Hello World from Bristol, UK

Hello all, a straight razor virgin here!

I purchased my first straight razor today, it's a Vintage Bengall Sheffield Straight Razor. Vintage Bengall Sheffield Straight Razor only ordered it today. I decided the other week I wanted to explore straight razors and got swept away by the passion people have for their art and I can see why so many people get RAD with so many beautiful razors.

I've got my eye on a Boker Edelweiss (for 30th birthday present) but wanted a cheaper razor to test how I get on, not sure if I made the right decision but I really like the look of the Bengall. I still need to get myself all of the peripheral bits n bobs

Looking forward to reporting on my first straight shave!

Welcome to the SRP world. Read and ask away. We all like to give our opinions on everything!. I have two Bengalls, one no name and one Cadman & Son. Great, competent shavers. A good first choice. You have some excellent sources in England for all your necessary peripherals. But don't jump into wanting to hone your own for a goodly while. Learn to refresh an edge first, that will extend the edge done by a pro by many, many months. Remember, read the wikis and ask, ask , ask.

Thanks RazorField

Definitely not ready for honing yet, going to get my shaving soap, alum, styptic pencil and I need a strop too, not sure how much I should be spending on that though.

Welcome, Discere!

Ditto what Razorfield said: "Remember, read the wikis and ask, ask , ask."

I would also add "watch" to the list. There are tons of videos around.

Straight Razor Place Wiki - Straight Razor Place Wiki is our wiki and there is *a* *ton* of useful info, tutorials, howto stuff.

btw-What parts do you hail from? You may want to put it in your profile. SRPer are literally all over the world, if you ever need help/mentoring.

Enjoy the ride, brutha!

Siguy just said what I was going to add. Read on how to make your own strop so you can have one to ruin till you learn good stropping techniques and can afford a better one. And, please, my handle is Razorfeld, no i in it and one one word. A name is an identity and I'm ego proud of mine. Thanks!

[QUOTE=Razorfeld;1278897 And, please, my handle is Razorfeld, no i in it and one one word. A name is an identity and I'm ego proud of mine. Thanks![/QUOTE]:tameshigiri:
LOL! That explains alot. No worries, razorfeld.
:angel:

Thanks Siguy and Razorfeld, I will read and watch, and watch and read then when I am ready... I will prepare....

Hi and welcome. I have a few Bengalls and theu are quality shavers. Good luck and if you need help just ask. Ed

Thanks, it's really nice to see that the SR I chose based on it 'looking very cool' seems to be a razor appreciated by others. I've read good things about the folks running the site I got it from so hopefully it will be nicely honed.

I am getting increasingly excited for that first sideburn to jawline shave!

All the kit is here! I will take some pictures and will log my shaves!

G'Day mate and welcome to SRP me hansom.

I'm a west country boy myself, but now living in the land of OZ, I sure do miss the old westcountry.

Any questions, just fire away, they are a good group of lads here and are always willing to lend a hand.

Enjoy your adventure, and remember take your time, you have a lifetime to explore….. :)

It's about 6 hours after my first SR shave and the bleeding has finally stopped... Only joking, it went great, I only did the small section as advised and it was easy, no tugging, nicks, blood or crying at all. I can see why the advice is to stop there, I could have easily carried on but glad I can do tomorrow without incident on my first go.

I took some pictures which I will ping online tomorrow. I really found that shaving with my Gillette 5 blade to finish off felt so pedestrian after.

One thing I know I need to get used to is the length of the blade, I found myself using the end away from the shoulder the most, so when I moved closer to my nose it didn't feel right, I guess it's all about understanding the relationship of my face and the razor.

Thanks all for your support and good luck to others thinking of making the step who stumble here!

Welcome fellow Newby, I just discovered this forum last week and joined a couple of days before you and I've also just ordered my first 'proper' straight. I went for a Dovo Prima. I've been using a shavette for a few months to get into the swing of it and get used to what a properly sharp blade feels like before I started stropping and stuff. This forum looks like the biz for decent info and advice, I've been reading conflicting instructions and techniques on other sites for months. I was getting quite frustrated. Good luck and enjoy.

This is my kit, I know it's not a badger brush......yet.

I got most of the kit from the 'Brazilian Rainforest' place and the SR is from restoredrazors.com

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