I went in to a shop in Las Vegas a few months ago that was selling straight razors, and I thought to myself, this is different - I'd never seen them before in a store, only in the movies. A few weeks after I got home, I remembered the experience and started looking into some information on straight razor shaving. As you may all appreciate, all roads seemed to lead to Straight Razor Place and Straight Razor Designs. I don't know how many hours I've spent watching youtube videos on everything straight razor shaving - something about it is very intriguing.

I bought a Ralf Aust 5/8" from SRD last week and had my first go at a shave tonight. I have to say I am happy with the outcome - but I wasn't too ambitious. I took the advice to only do the cheeks the first time to get the feel for it. Despite feeling like I knew just what I needed to do, I found myself finished with my first pass on both cheeks before realizing I forgot to tension the skin. I was so focused on keeping a 30 degree blade angle. Also, I found it more difficult to create a lather than I had imaged. I used Col. Conk almond with a basic Tweezerman badger brush. I only went with the grain, so when I feel against the grain, it feels terrible - but I achieved my objective for day 1 - and it feels good! (I shouldn't even comment on my first attempt on stropping - I was so worried I was going to screw it up I doubt I achieved anything because I went so soft. I didn't want to mess up the hone from SRD anyways...)

I gotta say, it feels pretty cool to shave with a straight razor. I can't wait continue to get better. Many lessons to learn!