Brand new straight shaver here in South Carolina

Hi everyone,
Would like to start off by saying a HUGE thank you to all who contribute to the wet shaving community and the beginners or "noobs" to straight razor shaving like myself. The experience I've found poured out into the SRP forums has been extremely valuable and instructive so thank you so much!
So I guess a bit about myself.. I'm a 28 year old former marine living in Florence, SC; a newlywed (at least I still consider myself a newlywed) as of July '14, and a father as of 4 months ago. I've been shaving my face for years and my head for about 2 years now and I HATE spending money on cartridges only to throw them away and see them hit landfills so about 2 years ago I switched to a DE razor (which prompted the head shaving as I'd just been buzzing my head for years).
And then I came across Adventures in Wet Shaving ; DrMatt357 ; and geofatboy on youtube who all opened my eyes to straight razor shaving and introduced me to SRP.
I recently ordered my first straight razor (a GD 208) from a seller on etsy who had great reviews and recommendations for setting the bevel and shipping his razors shave ready. I also ordered a Poor Man's Strop kit from WhippedDog which I can't recommend enough! Great service! Great product (from my inexperienced point of view) with wonderful instructions included for the noob that I am.. Unfortunately I believe (note ... inexperience) that my GD 208 isn't quite shave ready... as I have some tugging and discomfort with my shave and there's what looks to me like an obvious change in angle on one portion of my razor's edge (and yes I'm quite sure my technique needs PLENTY of improvement, but I'm doing the best I can with the knowledge I've gained from observing the previously mentioned youtubers and from posts I've found here in SRP.
Possibly looking for honing service near me as I don't think I can afford a finishing stone right now and that's one more thing I'll need to teach myself.. wife, new house and new kid cost a lot :P

But again a HUGE thank you to everyone who takes time out of their lives to share their experience and knowledge with young pups like myself.

Congratulations on the marriage, the birth of your child and the straight razor journey. Welcome to the forum. :)

Welcome to SRP!
Enjoy your time here on the forum and have fun.

Pete <:-}

Welcome to the forum :)

Welcome to SRP from upstate SC!

Welcome and glad to have you here. Not too long ago was when I first picked up a straight razor from Larry and have been hooked ever simce. The guys here helped me to learn my technique and to maintain and hone my straights. A lot of good knowledge here o. Srp. And don't forget to sign up for the giveaway in the beginners area, never know could get lucky and win.

Welcome to SRP. As far as your G.D. not being sharp enough, that usual. Unless its really been fixed and honed properly its just not going to do a good job. 8f you enjoyed dealing with whippeddog, order one of his used razors. It will come shave ready for sure. Might not be the pertyest thing but it will work much better than a G. D. Any day.

Enjoy the learning and take your time.

Welcome to SRP! Not sure what you paid for the GD, but you can find plenty of shave ready razors in the Buy/Sell/Trade forum section here...many for less than $50. Have fun learning the sport and feel free to ask any questions that come to mind. :)

Welcome to SRP!!
A lot of great folks here and tons of info.
Enjoy and have fun!!

Hi and welcome. Might be a good idea to get a cheaper vintage as recommended. The gd razors can be made shave ready if fixed properly but even then may not hold the edge long. A vintage is a much safer way to go and will give you a baseline for a decent razor. Good luck

Welcome! Glad to have you. Thank you for your service.

I totally agree on the Whipped Dog starter kit. You'll probably damage the strop pretty heavily, why not do it on a less expensive one.

Welcome to the forum.


I am glad to see you are starting to use straight razors while you are still a young man (well, at least young compared to me). I did not get started until I retired. You will have so many more years to enjoy collecting razors, hones, soaps, etc.

Welcome aboard, and welcome to life's joys and responsibilities. You will likely find great joy in SR shaving. My first two SRs were Gold Dollar 208s. Admittedly they are not Dovos, Thiers Issards, or Wackers. But they can make for good teaching, practicing instruments. I am an advocate of the Gold Dollars, if one understands their limitations. They will likely become your instrument of choice to learn honing, and that's okay. Not to mention once honed well the GDs can give a good shave too. (Certainly heads will explode with that one).

its not that you cant get a shave off of a GD, I can get a shave from a butter knife if I try hard enough, the fact that remains is that if you have to fix the geometry, have to deal with other issues such as scales or the steel, then it comes down to WHY? cost? not an issue, many vintage out there for the same money. is it style? no they aren't that attractive.

the main reason most wont recommend them is that a new guy needs all the stars to be aligned from the git go, to aid in the learning curve. its that simple, so why not start with a good blade that needs no alterations and comes ready to shave, Period. good luck with your razor,, but it sure seems like all the GD guys use other razors. Tc

Welcome to SRP.