So, just a couple of weeks ago, I purchased my first straight razor+shaving kit+strop. I was so excited to begin this new hobby, I basically live on SRP until my "goods" arrived. After waiting for just a few, short days, everything minus the strop arrived. Now, the razor I purchased was $21 and nothing special but it was solingen steel, just not very pretty. It was deemed shave ready and stropped. So, I jumped right into shaving, albeit with very cheap soap, and had an okay experience. It definitely cut hair like nobodies business, yet I kept "catching" it on my beard. I went in knowing that the first shave would not be as wonderful as the senior members talk about bit I was still slightly disappointed but very bond and determined to accomplish my goal, BBS, in as amount time as possible. I did what Lynn, the obvious guru, said and only shave one part of my beard so the next day I did the other half and tried the rest of my face. Wasn't a huge failure but lets face it, it wasn't great. But every day I kept at it and I kept looking at a new razor to add to the rotation and after many days of looking on the Classifieds page, I found a new razor. A Boker 5/8 rescaled at $45 dollars. I knew that Bokers are talked about on SRP with hushed voices, so I figured, What the heck! I bought and got it today, Friday, and immediately tried it out. The shave floored me. Instantly, with one pass of WTG it got as close as BBS as any razor i have EVER used. It was night and day. I couldn't believe it. Not only does it shave well but it is beautiful as well. I think I am becoming addicted, which is good and bad but who cares! Best shave of my life.