Greetings from a Newbie!

Greetings! My name is Jim and I am new to wet shaving. I have been shaving almost every day for the last 28 years (requirement of the military) using the traditionally 3 to 5 blade shavers (aka wisker tugger and puller). A friend of mine who has been wet shaving for 10 years has shown me the advantages (financially) and satisfaction of wet shaving.

My first exposure to wet shaving was a meeting my friend took me to, which was where other straight edge razor user talked about straight razors and how to hone the blade. Wow! I never knew there was so much to this way of life.

My friend talked to me the next weekend and gave me a double edge razor to tryout. He wanted to be sure it was something I wanted to do before investing money. The next morning I prepared my shaving cream, lathered my face, gently began cutting my wiskers like I had never done before...I was hooked. That was three weeks ago and I am so eager to try new creams and soaps, different blades, and get my very own razor and brush!

So hear I am, willing to take any advice anyone wants to offer, and learn from all of you. My first investment will be in my own brush. Do you have any suggestions for a reasonably priced, good quality brush?

Best wishes for a great day and a great shave!

Jim

You can get good quality brushes of all types, but first look at the wiki and the brush threads to learn about different brush materials available. Boar, horse, badger, synthetic and combinations. As a starter brush, I would recommend a 23mm Muhle Silvertip Fiber brush. It is a synthetic that many compare to high quality badger brushes. It will lather any soap or cream and is soft enough and with good backbone to face lather or bowl lather. Many wet shavers have collections of brushes. But this brush is a great place to start.

Welcome and hello. 1 thing you will find is no lack of opinions here. For brushes look under the brush section. You can get an idea of what everybody likes and why.