This newbie has turned the corner
I started wet shaving towards the end of 2007 using a DE and progressed to a straight razor after I was intrigued by all of you and decided to take the plunge into this great hobby. I lurked this forum and read and read and read until I joined around dec of 2007. I started with a brand new
5/8 Dovo Classic that I sent out to be honed. I also bought the Lynn Abrams DVD and watched it until I felt I was ready to put that blade to my face.
Like all newbies it was difficult at first. There is such willingness among the experienced shavers to help the newbies and I was no exception. At one point I packed my razor and decided that straight razor shaving was an exercise in self mutilation and all you guys were nuts. I was going to sell, throw or give away this cut throat that I could not tame.
I was fortunate that my frustration lead to someone extending their help and re-honing my first Dovo that I had very likely ruined in my quest to learn how to use it. I haven't looked back since. My next razors included
some shave ready razors that I have bought here and have given me
a true gauge of what a sharp razor is - Thanks Josh! My favorite is a goldedge doublduck.
I have been buying other razors on e-bay that I'm going to send out to be made shave ready by one of our own SRP honemeister, until I take the next step and learn how to hone them myself.
By reading all the information and reviews in this forum I have bought some excellent soaps that I use. My favorites at this time are the TGQ soaps. I started out with creams, but I have slowly leaned towards soaps and I now use them more than creams.
At every step of the way I am settling in on my favorites and will
eventually use about 4-5 razors in my rotation. I have 3 excellent brushes; a bk4 kent, edwin jagger and a massive shavemaster brush I use with hydrolast soap. I also have a Tony Miller hanging strop and a paddle strop that I bought after reading all the glowing reviews. It truly is an excellent strop and the custumer service I received was outstanding.
The DFW get together proved to be very informative to me and I
learned some more. Thanks to Dewey for putting it together. All in all, I feel that I have turned the corner and get excellent smooth shaves. I have a lot more to learn and I'm doing just that by reading all I can in this forum daily. I hope that eventually I will also be able to contribute. If it wasn't for the input from all the experienced shavers in the forums, I would have never gotten to the point where I am now. The words that I kept reading time and time again were : "Don't give up, it will get better" and it turned out be true. It finally got better for me. The key for me to reach this level was a very sharp expertly honed razor; just like you guys stress time and time again to all the incoming newbies.
It probably took me longer that most, but now that I'm here I love
shaving with a straight razor. My goal is to get a custom razor eventually
and be able to hone my razors myself.
I just need to learn how to stop buying more razors. Do we have a support group for that? :D
GeNn
