Ok, up until now I've totally ignored the whole straight razor thing. Yes, they look great. Yes, it's as manly as wrestling a Grizzly bear; bare chested. But, the whole care and maintenance puts me off.
I happened across a Parker shavette on the Shaving Shack website. Yes, I know it's not a straight but I thought, 'Hmmm, not a bad price' and it would let me know whether I'd be remotely interested in graduating at a later date.
Well, I tried a shave on Sunday and blimey, it's difficult. OK I didn't cut myself but then again I only really did my cheeks and a little bit of my neck. I was just so aware of this naked blade against my bare skin. Perhaps the lack of weight in it and my shaky hands made it seem more dangerous than it was. ;-)
I finished off with a DE (overall a good finish) but it made me glad I hadn't spent money on the real deal just yet.
I think this is something that I'll continue to experiment with but fair play to you if you use one of these regularly.
Time to check a few threads out on technique!