I've been shaving with a straight razor now for the the last six days. During a holiday in Turkey over the Easter break I decided to visit a local barber shop and have a shave. What a wonderful experience!
My great grandfather used to have a barber shop here in the UK. My grandad used to shave with a cut-throat razor every day. When he died my mum kept his razors stored away in a cupboard, so, on arriving back home I decided to dig them out and see what condition they were in. They seemed sharp to me so I gave one a go. Ouch !! Needless to say it was a bad experience. So I started to search the web and found the SRP.
After reading lots of advice I decided to order a razor from Classic Shaving, together with strop, soap, mug etc. I also had the razor sent to Lynn for honing. In the meantime, I ordered a Norton 4K/8K stone to practice on while waiting for my razor to arrive. I managed to sharpen the two razors I already have and got a pretty decent shave from one of them, except my chin and neck which I got a lot of irritation from.
Anyway, my new razor arrived from Lynn today and I just shaved with it. Passed the HHT all along the blade. Had a really smooth shave all over, just as close as my Mach 3 (now destined for the dustbin). Now I know what sharp is. Thanks Lynn.
And so my journey begins...