So here's my story....
My wife one day says to me "check out this website.... the Art of Manliness" of course I says back, "what the hell is that supposed to mean", but she calmed me down in her cajun fashion so I checked it out. The straight razor shave hit me and intrigued me so I started looking into it.

Not sure where all I went but I am sure all the usual suspects we have all checked out. So I started looking for gear. Being poor as hell and not knowing what I was doing or if I would like it I started with a cheap disposable from a beauty supply place for 9 bucks. I happend to already have a brush, and some Colonel Conk shave soap. So I went to cutting. Cut myself pretty good too that first time, of course, but I kept on the horse.

After I got comfortable with the disposable I started looking for the real deal. One of the things I saw a lot was that you can pick up a great razor at antique shops and the like. Not around here apparently. I haven't been able to find a servicable razor anywhere within 30 miles of where I live. So I started asking family. I started with my dad. I remembered my grandmother once showing me a box with my grandfathers personal stuff (he died in 1952), in it I remeber there being at least one straight razor. So I asked my dad about it and he told me my uncle had them and to call him and get them. So I did. What a great find!


My grand father, and possibly my great grand father had a Hess Hair Milk labs 100, a Clauss, and a H Boker Our Very Own. They looked like hell. They were sitting in a box for 60 years with no oil and no case. But I was determined to get them in working condition. And I didnt know anything about them except I was not willing to mail them, or trust anyone else to touch them for fear of losing them. Thats just me, i would rather break the scales or chip the blade and be mad at myself than at someone who is otherwise an artist at restoring razors who may just had a bad day or freak accident. These things mean a lot to me. i want to pass them down to my son and show him how to use them. So the adventure begins.

As of now I have them clean and honed (not to a mirror finish) but I am using them thanks in part to the great wealth of information here at SRP. So I just wanted to stop by and say Hi, and thank you all for this huge library of information that has helped me out so much.