So What's Your Story?

[bknesal]

I like to think everyone has at least a little bit of a story to explain why or how they began straight razor shaving. So go ahead and share your story so that it won't be forgotten! Here's mine:

About 2 years a friend go me started on using the brush and soap you can get from Walgreens. He mentioned straight shaving but he didn't do it so neither did I. Then I went to college at the end of the year and started back on canned goo after the first semester (I wasn't getting the lather right because I didn't know better so I didn't realize how wonderful it is). My Mom knew I had been using a brush and soap and didn't know that I had stopped. She went on vacation with some friends and went into some small shop. She saw a high quality brush and Pre de Provence cream in the shop and bought it for me. About a week later I watched Sweeney Todd. This was strike 3 and by then I had quite the interest in the subject. I then started googling and youtubing to find more information on straight shaving. I stumbled upon Lynn's amature shave video he made. The video led me right to SRP. Once I found SRP there was no going back, I was hooked. Hope you like my story and I hope to read some interesting ones from everyone else!

Happy shaving and Happy Halloween!
Brent

[red96ta]

It has always been one of those 'bucket list' things for me. It just so happened that I found SRP while I was looking at pictures and here I am shaving straight. There was nothing profound in my story, I didn't start to save the earth or to get a better shave....I just wanted to try something new and adventurous.

[GeauxLSU]

In the late 1970s or early '80s, I was at the mall and they had an "antique" (junk) sale in progress. I bought a straight for something like $20. I was already using Aramis shaving soap as well as their mug and brush. Strop it? Hone it? I had no clue.

Fast forward to early this year. I found SRP and a razor in a lot of BEF (British Expeditionary Force) gear I picked up. I had Lynn hone it, and I was off to the races.

[Yorkie]

About 15 years ago (maybe more) I bought an old cut-throat from an antiques shop as I'd fancied one for a while, tried it and gave up (wasn't sharp and I was clueless).
Carried on with my electric philishave and a cartridge razor now and again when I wanted a closer shave.
About a month ago I saw a cut-throat in my mums display cabinet and thought it was mine she'd pinched - it wasn't but made me hunt for mine. Found it, gave it a hone up (not a very good one) and had a go with some nomal shave goop - what a disaster. Bought a cheap brush and some shaving soap.
Found B&B on the net, then here. Read up on honing and stropping etc. Had more success with my second shave but not great. Dug up another hone - this time it was flat and after a good go on that plus a good stropping I had a nice shave, one I felt good about.
Then I looked though the classifieds on here and bought a TI. Now I'm hooked and my electric razor is confined to a drawer - the cartridge razors might as well get slung..
Don't know why I didn't do this years ago - well, I know why - I didn't know what I was doing. Thanks to this place I've got a good start.

[AirColorado]

I wish my start had a more "family" setting but alas it was just dumb drunken luck. I was in Vegas in the Venetian for a week of meetings. One night I won repeatedly at the blackjack table (no such luck here online) and decided after about a dozen straight wins that my luck couldn't hold, so I gave up and cashed out. Being somewhat buzzed - OK quite hammered from the free scotches at the tables - I wandered up to the shops on the second floor to poke around. I wound up in The Apothecary store that has an Art of Shaving section in the back. Having a pocket full of $100 bills I decided a straight razor shave would be nice. After the shave and more than a little talk about straight razor shaving I left with a new TI, brush, pre-shave oil, and shave cream. The next evening in my suite I decided to shave with it (no strop) and managed to get a fairly good shave - until I got to my chin and upper lip area. Lots of blood and some explanations to my coworkers the next morning. Someone in the group was online as I was explaining that I had not been in a knife fight and he found SRP. Later that night I started reading articles and posts here and continued to read and lurk for a few months while still practicing on my face and buying strops, soaps, brushes, and more blades. Sometime later I finally signed up here. The start was easy, getting good at it took time, practice, reading, asking questions here, and some large amount of cash (well, I guess the outgoing cash was just RAD, HAD, and a few other ADs....

[hornm]

My (late) great grandfather had been a barber. As a kid every so often my dad would get a shave while we were out for a visit (actually only lived about 20someodd miles from them). I can remember watching the whole process and thinking "why bother?". Any way got older & pretty much forgot about that but I had grown a set of sideburns that I just couldn't keep the edges square on. I started looking for a straight just for that reason. I poked around a bit but most of what I found in the antique shops were either way too expensive or just junk, sometimes both. Move along again to where I chopped the burns off. I was talking with my kid sister and she said that mom was looking for a picture she had in storage somewhere from when our G-grandfather was at the barber school in L.A. and it had him lathering a guy up for *da-ding* a straight shave. She still hasn't found the pic but that got me going. Wasn't sure where to pick up the necessities so just went to amazon and got a shavette, Fredmeyer groceries had the soap & VDH brush so I was off. I had actually come across the forum a few times but thought why bother? So here I am. Haven't used anything else since that first shave.