I decided to start a new thread to document my progress with the straight razor. I suspect it will be a slow going but rewarding journey and I am really eager to get started.

I am using a Beau Brummel No. 35 that came shave-ready from Gugi here on the forums, along with Truefitt & Hill shaving cream. My first experience with the razor was Friday night, and I only braved shaving a small portion of my face from my sideburn down to my jawline, like the beginner's guide suggests. I had one nick right off the bat but after that things went well.

I got the straight out again last night and decided to attempt my entire right cheek. I once again did not strop the razor beforehand because I didn't have a place to mount the strop in my new apartment. The shave went really well nonetheless. I finished up with my Gillette Fusion and it gave me terrible razor burn on my neck. Each time it makes me more and more motivated to learn how to handle this straight razor. Just running my hand over the different parts of my face was enough to show me the straight razor's quality: my technique is absolutely minimal and I still had a much closer shave than with the cartridge.

Right now I am setting up my strop in the bathroom and I hope to have it secured soon. I've been doing some research on the age of this razor I have but can only date it to sometime in the 30s or 40s. One side says Beau Brummel Cutlery Co. Solingen, Germany and the other says No. 35. I've looked at others on the forums here and they appear to say either Brummel Werk or Beau Brummel Razor Co along with Pearlduck's address in NY. I'm not sure if mine is a variant on the latter or not.

Josh