Hey everyone, newbie here Just wanted to introduce myself as a new DE user

I had been shaving for years with a Mach 3 and then the Hydro 5 and always had razor burn and irritiation, just figured it was part of the game, till one day I was walking home and passed a "Art of the shave" store and stopped in, that opened my eyes quite a bit, I wasn't sure if I really wanted to risk using a straight razor or a safety razor as I've heard a lot of bad stories from people I know, so i bought one of their "starter kits" for the creams (Came with pre shave oil, the cream and aftershave lotion as well as a badger hair brush) and used it with my Hydro 5 for a while, it really made a difference but the shave still had some irritation.

So the other day, I stopped back in and looked at razors, they showed me a few straight razors and told me if I bought the razor from them it included a free lesson from a barber they have an arrangement with, but I still was nervous about all that honing and stropping etc, so I decided to take baby steps and bought a DE Safety razor (Merkur Progress) and to be honest I was even apprehensive about THAT

I know I could have gotten it for less online etc, but they really spent a lot of time with me explaining things every time I stopped in, and really seemed to care about what they do, and frankly I'm more then willing to support a store that has great customer service even if it costs me a few extra bucks, I paid about 15 more then I should have for the Merkur, but that was worth it to me

I'm glad to report that my apprehension was unfounded, It's only been a few days with it, and I did nick myself once (I'm still learning..haven't gotten a really close shave yet,) but it is giving me a good shave and I am happy to say my skin feels MUCH better then it ever did.

Looking forward to reading more and learning tips/tricks to make this all the more pleasurable (and maybe someday giving a straight a try)

Marc