Hello everyone, I’m a new SRP member and new to straight razor shaving, so I just want to say hello and introduce myself to the group.
I don’t recall what inspired my initial interest with straight razors; however I do recall the negative feedback from my family when I verbalized my interest years ago, back when I was still in high school. My family somehow succeeded with instilling the fear that I would cut up my face, so I abandoned the idea for over two decades, without much further thought of it. I recently typed up a “bucket list”, and apparently learning to shave with a straight razor was at the surface of my subconscious, as it was the third thing that I added to the list. Upon reading it, the fear I once had was immediately replaced with excitement. For the past two months, I have stayed up all hours of the night reading forums, watching videos on shaving and blade maintenance, in addition to perusing straight razors.
I opted to start with the Dovo Prima Klang with redwood scales. The blade size and weight is comfortable and I’ve successfully completed about 6-7 smooth shaves (once every 3-4 days). I currently have a circle beard, so I’ll get a couple more shaves in before moving onto the moustache and chin. I’ll need to continue working on my technique for the front of the neck (around the Adam’s apple area), but the rest of the shave has gone much easier than I had anticipated.
Despite my research, the appropriate use of stropping paste and spray is still a grey area for me. I have ordered a copy of Lee’s video (which I am told covers this), but if anyone has additional tips or can post links with information on this topic, I would greatly appreciate it.
My initial order to get me started (razor, strop, brush, etc.) was placed with SRD. I now have my eye on a Thiers-Issard straight, but unfortunately I haven’t found any sold that are shave-ready. If there are any honemeisters in the Oakland/San Francisco Bay Area, it would be great to hear from you. Otherwise, it appears that I have some great options listed in the classifieds.
At this point, I would not attempt to put a bevel on a new razor, but I’m very much interested in getting started with learning maintenance honing. At this stage, I’m not certain whether I should start off with a finer stone that I would be less likely to cause damage to the blade if were to do something incorrectly (in addition to getting accustomed to the motions of honing) or if I should purchase one of the combo stones and then purchase a 12,000 grit stone later.
Any feedback would be appreciated and thank you all for the wealth of information that has already been posted.
Christopher