New wet shaver learning a lot.

Hi guys,
My name is Steve, I'm 27 and in the US Coast Guard stationed in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. I'm an avionics tech and flight mechanic on our rescue helicopters.
I think I've been enamored with the idea of shaving with a straight razor for a few years now - probably from the first time I went to an old time barber shop and the barber (who was in his 80s and shook like crazy until the instant he started cutting hair) did the sides of my head and back of my neck with hot lather, a hot towel, and a straight razor. Since then, every once in a while I'll get the urge. It's a manly hobby, after all.
So, I recently picked up wet shaving, and man, is it a whole different world from the quick Mach 3 shaves I used to do. I jumped in with both feet without really doing any research and purchased a full kit from The Art of Shaving - sandalwood pre-shave oil, shaving cream, aftershave balm, and upgraded to a fine badger brush, as well as a Thiers Issard razor.
I received the kit and discovered after attempting two shaves and part of a third that the factory honed razor just wasn't sharp enough, so in the meantime I went back to using the new products with a cartridge razor - I put a DE razor on order, along with a nice strop, and then bought one of the sight unseen deals from Larry at Whipped Dog - which is the way I should have gone in the first place!

I've been shaving with the DE for a few days now and just received my new shave ready razor 10 minutes after finishing up my shave today - so I'm quite excited for tomorrow.

I've been enjoying reading the boards here for the past couple of weeks. Thanks all!

Cool! It's a whole new world, isn't it? Shaving with a DE is fun in itself, but wait 'till you shave with the straight! It's truly one of the best experiences of my life.

Make sure you use NO pressure, a shallow angle (30 degrees, razor spine close to the face) and short, over lapping strokes. I'd only got with the grain (WTG) and only a single pass for the first few weeks, and build up from there. Since you have a DE, if you find a tricky spot (neck, chin, lip) use the DE. You may want to use the straight just on the cheeks at first and use the DE for the rest. I used only the straight, but I had a van Dyke thingy and so didn't have real tricky bits to deal with....

Hey Steve,

I'm similar to you in that I was using a Mach 3 but fancied this straight razor thing for a while - though I've never used a DE. I also grabbed a TI blade from AoS along with the sandalwood oil/cream/balm, got mine mid November.

I'm having trouble producing a lasting lather with the cream but I'm starting to think it's because I'm using too much water and not enough product.

Did you get a complimentary 'lesson' after buying your blade? I hacked myself up pretty good at that!

Let us know how you get on with your shave ready blade.

Welcome aboard, sailor! I got one of my straights through Larry, about a year ago. He's a great guy to deal with, and you can be sure if he says the razor is shave ready, it is! Good that you added a DE to you rotation, since a SR may not be practical, if you end up deployed somewhere (say afloat, for example). Nice to see another CG member here!

Welcome to your new obsession!