I did my first for real Safety razor shave

I picked up a Shick Krona, vintage 1960, as my ebay purchases were taking TOO LONG. I also picked up the only blades I could find locally; a pack of Wilkinson Sword classics. Prep was shower, and goat milk soap, and shampoo. I used the Body Shop shave cream, and the Wilkinson Sword Brush, and created what I thought was good lather. I tried really hard to let the razor and blade do the work, and only short strokes. The cheeks were fine, but the neck has some weepers. A litter Harry's after shave balm, and things tamed down. The neck is still red, but quite reasonable. Next time..... No Pressure, and short strokes.... too used to cartridge shaving laziness.

 

Just don't give up, it takes a few bad shaves (more than a few for some), to get in to the "zone" and start getting nice, comfortable shaves

 

good job
stick with it. it'll be old hat pretty soon.

 

The neck will always be the problem area for almost all guys, no matter how long we do this. Sounds to me like you did fine!

 

Sounds like you did a great job. It gets easier over time.

 

You just need to practice practice. You are on the patch already.

If you are now sure if your lather is good enough, stroke your fingers across your face and "wipe" off some lather and check the lather by rubbing your fingers together. I find this an easy way to check the lather =)

I love The body shop maca root shave cream by the way, good choice

 

Sounds like a good first go. It takes a few weeks (some might say ~30 days) to develop good technique. I've been at it for close to 8 months and am still learning.

 

You are on your way!!

 

You are off to a good start. As you see, it takes some learning. I suggest you order a sample pack of different blade brands. There is no objective "best" and each person can get surprisingly different results with different brands. You may also want to add a pre-shave oil to your prep. They are easy (& cheap) to make.
Click here to see the tutorial;http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/how-to-make-your-own-pre-shave-oil.31132/

 

It gets better with experience, and no pressure.

 

Sounds like a great first attempt. It probably took me two weeks to learn blade angle a proper pressure. Now I'm just trying to get muscle memory to kick in.

 

Excellent!

 

Good job! As others have said, practice, practice and more practice. It will get better as you fine tune your technique. This is where (for me) the 30 day rule really shines. Lathering, razor angle and pressure will become second nature. Irritation free shaves was/is my main goal, and normally the less irritation results in a closer shave.

 

Welcome! Keep going, it only gets better as you learn.

 

Good start!

 

If you haven't already done so, take the time to figure out the grain of your beard. The hair on my cheeks grows in the exact opposite direction of the hair on my neck. If this is your case as well you may think you are shaving with the grain but are actually going against the grain. You should get your technique down solid before you try shaving against the grain.

 

You're doing fine! ...my suggestion would be alum block. It will show you where your technique is off. Just take it easy...once you get it, it becomes way better than carts!

 

Congratulations on a great start! As others have said, you'll soon learn what works best for you! That's all part of the fun.

 

Congratulations on making that first leap - It does getter better - stick with it.

 

Very nice, stay with it, it gets better, enjoy your shave.