Thread: Greetings from MSU

Hey everybody,
I'm a 20 year old student at Michigan State University. I began straight shaving about three or four weeks ago. First, the old testament:
I've been shaving since middle school (The only sixth grader on the wrestling team who got told by the refs that I needed to shave...). My beard grows in very thick and coarse, but my face is very sensitive. All through high school I HATED shaving with the multi-blade disposable everyday. I'd get ingrown hairs and my face would be irritated for hours after each shave. One day about a month ago, I was browsing Amazon and I came across an ad for some shaving soap. I'd been brought up thinking all that shaving stuff came out of a can. After doing some research on classic shaving, I ended up on the pages with the straight razors and I started drooling. I remembered going to the barber and getting a professional shave and how smooth it was. I bought myself a brush, some shave soap, a styptic pencil, and a straight that used half of a DE blade because I didn't want to deal with stropping. My whole new setup cost less than a refill of the multiblade disposables. (I'm not cheap, but I'm EXTREMELY thrifty).
The new testament:
After browsing all the newbie and beginner pages here on SRP, I was ready for my first shave. Even after the first stroke of the blade, I could tell I'd found my new way to shave and a new hobby. I was so excited that I started shaving everyday. The best part? None of that daily shaving irritation that'd plagued me for so many years before.
This past Tuesday, my credit card was itching and I decided it was time to upgrade my gear so I went over to the SRD site and bought myself a new Dovo and a strop. I'm extremely pleased with my purchases and I look forward to using them for a looooooong time. I think I might be slowly edging my dad closer to straight shaving. He's noticed how much closer all of my shaves have been and he's started asking more questions about classic shaving in general.
I'm glad that I came into straight shaving so early in my life. I've got a lot of shaving ahead of me and I look forward to passing along the tradition to any sons I may have in the future.
I can already tell that in the near future I may develop a slight case of RAD, lol, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

welcome fellow michigander!

Congrats on your score and welcome to the site..!

It sounds like you have done your homework, which is great! That'll really help you as you delve more deeply into the hobby.

The SRD kits are excellent and the razors are definately shave ready so you're well set with that kit.

I'm converting my dad slowly as well! I gave him an ERN I snagged on eBay and he uses that on the weekend.

Good luck with your shaves and keep us posted!