My Entry Into the World of Shaving w/ a Straight Razor

Hello, all. New member of the community here hailing from Southern Maryland. Thought I'd do the appropriate thing and make a formal introduction. Just celebrated a birthday and my wife surprised me with a brand new Thiers-Issard 5/8 carbon steel straight razor and Dovo Solingen strop purchased from The Art of Shaving store: Item 68020 - Straight Razor Black - The Art of Shaving I have always wanted to try shaving with a straight razor since having a pleasant experience in a barber's chair several years ago. However, I never took the plunge and continued to spend insane amounts of money on commercially available disposable razors. We stopped into the Art of Shaving store during a recent trip to the mall, and mentioned to my wife that I was very interested in using a straight razor for shaving. Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised when I received my new gifts. I have absolutely no clue on where to begin, so I found my way here to this forum. I hope to learn a lot and gain useful insights from shaving veterans, and hopefully some day will be able to give back to the community by sharing my own experiences with others. As with all new hobbies (judging from what I've read so far on this forum I can see that there exists a passion for achieving a good shave and also collecting quality tools to do the job!), I aim to listen intently and learn, and promise to be a good newb by researching an answer as much as possible before posting a question. Again, great to be here.

at first welcome to srp. You are in right place in right time. +YOU are lucky ,your another half support you.most of us gets our packages shipped to work .please do ask any questions you do have.i go head and say both of your razors will need to be shave ready.second read forum and some advises on wiki for newbies.lastly enjoy and have a lot fun

Welcome to SRP. As hi_bud suggested the SRP Wiki here is the place to start. SRP founder Lynn Abrams suggestions for the first straight razor shave and the beginner's guide are a great place to start.

The 1961 barber manual excerpt on honing and stropping here is a good read for learning to strop correctly from the start. I particularly like the suggestion to practice turning the razor between the tips of the thumb and forefinger without bending the wrist or moving with the stroke until the flipping is mastered. :gl: