Hello everyone,
After a few months of lurking and soaking up info from this great site, I thought it was about time to step out of the shadows!

A little background : I am a 60 yr. old married father and grandfather from western NC. I don't remember exactly when I first shaved, but by 1964 it was a regular part of my routine. I learned with a hand me down gillette, rubberset boar brush, and an old spice mug. I still have and occasionally still use these items! Apparently they last forever if you take care of them. Over the years, I tried canned foam and cartridge razors but kept going back to the brushes, soaps, and DE's. I guess old habits die hard. I remember my grandfather shaving with a straight razor when I was a kid and I was always a little fascinated by them. I've had a few barbershop straight shaves and a few months ago I decided I was finally going to give it a try.

On April 13th I received a Boker King Cutter and Premium IV strop from SRD. Like most, I started with a partial str8 shave and finished with my DE. After 3-4 days I completed a shave with DE touch-up. Finally after 10 or 12 complete shaves, I reached the point where I could get an acceptable shave without using the DE's for touch-ups and without much bloodshed! It still takes me 45mins., but I'm having a ball! I can usually get an acceptable shave with 1 1/2 passes and a little touch-up in stubborn areas. Although I still have a lot to learn, the info on this forum has made it fun and relatively painless. Fortunately, I was already familiar with making lather and skin-stretching. I just wasn't used to keeping lather warm for this long!

Along the way I picked up a Pike Swaty from Glen(gssixgun) and an ivory scaled Heiffor from Ivan(gugi). They were both great to deal with and were very kind in taking the time to answer my beginner questions. My thanks to both of them.

On June 13th I was involved in a motorcycle accident. I am recovering nicely, but due to soreness and limited movement, I was only able to get back to str8 shaving last Thurs. It's funny how happy that made me! Apparently using str8's is very addictive!

Anyways, that's where I'm at so far. Thanks for reading, and I look forward to learning more and using this forum for a long time.

Also, I wondered if there are any Mentors within striking distance of Hickory NC? I need to learn more especially re: touch-up honing.

Thanks

Gerald