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Hello from Ohio
Hello everyone,
I've been lurking around the boards for about a month, so I decided maybe I should just go ahead and give the "formal hello", and a "thank you".
Ever since my first shave, I've always used electric razors. That is, until a few months ago…………. I had an old Braun, about 12 years old, and it died. I considered getting a new one. Then one day I thought, "you know, you've never tried wet shaving".
I researched quite a bit. Straight Razors looked fun but intimidating, so I decided to try DE shaving. I picked up a nice Merkur Futur set and started learning the process. I really really enjoyed it. Shaving switched from a rushed morning task, to an evening indulgence that helped me "wind down" after a hectic day (ie. every weekday). I was having fun, but my mind kept going back to Straight Razors. After a month with the DE I stumbled across SRP. Before you know it, I bought Lynn's DVD, a Dovo Grey Bone 5/8", and Strop from SRD (online). Turns out I live less than two hours from SRD (brick & mortar), so I need to stop in there sometime.
My first Straight Razor shave was about a month ago. I took Lynn's advice to heart and only shaved from my sideburn to the edge of my jaw (right side). It went great and I wanted to keep going, but forced myself to use the DE to finish things off. I spent a week just learning the right side, down to my jaw. Then I spent a little over a week on my neck (right side). The neck was the only time I was really nervous about the whole thing. I spent another week just getting comfortable shaving the whole right side of my face.
This past weekend I decided to go ahead and try the left side. I think the extra time I spent gaining confidence on the right side paid off. I shaved the whole left side (not the neck though) on my first shot, and it went very well. I'll probably spend another week on that before I try the left side of my neck.
I should qualify that when I say things "went very well", I don't mean BBS. I have quite a while before I get there. I just mean a "fairly close" shave, I felt comfortable, and I had fun learning. As long as I'm having fun, I consider it a good shave. If a year goes by and I'm not getting any better, then I'll start to feel concerned.
Anyways, I wanted to say "thank you" to everyone at SRP for posting such great information. Also, I appreciate fellow newbies posting questions. There are plenty of us with those same questions, so it always helps when someone else has already asked that question. All I have to do is look it up and read all the wisdom imparted by the veterans.
Here's hoping everyone enjoys their next shave as much as I know I will.
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Welcome! Enjoy the new skill, it does get better with time and
practice.
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It's really interesting how much I improve with each day. Each time I shave, I'm amazed that I was satisfied with the previous shave. Being a newbie is kinda fun because I see such dramatic changes every time I use my razor.
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Welcome to SRP and congratulations on doing so well with your straight razor. Thanks for sharing your success with us.
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Yama, 'Big congrats.
'one of the better stories of first shaves I've read. I was too stubborn to accept alot of the sound advice, and, well - there's a reason my handle is 'pinklather'. Your experience is encouraging. 15 month and honing 198 blades, the joy shows no sign of subsiding. I look forward to each shave. 'Hope your experience continues this well. In very little time, you'll be getting the best shaves of your life.
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Haha, had a little bit of acquisition disorder on Friday Night. Ordered a Chubby 1 Super Badger and some Musgo. I'm going to mix the Musgo with my MWF and some glycerin and try out some uberlather.
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I had my Chubby Super Badger delivered, so I tried that out last night. Using that brush with some MWF and my Dirty Bird 1.5 made a lot of really nice lather. The scuttle kept the lather nice and warm too. Back when I was originally researching about wet shaving, I read about how unpleasant cold lather can be. I thought "how bad could that be, really?"...... then I actually experienced cold lather. Ugh, not pleasant at all. The scuttle is really nice since it still takes me a long time to shave.
Last night was the first time I tried shaving my upper lip too. Getting the angle right was a challenge, but I made it through without any nicks. I was afraid I was repeatedly going over the same spot too much, and I expected some redness, but I had zero irritation.
It was a cool sense of accomplishment to have completed my first round of completly shaving my entire face with the Straight Razor. I also did all the "touch up" with my Dovo, so my DE stayed unused on the rack the whole time.