Mabuhay from the Far East!
My name is Jay and I sell Filipino blades. :) I first came across straight razors in my childhood when I got a haircut with my dad--I was terrified by the razor, but amazed at the results! Fast forward to NYC in the late '90s. My barbers used straight razors and did an amazing job with them! At 18, I decided to get my first. It used Personna blades and I cut myself to shreds with it (not literally)!
My next razor also used Personna-type blades. I bought it in Hong Kong. I got considerably better with it. By the age of 21, I was shaving solely with disposable blade-type straight razors.
At 24, my mother bought me a Dovo Shavette. I thought it was really cool to have a real German razor after all the cheapies I'd had. I couldn't shape my beard up quite as well because of the end of the black insert, but I worked around it and got used to it. Now, at 30, I've been shaving with disposable straight razor blades for 12 years!
A few years ago, I bought a Chinese carbon steel straight razor in Guangzhou, China. It wasn't really shave ready and I immediately went back to my Dovo, and my Chinese straight started to rust until I picked it up, oiled it, and used it to sharpen a pencil!
A few months ago, I picked up a couple of straights in the Philippines. They were handforged in Albay in the Philippines and seemed nice and sharp. Again, they weren't shave ready, but today I tried to hone the edge up and I got it noticeably sharper. Not as sharp as my Shavette by any means, but I could shave with it (although it wouldn't be comfortable). I've decided to get my straights professionally honed and finally try using a real straight, so here I am! :) This forum is recommended everywhere and I lurked a few years ago, but now I'm ready to slide down that slippery slope. ;)
