Hi all, I think my straight razor journey will sound pretty familiar to a lot of folks on here. A little over a year ago I started shaving with a DE, spent the next 8 months working through different phases of AD's, acquired enough gear to practically open a shop, got pretty good and cocky with my technique and then decided to make the leap to straights. Somewhere around 3 minutes into my first straight shave while I was still figuring out how exactly to hold the blade I began to think I had made a big mistake. Blamed the blade, had it sent to be re-honed, got it back realized it wasn't the blade, blamed the lather, made it more runny, switched back to bowl lathering, tried using only creams, etc...

After a month of awful shaves with a lot of pain I set my blade down prepared to throw in the towel... and instead dug in my heels. I spent an afternoon watching videos and lurking around forums and realized I needed to start completely over with my technique. The next morning I had what consider my first real shave with a straight and have been a daily shaver with one for the last 4 months. I wanted to concentrate on actual shaving and stropping technique before trying to hone myself and I think I'm just about ready for my final evolution. I look forward to being part of this community and hope to absorb as much info as possible over the next few months.