Since I know you are all very concerned with my shaving regimen, I wanted to provide a brief update on my experiences with Safety Razor shaving. Three weeks in now and I'm now beginning to enjoy it. Here's what I've learned so far:

• Cream is key. While they call it "wet shaving", cream seems more important than water. With a Fusion or Mach III razor, you can take a pass with no cream and do little harm; with the safety razor, it seems to be much more effective with cream. The good news is that I have developed a very serious, emotional bond with my badger brush now.
• Don't swallow...or move...or even think while you're shaving around your Adam's apple. After a pretty serious "gun shot wound" to the throat on the 3rd day of shaving, I now take the neck much more cautiously.
• When $#*% happens, alum block works much better than a small piece of tissue paper.
• I've spent $0.45 on blades. Now, I don't shave every day, but with the blades being "double-edged", I get twice as many shaves out of a single $0.15 blade than I originally expected. With the money I've saved, I hope to buy the country of Iceland.