Thread: Newbie here (and to straight shaving)

Hello All,
My first post was actually on another topic, but #2 will be an introduction...
First off, I'm 22, and have a history of being into old fashioned stuff (cars, pipe smoking, aged scotch, good knives etc), so it's not at all surprising that I came around to this idea of straight razors. I made the first move in this direction around 18 when I switched from electric to manual (Gillette sensor). Somewhere along the way I was at rite-aid or something and saw this neat little Van-Der-Hagen shaving kit with the bowl soap, and brush for ~$20, picked it up, and have used something along those lines for my normal safety razor shaving for the past couple of years (every now and then some old spice shaving cream if i'm in a bit of a hurry, plus still haven't perfected the lather technique with a brush/soap). For some reason straight razors still hadn't occurred to me. I guess I naively thought that they were obsolete and the newer disposable/cartridge type were actually better (Gillette's marketing on multiple blades etc had me sold). Then one day I'm watching this show on the history channel about "sharpest blades" and they show a barber in LA or some such that uses a straight razor and for some reason something just clicked... so I went right to Ebay and spent an enourmous fortune (all of $50) on a Zeepk kit.
It arrived the other day, and I instantly found myself looking up honing/shaving/stropping tecniques on the web, coming accross this site, and finding out that Zeepk is pretty much worthless and now am hoping to score one of the "newbie kits" coming on here.... Figure at least now I have a strop for pocket knives, and a crap razor to learn honing on... I've been accused of learning the hard way a time or 2.
Interesting, I have this Case CV (Chrome Vanadium blade) and one of the blades looks an awful lot like a modified straight razor... so I'm trying to hone it as such lol..

Welcome. I think the Sensor was the best cartridge razor ever!

That pocket knife will likely shave better than the Zeepk...even if it is dull.

Funny you should mention that... I pride myself in the sharpness of my pocket knives, and my friends can tell when I've been sharpening as I usually have bald spots on my arms where I've tested them (if it gives a close shave, it's good enough).
Case- Nice smooth arm shave (not quite on the face though, I will consider myself a true master when I can comfortably shave with a pocket knife)
Zeepk- nada. if I go over the same area several times it'll knock a hair or 2 off, but not efficiently.

and before you ask... yes, I have tried honing the zeepk and under any circumstances I WILL NOT send it to anyone for sharpening... I have certain beliefs about trying to get master craftsmanship on inferior pieces... Like taking a 78 Honda Boyd Coddington (not that he's my favorite, but he does a decent job)

Welcome to SRP!