'newbie' signing in

[harold]

Hi all, I'm a 29-year old Belgian (Antwerp to be exact) male, been shaving since my 15-16th year and Mach3 was my big revelation (still is my preferred razor), however it never gave me satisfaction nor a decent smooth shave to my likings (still have to shave twice a day if I want it smooth :/ )

So, in search of a better way to shave, I stumbled on all your wonderful sites and well, while I didn't knew these razors still existed (last time I saw one was an old one with the handle broken in an old toolbox of my father when I was 9 ) , being thoroughly victimised by the incessant Gilette-Wilkinson brainwashing and the non-existence of choice in all mens-ware stores, I sure am glad that I can still 'go back to the roots' and hopefully enjoy a much better shave.

currently I bought myself a beginners badger brush from shavemac.de as well as soaps and a nice cup and stand for the brush (given the fact that my bathroom is very tiny, these seemed an excellent choice), so that, in attendum of the razor, I can already learn myself to make lather and apply/use it with my currently used M3. (sorry if this comes over as heresy to some of you but you'll just have to deal with it. )

So currently I still need strops and (a) razor(s), as well as some other things no doubt, suggestions would most definately be welcomed. If possible I'd like to purchase a razor from one of you honemeisters so that I know that I'll get a decent one.

My big *but...* is the following: ever since my 16th I've been a beard-man. I've had various kinds of beard types from goatees to full beards though since about 6 years now I do trim them all down to 1-3 mm depending on wanted look & mood (to get that more stubbly manly look mostly, ohlala ) So anyway at times I do need to shave *between* regions where I do keep hair e.g. a soulpatch within a full beard or a ringbeard, so I'd need a razor that I can use for these finer jobs that will accomplish that (do keep in mind that fine is relative given that I use an M3 for this job right now) . The question is: does this call for a spiked point or would a rounded point razor be fine?

Anyway, nice to get to know all of you, thank you for the reviews and helpful threads you posted here and on other sites that I've been reading so far. Any and all info you can give will be very much appreciated.

Thank you.

Harold

PS one of the main reasons of going towards 'lesser' amount of blades for me is that I tried the wilkinson quattro and it just tore up my face, at least with the M3 it only makes my face really sore the second shave.