Hi everyone. What a great club! I'm looking forward to participating here. I could just scan SRP for shaving info but everyone is so nice about offering help and advice to those in need. I can see you're a good group of guys.
About myself...
Never was taught properly how to shave - Dad had a beard. Was told to use Dial soap and a cheap plastic joke of a razor blade. I was only about 12 for Pete's sake! By fifteen I had enough facial (and chest) hair to buy beer. One of my saddest moments was when I realized that the hair on the back of my neck was starting to spread around, under my ears and would eventually connect up to the hair that was growing down the front of my neck. During and after my college years I began the Gillette price escalator up until the cost of shaving was prohibitive. This whole time I struggled with terrible skin and embarrassing ingrown hairs.
About a year and a half ago I discovered the double-edge safety razor, a Merkur. My shave experience improved quite a bit. Then I discovered the Feather brand blade and things really started getting good! These blades are good for about two or three shaves so that led me to the straight razor.
I bought a used straight this summer. Got a SRP IV strop. Got Lynn's DVD. Read the Wiki, and tons of the posts here. Watched the video clips. Now I'm learning to shave sideburns and the easy parts. And now I'd like to meet a mentor in my area who can help me from here.
Looking forward to our future discussions!