Hi all. My name is Don and I'm a SR newbie. I started DE shaving in junior high school. My dad was a barber so I had an excellent teacher. My weapons of choice were a Gillette Fat Boy and Barbasol. I jumped onto the Gillette cartridge bandwagon in the early '70s, staying with the Sensor Excel. But I still used Barbasol. About a year ago, I rediscovered DE shaving. Thanks to B&B, I'm back to my old Fat Boy and Gillette 7 o'clock yellows. I've also abandoned the Barbasol and moved on to the 5-minute prep.

My mom moved into an assisted living facility, so my sister and I have been clearing out her house. Among my dad's barber tools, I found several straight razors. all deeply rusted. But there were a couple 4/8s in his beautician tools, in reasonable condition. It got me thinking about SR shaving. The real prize was a 1931 edition of Moler's "The Barbers' Manual" in very good condition.

I hereby apply for SR apprenticeship. I have a Dovo 6/8 plus strop incoming from SRD. Meanwhile, I'm playing sponge, soaking in the videos and FAQs.