Thread: intrigued, excited, scared and can't pull the trigger!

Hello Gents, I'll first start by saying thanks for the amount of info that you guys post...it is making my journey to the life of straight razor shaving quite a ride. I had no idea about any of it!

First off, I'm from the interior of BC where so far I haven't yet found a straight razor community.

I had my first straight razor shave in New York City last year and loved the experience and want to bring it home! My gf bought me some art of shaving gear and it instantly changed my regular shave. She had wanted to buy me a straight razor set as a gift but I held off as I had a feeling there was much more to it than meets the eye.

Where it stands now, I have the art of shaving pre shave oil, shave cream, after shave and silver tipped badger hair brush. I know that they are better than what I had, but up until now didn't realize the extent to which straight razor shave products went. For where I am at are these a good start?

Are there better ways to choose a razor based on thickness of beard? I have a pretty light beard, rarely shave more than 3 times a week with minimal growth.

Having read about whipped dog and larry I think that is where I will be purchasing my razor and strop, and maybe hone, depending on what type of feedback you guys give me, this leads to other questions.

I'm the type of guy that despite being new, I would like to own a razor that even a vet would enjoy shaving with. So, in terms of width, ground and type of steel are there any that are more broad spectrum than specific? From what I have read, something in a 5/8 or 6/8 is a good width? Hollow ground seems to be the norm for most razors? round point for sure at this point of my career.

Having watched the lynn abrams video about stropping i think that whipped dog's the poor mans strop or one of his other strops seems to be more than adequate. With that being said, for an extra $15 is a poly strop worth it for a newbie? What does poly do vs leather, which do you use first during daily routine?

Honing has me curious, some say don't hone until you can shave, other say they are learning while they shave. It doesn't seem like you need to hone more than a few times a year depending on how often you shave or refresh your razor as lynn showed. While I don't want to f*^k up a razor, it seems a bit of a pain to send a razor off for a week or so. I don't want to rush in too deep, but i don't want to be able to maintain my own gear. Thoughts?

Also, do most of you just towel dry your razor and hang it up after or do you put a drop of oil on it to prevent rusting?

I know that there are many great options to get into this, I just need some help.

thanks again!
Noobs