Thread: Hello from Germany

I am a 23y/o from Virginia, that joined the Army at 20. Obviously in the military you need a close shave and I never had any problem using cheap disposable razors. When I deployed to Afghanistan I started to get razor burn very badly so i switched to a more expensive razor, which worked for a while until it too started giving me razor burn. This continued until I was using $20 dollars of cartridges a week. I broke down and bought a $90 electric shaver, which worked great for the last 9 months of deployment. When I returned to Germany I was told since I was now a SGT I'd have to shave closer, My reintroduction to blades brought back painful and consistent razor burn. My wife has bought me a straight razor for Christmas and I am just looking for proper use. I have read several of the guides (First Shave, Intro, Stropping, lather and cutting techniques) But any additional help would be great.
I have a carbon DOVO Razor and some Van Der hagen soap with a boar brush, and a norton 4k/8k hone and a straight razor designs strop. From what I have seen here it looks like my wife did some research before buying. I am getting more comfortable with shaving(except my deeply cleft chin), but still wanted to make myself familiar. I am familiar with care of metals but my first honing might be a bit of a challenge because I am not used to such a fine edge nor a straight edge.
Thanks for any feedback,
Bob

Welcome to SRP and thanks for your service! You might want to consider getting another razor to use when your Dovo gets dull and you need to have it honed or you decide to learn to hone it on your own. Honing is another skill set in itself. Just follow the videos on You Tube, they helped me a lot, and find a person to guide you if you can. It sounds like you and your wife have done your homework and are well on your way to sharing this shaving journey with the rest of us. Best of luck and keep the questions coming.

hello and welcome

Welcome to the forum

Well done you sound like you have made an excellent start. Over time you will figure out all the right strokes, blade angles and ways to stretch your skin to get at all those awkward areas.

Honing is a very satisfying, I generally recommend someone learns to shave 1st, then buys a cheap vintage razor to learn to hone on so they don't mess up their good razor.

hello and welcom and thanks for your service. im join hopefully this summer if i can get all my paperwork for my parents to sign to release me at 17. i may actually pm you some questions as military related subjects if thats alright with you. using a striaght will come naturally with some time and patience and if you need help with anythign srp has you all set up. pm me if you have any questiosn you dont want to start a thread for.