Hi Folks,

I thought I might as well introduce myself. I知 a 62 year old straight razor virgin who touched his face with a SR for the first time last week. I may be the only user who came at the idea totally backwards. I have always enjoyed sharpening knives and my quest for a sharper edge led me to razor technology, waterstones, stropping, etc. Only after actually owning a couple razors and learning to hone and strop them did I decide to actually shave with one. One problem: I致e worn a full beard for the better part of a decade so my facial skin is not at all used to being shaved. In spite of that, things went fairly well. After having my barber use his clippers to reduce my beard to mere stubble I lathered up and went for it. I got enough nicks and scrapes for my coworkers to point and laugh but I was very pleased with the over-all results. I used one of the plain and simple Dovos. Historically, barbers have often told me that in spite of my beard looking fairly normal, it is really wirey and tough to cut. The Dovo performed quite well for being in the hands of a rank newbie. I want to thank the participants and creators of this forum for an unbelievable resource for shaving . I知 overwhelmed by the amount of info here. I look forward to being able to participate in the future.
Dave Ogershok