Thread: 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.

Welcome! Enjoy the new skill, it does get better with time and
practice.

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.

Welcome to SRP and congratulations on doing so well with your straight razor. Thanks for sharing your success with us.

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.

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.

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.