Thread: New Guy Checking In From Okinawa, Japan.

Welcome to SRP John!

Thank you for serving. We have a boy over your way, at camp Hanson. Depending on what you are doing you might want to consider moving to a safety (DE) razor first; they are field capable. Straights while being great to shave with require more attention and care.

starting out with a brush soap and DE will get you ready for a straight as you will learn the concept of light pressure and good lather/ preshave beard prep without much risk of not being properly groomed. Learning to shave with a straight takes time and sometimes your face might need a day or two without being shaved to allow it to heal.
After getting the DE down well you can then look at adding a straight razor for shaving on your off weekend. As you know you will need not just a razor but also a leather strop to start with. if i were suggesting a razor type i would say get a Boker, Dovo or Thiers-Issard stainless steel blade considering you may not always have the luxury of leaving the razor out and open to ensure proper drying. be aware that some of your fellow marines will think the razor is cool and if in the open they may decide to try the edge on various surfaces at the very least this may dull the edge. not a problem with a DE but with a straight you will need to send it off to be honed, trust me you might know how to maintain an edge on a kabar but a razor is an entirely different world.
I'm not trying to actively keep you away from a straight i'm just suggesting that you plan for contingencies, mastering a DE is a great place to start and when you add in the straight you will have a system to fall back on. once you start using a decent shaving system you will if you are like most folks, hate the concept of going back to a disposable cartridge.

enjoy,
jim