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Well it really sounds to me like you've got your head on straight about shaving. (Note the pun :rofl2:) Beard prep is very important, and by the sounds of it you've got a great hold on that. I use The Body Shop shaving brush and shaving cream, and I love them! I don't use their aftershave balm, I just use the one made by Nivea. It also sound like you're really paying attention to your beard growth and direction, and that will be very important when using a straight razor.
The razor and strop set you hyperlinked look good! The razor will come pre-honed, and from what I understand Lynn does all the honing for StraightRazorDesigns. I don't have any experience with any of those strops, so many somebody else will chime in who does.
I think if you picked up that razor and strop, the shaving creams and such from The Body Shop, you'd be set! You wouldn't need a touchup for a while, so a hone or pasted strop wouldn't be needed for a while.
I say pull the trigger on that Dovo and drop that 5-bladed demon!:roflmao
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Sounds like a plan to me. It is good to learn the lathering and prep first. One less thing to deal with. Here is a post by SRP founder Lynn Abrams that helped me ease into straight razor shaving easily.
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Sounds you are on the right track here..
I would just toss out the cartridge and get a straight (and a DE instead of the 5 headed monster:))
I went from the canned goo and a Wilkinson protect to shaving oil and then a DE to straight with shaving soap.. I now use a DE when I'm in a hurry and a straight when I have some time.. I love it and would never ever ever go back to a cartridge again.
So have fun playing with the lather and I wish you all the best with your straight when you get it.. take it easy and don't forget to have fun shaving.
Maarten
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My wife got me some starter stuff for Christmas to get into straight razor shaving. She went to The Body Shop and bought me items similar to what you have -- among them the maca root cream and the same brush.
The maca cream is great. At first I could only compare it to the canned goo, but I now have it in a rotation with C.O. Bigelow, TOBS (rose & avocado) and soap from Colleen (The Gentlemen's Quarter).
The brush is serviceable but if you're still on the fence, I'd say go with badger or stick with the boar -- unless you're really wanting to go synthetic for your products. I got a soap/cream sampler pack from Colleen at the above-linked site and that's also where I got my brush. Right now the prices are from $44 to $54, which was right at my price point when I started. I was a bit leery about paying all that money for a brush initially but now I can say that it was money well-spent. If you go with the Body Shop brush then make sure you dry it properly. I kept mine in the shower (doh!) and the wood started to split a little bit.
If you have a Bath & Body Works near you, they sell the C.O. Bigelow cream (it's $10 on their site but I paid $5 in-store), which is just rebranded Proraso. If you already have some witch hazel in your house you can also use that as an aftershave.
Good luck!
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Thanks guys. I really appreciate the encouragement. I still have quite a bit of that williams left to go thru and afterwards I will be working with the body shop's stuff for a while so I get used to those before I go ahead and buy the actual razor itself.
Thanks again. :D
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I saw the SRD 6/8 Dovo str8 & strop combo and thought it was such a deal that I bought one. I highly recommend it. The str8 is my 3rd Dovo and I love them all. I wanted a better strop and the SRD latigo strop is a great strop. Boy! does it have draw. The synthetic "linen" strop felt strange at first, but it works very well. It's well built and, if you should be unlucky enough to put a major gash in it, replacement leather is available.
Also, the Bath and Body Works' CO Bigelow creme comes in large ($10) and small ($5) tubes. Our local store carried both sizes before Christmas and now they only have the large tubes.
:gl:
