I'm new to the art of straight razor shaving. It's one of those things I've been wanting to learn for a long time. Like learning to smoke with a pipe, using a straight razor is a right of passage in my books. It is something indicating that yes, you are now a man.

I've made the switch slowly. I discovered that using a boar hair brush with shaving soap is so much better an experience than using a foaming cream. Then I read that using a badger hair brush is even better and it got me curiously excited! Now I've got a blade, a reasonable strop, and badger brush on the way and I can't wait to put away the Gillette Fusion for good.

Like a lot of you I see this as more of an art and a hobby instead of a daily chore to get through. I fully intend to geek out over it, so I'll likely end up with a variety of blades, a room full of hones of various grits much to the chagrin of my wife. I've already spent a lot of time reading the resources this site has to offer and I'm quite impressed by the people here.

Here's to the future of shaving!

- bratta