1. Start with a hot rinse
Wash your face with warm water. Warm skin and soft hair cut cleaner. Apply a thick shaving cream or gel and let it sit for thirty seconds.
2. Find the angle
Lay the head flat against your cheek, then tilt the handle down until the blade meets the hair. That's your angle. The head is fixed, so once you find it, it holds.
3. Short strokes, no pressure
Move in short passes of about an inch, going with the grain. Don't press. The weight of the handle is doing the work — your job is to steer. Rinse the head every few strokes.
4. Second pass, if you want closer
Re-lather and go across the grain, never against it on your first few shaves. If your skin runs sensitive, one pass with the grain is plenty.
5. Rinse, dry, put it away
Cold rinse on your face. Rinse the razor, shake it out, dry the blade and the head. A dry blade lasts three to five shaves instead of one.
The first few will feel different. You're slowing down after years of a cartridge doing it for you. Most men find their pressure and pace somewhere around the fifth or tenth shave. Give it two weeks before you judge it.