth and you think you've got it down already, why wait a few weeks? Then you pay LOL.
 
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