Thread: This introduction is long overdue... However, greetings from West Virginia!

My name is Jeremy. (SSAA ((straight shaving addicts anonymous)) group responds, "hi Jeremy") I started straight shaving a little over a year ago. I think it was the movie Skyfall that got me going. For some reason I must have always thought that one could only be shaved by someone else with a straight, but when James Bond appeared to be prepping to give himself a straight shave, I thought, "If James Bond can do it, I can do it." haha.

Anyways, I started my research and almost immediately found this site. Man, what an overwhelming experience that was. All the information, techniques, products, etc. I thought it would be best to focus on the information offered to beginners. That was a good idea. I learned the correct techniques of shaving, stropping, honing, and even learned that even though it is done in the movies and shows, it is quite impossible to get a decent shave by scraping the edge 180 degrees across your face.

I started with a modest setup. I bought myself a Dovo Best Quality half hollow, a boar brush, 2.5 inch leather strop, and managed to make cloth strops out of denim attached to hard wood slabs in which I applied dovo red paste, dove black paste, and dove white paste (not all on the same strop). After a very short time, I decided that if I was going to be shaving this way from now on, I had better learn how to hone, so I got myself a coticle. Maintaining the Dovo Best Quality was fairly simple since it came shave ready, but I decided to purchase a couple eBay specials for honing practice.

I could go on-and-on about every painful detail in my journey to where I am now:
Thought I was getting good shaves... I wasn't.
Thought I knew how to hone... I didn't.
Thought I could make a good lather... I couldn't.
Thought my stropping would improve... it wouldn't.
But I will spare you the details of every experience I have had over the last year.

I am still very much a beginner in every aspect of this hobby/lifestyle, but I have improved enough to realize that I will continue to improve as I get more experience.

I have now expanded my collection quite a bit (at least comparitively).

Razors (in chronological order) -

1. Dovo Best Quality half hollow
2. Stoddard & Company "Hub" 380
3. Imperial Extra Hollow 20507
4. Boker Silver Steel
5. Wade & Butcher Frameback
6. Wade & Butcher Wedge
7. Dorko Resco 7/8 (thanks to thebigspendur)

Hones -

2 Coticules - One hard & one soft
DMT 8000
2 sets of lapping film set on 3x12 inch slabs of granite - this works for any extensive work that I need to do, which is rare.
Naniwa 12k in the mail
Suehiro 20k in the mail

I also have a low end badger brush, a travel boar, chro ox went on my original strop and I upgraded to a 3 inch horse butt, several soaps, several aftershaves, alum, styptic, etc, etc, etc.

Funny, I remember thinking that switching to a straight would save me money in the long run. I'm not saying one can't save money by switching to straights, however, I think I am to the point that if I never buy another shaving item again, I am pretty sure my future son might save money. LOL

A special thanks to Lynn Abrams for creating such an awesome source, and thanks to everyone else for all the useful information that I have found on this site. This is my first post on the site simply because I just always found that my questions were answered by a doing a simple search, and up until now I have felt too green to offer any good advice. However, I am now getting comfortable shaves consistently, so perhaps I can chime in from time-to-time.

Thanks again! Happy shaving, honing, and whatever else you enjoy doing!

- Jeremy

Where do I go to get the "Cliff Notes" version?

Welcome to SRP!

Glad to hear that you are enjoying your journey,,,

Haha... Sorry for the novel. I tend to be long winded when writing.

that's O.K.,,,,,if your happy, we're happy,,,,,,

Welcome!! Glad to have you here Jeremy!

I am going to take a wild guess and say you bought your first razor and supplies at the superior shave! Am I right lol?

Either way, he sold me on the Dovo pastes. I used them religiously with my coti for quite some time. Do you like em? I have moved to diamond paste and crox (for now). Its working for me, but now and again that green can pull a razor from the abbis .

Again, welcome! Look forward to hearing your experiences!

Welcome aboard! As you have seen, this is a stand up group of folks. Sounds like you have a great start so far. Pull up a chair and stay awhile.

Matt

@earcutter - ding ding ding. I was sold on the coticule and dovo pastes. I have found that they work pretty well, however I recently aquired some chrom ox and have been loving it. More so than the dovo pastes. It could just be the excitement of a new experience though. I am sure that once I have had my fill of the chrom ox I will begin experimenting with the dovo pastes again. Love the coticule edge, but I have already noticed that I like it less on some razors. Hence the purchasing of more hones.

Originally Posted by JLambson

@earcutter - ding ding ding. I was sold on the coticule and dovo pastes. I have found that they work pretty well, however I recently aquired some chrom ox and have been loving it. More so than the dovo pastes. It could just be the excitement of a new experience though. I am sure that once I have had my fill of the chrom ox I will begin experimenting with the dovo pastes again. Love the coticule edge, but I have already noticed that I like it less on some razors. Hence the purchasing of more hones.

The chrome ox after the nani 12k is heaven. Your other pastes will simply be left neglected and harden .

For what its worth, my cotis aren't the best bevel setters. I highly recommend a 1k... And in quick succession a 3 or 4k and an 8 lol!! But for sure the 1k. The bevels you'll get with a 1k will put a smile on your face!

Well that was me anyway.

Glad you are out in the open. Welcome.