Hello, from So. Cal.

Hi, I'm Fred. I've been investigating SR shaving for a while now and mentioned the idea of a straight shave to my wife before Father's Day and sure enough I ended up with a gift card to Art Of Shaving. She's pretty awesome. So in anticipation to going in for the Royal Shave I spent a lot of time searching all corners of the interweb for all I could find about SR, that included finding this forum. Well, the Royal Shave was pretty amazing, I left there with a smooth face and very relaxed. What I didn't leave with was any better knowledge of straight razor shaving. I guess I had the expectation that the master barber would really be explaining things as he went, especially since I told him right off that this was a first. I wasn't expecting a full on Queer Eye For The Straight Guy thing but some explanation of why he's rubbing oil on my face or painting mud. And he used a fusion or something to clean up, I expected the shavette instead of a real straight razor, but not the fusion multi-blade. Like I said, the shave was a great, relaxing, man spa kind of thing, but not what I was hoping for in getting a real man shave.

So, now I'm on a quest. I'm ready to jump in the water and give this a try. I'm thinking about ordering the Straight Razor Starter Set from Classic Edge. I'm sure I might find individual pieces less expensive but $180 is less than a Corvette if this is just some kind of mid-life crisis move. Does anyone a have thoughts about this set? I've read good things here on the forum about Phil.

Welcome Fred. I'm in the south bay here and just started fairly recently. I can't believe I've missed out on this so long - my shaves are genuinely comfortable now. Anyway, if I can be of any local help let me know. Obviously the Dovo in that starter set is a respected razor. I got the Ralf Aust set from Straight Razor Designs, which is a comparable razor.

Shane

Welcome to the forum, Fred!

Yeah, I'd say that kit would be a good starting point alright!
Do take the time to read up on our Library, it is filled with great info that will answer most any question you might have.
Or, ask here, we will try our best to help you out:)

Good luck!

Hello fellow west coasters. Lots of ways to go to get started. Suggest styptic pencil be on the list. I have been using a straight for about 8 months or so now. Your going to love getting a 30 dollar shave everyday. Just take it slow and be careful. Welcome to SRP, you couldn't have found a better place to start.

That Dovo is a nice starter razor it will take and hold a good edge. The set looks like a good beginner set for the money. PM me and I’ll send you a Nylon strop to learn to strop without cutting up your new leather.

I am in North. OC, if you need help as well.

Marty

Well, I ended up ordering the Ralf Aust starter kit from Straight Razor Design, now one seems to have the Dovo in stock. It's shipped and I hope it shows up before next weekend. I'm ready to get some lather going :-)

Enjoy, when I started reading your post I expected it to go ... Told my wife etc, and on fathers day got given this set, I think it came from ebay, what do you think? was a pleasant surprise that it actually ended with you being given a voucher to get something quality that you want. Oh and a warm welcome by the way.