hello everyone,
I have been lurking here for a few weeks now but I decided its finally time to post. I had my first straight razor shave today! It actually went pretty well too.
Now i didn't deliberatly decide to ignore all the great advice on here, it kind of just happened because i'm a cheap skate.
I do have a few small nicks on my face but not too bad, i didnt even notice them untill the lather started having small red spots in it, i think i will go shopping for a styptic pencil today.
so here are the details

pre shave, Hot shower
Brush, some $6 synthetic thing from the supermarket
soap, palmolive shave stick
razor, here is the fun part. My dad bought a box of junk at a yard sale about 5 years ago and i remembered that it contained a straight razor, so i decided to rummage through his garage and sure enough there it was. against all good advice i decided to hone it myself and using the 3m lapping sheets i got the edge to a beautiful mirror polish that shaves quite well. The razor is about a 5/8 black plastic scales, round tip, Half hollow. And it has ACME on the blade and "made in sweden" on the tang.

My face isn't exactly baby butt smooth but some parts are and the rest will be one day, its not the best shave i have ever had but it sure was the most fun.
Thanks for reading, I look forward to reading and writing more posts from now on.

Brett