An Honor To Finally Be An SRP Member
Greetings all. I'd like to say it is my pleasure to finally be a member of the Straight Razor Place forum. I say "finally" because I must admit that I have been a lurker on this site for more months than I can remember, researching as much as I can of this lost tradition. I'm a patient, cautious guy, the type to soak in as mush info as possible and THEN dive in head first.
But a little about myself. I'm from Edmonton Canada, late twenties, amateur musician (guitar and piano), movie buff and big classic rock fan (thats Neil Young in my avatar, lest anyone think I'm a Neil Diamond fan!). Though I've always been a wet shaver, I've had a love/hate relationship with shaving for a long time. This has been due to sensitive skin/irritation issues, which I now know is from shoddy technique with cartridge razors. As a result I've sported nearly every facial hair combo known to man. When I renewed my interest in straight razors around my birthday in April I thought I'd have my full beard shaved off via a barber shave (shavette, of course). Either I would like it or I wouldn't. Guys, I'd love to say it was a mind blowing experience, but it wasn't. BBS all over for sure, but talk about razor burn! For some reason I was not totally put off, perhaps it was just a bad shave. Then I discovered SRP...........and spent the next several months going through nearly all the forums.
Flash forward to about a month and a half ago. I was on a business trip, wanted to hit the town on a Friday night, but didn't bring my shaving gear. I did find a local barber who did SR shaves........... problem solved, right? Prep was good, hot towels etc, but man did that guy butcher my face!!! I've never had that many cuts/burn on my face EVER. It was worse than my first "barber shave". I've since come to the conclusion that some barbers simply have no clue what they are doing. My resolve was strengthened: I KNOW I can do better. Hell, it can't get any worse.
At this time I'm still a Mock 3 user, although since improving my technique and mapping my beard closely I've reduced irritation to nearly zero, but the shaves are close but no cigar. I gave up on the canned goo a while back, and now use a Vulfix badger brush and bowl. I've had fantastic results using Proraso green soap. However, a few weeks ago I was in Calgary (for a Neil Young concert) and managed to find a store that sold Taylor of Old Bond Street products. I've wanted to try Taylor's for a while now, and stocked up on some Sandlewood soap (at amazing prices too). Wow! It makes me feel like I died and went to shaving heaven. Can't wait to try it with a straight.
I'm sorry to report I have little else in the shave den now (I bought an SUV in the summer, kinda drained the funds for a little while). I want to purchase a 6/8 Dovo Bismarck (pre-honed by Mr. Abrams as a benchmark of what SHARP is), but I just succumed to impulse buying. Just bought a Dubl Duck Satinedge (shave ready) from the classifieds, should be here soon with my Tony Miller 3" strop from Shaving Shop. Can't wait! Other than that I am fortunate enough to now be the owner of my great grandfather's vintage 5/8 Genco spike point; It hasn't seen use in decades, and is in incredible shape (no smile, pitting, chipping, rust or hone wear). Can't decide if I want to send it to Lynn or use it to learn honing.
I should also say that I do have Lynn's DVD and have watched it several times. Anyway, thanks for having me as a member, and thanks to Lynn for setting it all up. I've always been impressed with the sense of community here and look forward to future correspondence.
Ryan
