Finally Ready.

Greetings! My name's Daniel, I'm 22 and from Ohio. I'd like to start out by thanking you guys for all of the help you've unknowingly given me as I've been lurking on here for about 3 weeks or so now picking up bits of information here and there before finally deciding to join!

I currently work a warehouse job in a freezer and like playing video games from time to time as well as guitar / bass / drums. I also enjoy reading but much like the rest of my hobbies seem to have less and less time to partake in it.

I just started using a straight razor last friday, I wanted to get into it about 2 years ago or so but was scared off by the price. After becoming bored / irritated with regular shaving though I decided to bite the bullet and pick one up! I bought a Boker King Cutter wet shaving set off of SRD's. Came with the razor, a 2" latigo strop, a beaufort badger brush, a mug and some soap. I don't really know what all that means but it seemed like a good deal and it gave me an excellent shave! I figure now that I have a decent razor I can start looking at garage sales / flea markets and see if I can get lucky and find another good razor cheap.

Welcome! ...and excellent, excellent choice of razor and strop. You cannot go wrong dealing with SRD or any of the other vendors on here.

Before you start searching antique stores, garage sales and Ebay, you might want to purchase a second razor on the classifieds here as they usually come shave ready and you are getting a known quantity. This could serve as security in the event you roll your edge from improper stropping. It will also allow you more time with a shave ready blade before honing. ...and finally, it will help to induce RAD which is unavoidable.

You are on your way!

Ah, I forgot about the classifieds here. I'll have to check them out when I get a little extra spending cash.

I'm somewhat hoping to avoid RAD, I have minor experience with that except I believe they call it "gun fever" haha. Luckily my boss knows allot about guns and saved me from making some bad purchases.

My main goal with straight razors is quality over quantity (Something my dad's been pounding in my head since I was a kid). I'd like to have a decent collection but I also want them to be decent razors. I'd rather wait a little longer and spend a little more and have five or six good razors than have 10 right away and not be able to use them because they're junk and then end up spending more by the time I'm done buying razors I can actually use.

Welcome! It's good to see another young member--I saw a post by a 21-year-old yesterday. Me, I'm not young.

Sounds like you've got a good plan for managing your upcoming RAD. You can get lots of good acquisition advice here. Post pictures with your questions--that always helps. You can also search the Razors thread for the name of a razor you're considering, and find what people have thought of them.

The Wiki here has a section on buying old razors, and an FAQ section on razor manufacturers. The FAQ includes links to lists of reliably good shavers and stinkers to avoid.

Good luck with it all.

Welcome to SRP! Nice to meet you and thanks for telling us a bit about yourself too. Sounds like you're off to a good start.