Hi Jayjay,

I'm a night-time shaver, because my workdays are usually sweaty and dirty and I like to give my skin a break between shaving and sweating. I shower, but don't dry my face coming out. I keep it moist with a washcloth until I actually lather it. I usually strop and make lather before showering, so that's all done.

I like to do the actual shave with cold water, so I'll give my face a good wet cold-water rinse before lathering up. I lather my whole face and neck, then start shaving at my collarline and work my way up. This is so my nonshaving hand has dry spots to grip and stretch my skin. I do one side of my neck, then the other, then a short pass down from the sideburns. This leaves a narrow triangle from my mouth back to my jaw joint, kind of like a clown's makeup. I shave this from my mouth back toward my ear on each side. It's a pattern I've developed to shave with the grain as much as possible.

This leaves my chin and mustache, which is where my whiskers are thickest and densest. I rinse my whole face and neck, then relather my chin and lip. This fresh lather does a couple of things: it ensures that I've got moist enough lather for shaving (it's very dry where I live, and lather dries out fast), and it gives these toughest whiskers and extra-long soak and pretreatment. I do the touchiest bits first--between the nose and upper lip, then about a finger's width beneath the lower lip, then I finish out the rest of my chin with very short, narrow strokes. Think of peeling a very small potato with a carrot peeler--that's as much as I try to shave in any single stroke on my chin.

Then a couple more cold-water rinses, attend as necessary to any bleeding, and splash on some witchhazel. Rinse, dry, & strop the razor and put it away. Then I go to bed and my dog licks my face all over. No awful infections so far!

I know from your other thread you're waiting on a razor to arrive. Enjoy it! Go slow, and never use more pressure than it takes to scrape away the lather. Especially with a fresh disposable blade, that's all the pressure you'll need. The whiskers will come off like magic.

Best wishes to you.