Newb who doesn't know what to do.

Hello. Hola. Kon'nichiwa. Aloha.

So I've secretly been on this site for advice on my first purchase. I finally decided to make my own account after my point of no return. Let me get your 2 cents on my new shaving gear. I purchased a Merkur 34C HD, Crabtree & Evelynn Moroccan Myrrh shaving soap, Thayers Witch Hazel with Aloe aftershave and a sample pack of blades. I plan on using my older Art of Shaving brush for now. I would like to buy a new one but it has to be economical.

Where can I check in with my service member brothers?

Greetings and Hallucinations, ShavenHero..
We're all Newbs at least once in life...

Your gear is good-to-go.. Stay with this setup until it teaches you everything it thinks you need to know.. then branch out.
Stay with each blade until it gets uncomfortable. Don't waste them since you want to learn from them.

Go to the opening page of The Barber shop to find your Service member links...

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/forumdisplay.php/25-The-Barber-Shop

Our house is your house
Nuestra casa es su casa
Notre maison est votre maison
Taigh againn tha taigh agaibh

Bienvenido. Welcome.

Looks like you have a pretty good setup. The Merkur 34C is my favorite razor, and I have tried quite a few. As far as the soap goes: I'm not familiar with it, but I'll tell you what has helped me make better latherers out of all my soaps. Soak your brush (only the bristles) and shake, then squeeze a bit to get most of the water out of it before loading. Having too much water on your brush gives you too many bubbles and makes you think you have loaded enough when you really haven't. After loading, I would recommend using a lather bowl (any wide bowl will do) to get it to a nice almost yogurt like consistency. Adding drops of water if needed. This will help you better learn what a good lather should be like. Then you can always switch to face lathering if desired. I really think that a good functional lather is the most important part of the shave.

Enjoy all your shaves.

Welcome and thank you for your service! It sounds like you have a great starter setup! I'm glad you got a sample pack of blades... it'll give you a chance to figure out which work best for you and your specific razor. Best of luck!

Welcome, here are the links for active duty and veteran check in. Active Duty Members click to get your Active Duty Badge

Welcome to B&B. Matwho has you covered for connecting with other service members.

Welcome to the club. Glad to have you aboard.

Welcome to B&B, glad to have you here.

Welcome! Looks like you are doing well! I suggest you read through the wiki!

Welcome to B&B!

Welcome!
I have the same razor (and a few others ) The Merkur 34C is a great razor and it sounds like the rest of your kit is pretty solid.
As far as new brushes go, check out the BST Forum, you will likely find what you are looking for if you practice some patience.

Thank you for serving. (Allons! - F Troop 2/11th ACR)

Welcome!

Hello and welcome. Great to have you here on B&B. Wander on over to the Hall of Fame and introduce yourself.

You're doing well! Enjoy the place.

Welcome. You've created your own ensemble and are ready to play. Have fun.

Hi, welcome to B&B

Welcome!!

Welcome to B&B! Glad you joined us. If you haven't already done this, click on the Veteran link below. Thank you for your service.

Thank you all for the warm welcomes! I will definitely take all of your advice especially with the lathering part. This is definitely going to be a huge learning experience and I'm sure with all the options it will keep things interesting. Considering I have to shave my face every day, I will be getting plenty of practice time. Thank you for connecting me with the active duty section.

Question on lathering. I was reading through the wiki and noticed that in one of the images of a tutorial it showed someone with 2 bowls. one for the soap and one to create the lather. is this normal? I don't have any bowls so I was just going to use whatever I had. My soap is a refill bar. I couldn't afford the few extra bucks for the soap with the bowl (active duty pay)