Thread: Greetings!

My name is Marc, a 26 year old student living in Santa Cruz.

I am in the process of learning more about quality shaving, and the tools of the trade.

I do not know much of anything, but am grateful for the vast amount of quality resources and reviews available on this site.

I will attempt giving myself my first shave this weekend, once my strop arrives in the mail.

Thanks for your feedback, and for your contributions to a place to keep this art form alive!

Welcome to SRP. I am sure you have noticed that there is a lot of great information to be found here. Be sure to read through the Wiki. Has the razor you're going to shave with been honed to make it "shave ready?" If it is, then don't strop it before your first attempt. Just take it slow and be patient as it takes time and practice to learn to shave with a straight razor. If you have questions and don't find the answers you're looking for, please ask. Best of luck and keep us posted.

"Has the razor you're going to shave with been honed to make it "shave ready?""

Honestly, I think it could use a good honing.

In looking through the feedback for honing techniques, I was a bit overwhelmed...

However, I suppose it might be possible to find a local barber willing to hone it for me.

My next step is to acquire some stones, or one good water stone...?

If you can't find an old school barber that can hone your razor then check the classifieds here as there are members who offer honing services at reasonables rates. I would hold off on investing in a set of stones for a while. There is a learning curve to overcome in just shaving with a straight razor. I would suggest you read up and watch the various videos on stropping and shaving with a razor. Be sure to read Lynn's thread in the Beginner section entitled, "First Straight Shave-Read First." Honing stones can wait. Stropping is often overlooked, but is imperative to maintaining a shave ready edge. Your new hobby is a journey to be enjoyed, not a race to win. Take your time and enjoy all the aspects of this new endeavor.

Don't hone it yourself, you'll likely not get the razor ready

Don't shave with it unless you're absolutely sure it's shave-ready...you end up with an excruciating shave.

Send the razor out to be honed for your first time...it'll give you a benchmark for your own honing skills and get you started on the right foot. The truth is that you'll have a hard enough time learning to shave with a straight as it is, why worry about things like whether or not your razor is honed properly. Even if your razor is honed properly, we still get alot of new guys complaining that the razor isn't sharp when in reality, their technique hasn't developed yet and bad technique will feel exactly like a dull blade. Having a honed blade eliminates the possibility that it's the blade's fault.

Welcome!

+1 on getting your razor honed by a pro, it really makes all the difference to the shave.

Good luck and keep us posted!