new kid from Oz

I feel a bit guilty as I purchased a safety razor instead of a straight, but I will eventually be moving to that realm of glorious. I ordered my own sort of "beginners kit" from shavenation and it's en route as I type. The only deciding factor between safety and straight was the price. I didn't like the idea of starting with the shavette and the razor I wanted was a Dovo with olivewood scales that ran about $190. I watched more videos of Geo shaving than I care to admit, but his review of the Edwin Jagger DE89 made my choice pretty simple, and at $42 it was hard to say no. I've been plagued with ingrown hairs since I started shaving about 8 years ago and am tired of digging tweezers into my face and dealing with the pain and discomfort. I also do some editorial modeling locally and red bumps on my neck and cheeks are a nightmare and hurt confidence with photographers and with the ladies as well. So here goes nothing.

Ordered:
-Edwin Jagger DE89, octagonal handle
-Tweezerman badger brush
-4" Buffalo Horn bowl
-Taylor of Old Bond rose shaving cream
-Vertical metal stand

How did I do?

Sounds like a good start to me. I have a DE89 and love it. The chrome on the Edwin Jagers is un matched, and they shave nice too. Welcome to the world of wet shaving. When you're ready to jump into straights, take a look at the classifieds here. A lot of guys have very nice razors for a reasonable price.

G'Day and welcome to the fold.

If you are anywhere near BrisVegas (you might like to update your profile to let us know where you are) and when you want to take the leap, PM me and I'll give you a starter razor to try.

I haven't got a spare strop though, however, you can get good ones for a reasonable prices (PM me for details or read the strop forum).

I don't know anything much about DE's so I'll stay away from making any comment on that one.

Let us know how you go when it all arrives.

I completely forgot about the classifieds here to be honest. I'm slightly impulsive at times and shavenation just happened to be the first site with decent stuff in my price range that I found. Straight razors involved a bit more in starting costs than the DE because of the strops as well. I can already see myself collecting these and perhaps eventually restoring them as I lack a real hobby. Once I hit my savings goal next month I'll probably give myself a Christmas gift of a straight razor.

I'm 23 and told my friends about this and they all gave me that "wtf?" look as I tried to justify spending this much on shaving supplies. Only one of them knew what I was talking about but he would rather pay a barber $60 a shave than do it himself.

Oh and baldy.....you are an oddly talented man. I'm still drooling over that bastard blade.