Went well! I didn’t slit my throat and no nicks. I can’t recall witch hazel ever stinging quite so much, though and I’m not used to the short, frequent stroke thing. The William’s soap worked fine and didn’t dry up or disappear from my face on its own. I’ll have to discover for myself what all the criticisms of that soap are all about.
Fairly certain all witch hazels have at least a little alcohol in them. If you are coming off cartridge razorsor electric shavers you may be used to applying pressure. That may have scraped your skin raw. Cart and electrics need that to make contact with the skin to reach the beard. A DE has much more blade exposure so it's more like lightly wiping away the lather. If you have soft water, either naturally or through a home system, Williams & all other soaps will lather easier for you. Hard water needs the soap to "wash" the minerals out before it can foam up. Getting Modern Williams to form a stable lather isn't magic, but it's difficult for many folks. I'd be curious how you'd do with ARKO... Would you like a stick? I'll send you one! PM me if you're interested.
Then you meet st.pete. Start at 15, 70 yrs x 365= 18,550. That's how many shaves in a lifetime. Ymmv, hope you get more.
Absolutely, positively, wonderful! Take your time. Once you get it down, It will be great! Oh and, "ride the cap", that will help. tp
Probably a mid-life thing. That and I got tired of paying so much for the the replacement Mach 3 cartridges every month. I'd never used a double edge razor though, that's what I grew up watching my Dad use to shave so, I figured I'd give it a go. Besides, I like old stuff and old ways. I used to work as a carpenter at historic restoration and we pretty much used only hand tools, I gave up ballpoint pens 20 years ago and write with a fountain pen, every day. I still cross-country ski on 40 year old wood skis which I have to sand, pine tar and wax every season. I guess that I'm just weird!
