Long time admirer finly starts

Hello everyone, I am 46 yeas old and hate to shave. I hate shaving so much, I put it off for days even weeks at a time. Even though I hate to shave, I l have been fascinated by straight razor shaving since before I could shave myself. I finally started researching this subject about 6 months ago and stumbled across this web sight shortly after. What a wealth of information.

Being suprised at the actual cost of getting started, and broke down and bought my first razor about two weeks ago. Even though I did the one thing everyone warns against and bought an inexpensive no name razor, from a place not to be mentioned, I am glad to say even with this inferior razor "I AM HOOKED". My first shave was amazing. So much so that I have shaved every day since.

I am so hooked that I scraped up all my nickels and dimes and ordered a Dovo 5/8 razor 2 days later. I just recived my new razor yesterday and made my first shave with it this morning. A good razor really does make that much of a difference.

In closing, I would like to say, thank you to all the great advice and information this sight has provided me. I am looking forward to exploring the wealth of knowledge this sight still has to offer and reading about the experiances others have to offer.

That's great! Something about the act of using a straight razor turns a chore into a daily meditation. Glad that you are enjoying the ride. Now you get to check out the different soaps, aftershaves, strops, stones....

Hello, and welcome to SRP !! :chapeau

Hello and welcome to SRP.

Welcome to the party!!

I was the same way. Hated shaving. And now I have to force myself to wait a whole day

Hi and welcome. Happy shaving

Welcome to the "get support and have fun" shaving forum!

Rocknruss15 Welcome to SRP. I'm very new myself and am ten years older than you. I have 8 shaves in so far and have learned so much in such a short time. Things I wish I would have done from day one. Had my razors honed by a pro, SHARP and SMOOTH REALLY makes a difference! Start a shave journal posted hear detailing everything you did in that days shave. Did everything that was suggested = really good prep-beard mapping- taking time to learn to strop on something besides the razor I am going to shave with(I dulled the edge on my first razor with poor stropping). The best thing I have done so far to further my progress was to go to a meet up. I just attended the spring gathering in Yakima Wa. and what a good decision. Gerrit & his wife hosted the event and I can't say enough about how great the weekend went. Saturday Gerrit taught us all how to turn and finish a custom brush. We also went over tactics for shaving-lathering prep & post shave care-products and how to get the most out of them. A primer on honing and stones and we were able to shave with very good gear while being helped in real time. This kind of mentoring is invaluable to those new to the wet shave world. Glenn(gssixgun) spent Sunday teaching us how to hone, how to get started, what we should buy and how to proceed. Stressing the importance of proper technique vs. having all the best stones. I can't stress enough how important getting to one of these events is, it made a huge difference in my ability to shave well.

Thank you for the advice. I have been watching for one of these events in my area. I always welcome any advice I can get. If this adventure can only get better, I am in for a great, life altering experiances.

I got lucky and a mentor replied to one of my first posts (pinklather) from Portland. He is a very generous gentleman and I heard about the meet from him. Posting direct questions here is a good idea, there are many who will go out of there way to not only answer your questions but help you find out how best to utilize the data available here. In the absence of a meet nearby try to find a mentor to show you, some of the subtle aspects of straight shaving are best communicated in person. It may seem weird to some at first but shaving in front of someone you just meet is OK. The guidance given in a setting like that can get you to shaving better in a hurry and enjoying the experience even more. Good luck on your journey, and keep posting. All the best FrankC