Just wanted to jump on and say hello as I've been lurking for a bit and have found this community to be very supportive and full of great opinions and information. I live in Los Angeles and haven't found much for straight razors other than The Art of Shaving. I purchased a Dovo Shavette just to try it out and see if I felt comfortable with the idea of raking a truly sharp blade against my beard. I've been shaving with it for just over a week now and am feeling pretty confident and appreciate the whole process of it all. Few nicks here and there, especially considering and slightly raised mole on my cheek that the razor does not seem to tolerate. Guess I'll still keep my Mach 3 around for this purpose only.

I've been digging through the classifieds here as well as looking at classicshaving.com. I've found the Thiers-Issard to be the most asthetically pleasing while also having a great reputaiton for quality. I would really like to get some thoughts on what experienced shavers think I should look out for in chosing a new razor and what the best tools would be to keep up my chosen blade. I guess in short I'm looking for a dream starter set that you wish you had when you first started straight razor shaving. Nothing too extravagant but the right tools for the job.

I've been over the wiki for beginning users and found some very good information, now just looking around for individual opinions.