Thread: Ok newbies..Iam going to pay it forward.......

Hello all,

So today i got my new dovo razor (my first straight razor) and i was really excited once i opened and cleaned it and stroped it i was ready to go so here is my story...

I stand at the sink after washing my face to prepare my beard and I look at the razor sitting on the counter thinking lord this could be my last day on earth at least let me go with a nice shave... I lather up my beard and look at the razor again and think to myself maybe I should get my first aid kit just in case. qickclot saves lives just saying. I pick up the razor and place it high on my cheek where my beard starts and pull down it hurt a little so I stopped and reset the angle ahhh much better. I do my second pass and continue on to my other cheek. so far so good i start on my neck same pulling problem so i backed off and tried again with a different angle still a little discomfort but im getting used to this. so i finish my neck and ask myself do i feel lucky, now do I. I take the razor to my chin and pray that i dont take my chin off befor work. one..two...three strokes and only one real nick to speak of. i thank my razor for its service clean it and get ready for work. although not my most comfortable shave I think i enjoyed this whole process. any tips or pointers you have for me would be marvelous. im reading as much about this whole process as i can but i feel im at the point where i need the hands on befor i ask for anything else.

Some razors like constancy and old friendships. They watch the slow turn to grey, the wrinkles crease corners of familiar eyes. Get passed on to sons. Nessmuck's Straight was the other kind. Restless. The sort that kicks around flea-markets, goes missing with lost airline luggage.

She hung around my place once. I think she liked it here, it reminded her of the old days. The way I shaved outside, the little round mirror on a nail in the fence post. Horses grazing or at the hitching rail. She liked the way saddles and harness leather smelled like a good strop. And there was other good steel for company. The scythe from Hungary, peened sharp. The hand-forged swedish axe. My good bush knife.

She got twitchy before long. I didn't trust my hand on the hone yet, so I got her sharpened. Then sent her off to someone on that Forum. She would have left anyway. Besides, that's what paying it forward is all about.

I watched her kick around there for years after. Sometimes people even posted her picture. I always felt a bit wistful, like when you see an old lover from a distance, hanging on someone else's arm.

Then one year she didn't come back. I guess it didn't surprise anyone much. But I think about her some, and I hope someone is treating her right. And I hope for his sake he doesn't get too attached. Because she is that kind...

(ps i know, i'm canadian, but dad's down on the border and can pick up shipped parcels at the little store across the line...:-)

Hello, this is my official first post. Keeping it simple. I've been reading posts since last November. Joined the forum in January and ordered my first shavette. Been using it since then with good results. Practicing for when I get my 1st straight razor for Christmas 2014 (if I'm lucky. ). This would be a great opportunity before then. Thanks.

Nice job nessmuck, and well done lifesshort. Enjoy your new razor and dont be afraid to ask questions, i think we have proved we are not that scary

thank you nessmuck for the post and the contest, i might not have won, but it definitely brought me from creeping all the forums to at least beginning to post on them and spending a lot more time searching through the site while i awaited the results, i have definitley learned a lot, its good to not feel like you are the only one who has had the issues starting out that i did, especially starting out without a mentor, and just going off youtube, again thank you, and congratulations lifesShort, enjoy that blade

thanks for the fun, nessmuck! congrats lifesshort!