After many years of agonizing of my inability to grow facial hair, my lovely wife bought me a Pure Badger brush, a mug and some soap and I've been enamored and addicted to the art and ritual of the wet shave. Then came the spark: my in-laws bought me a vintage Valet Auto-Strop. And while I've got some blades on the way (fingers crossed that they fit), I've already decided to dive in and get a Gillette SS and some Derbys. I'm excited to shave finally, after too many ingrown hairs and and a bumpy neck. I've finally stepped in from the goo and am ready to cast off the shackles of the Mach 3 that were foisted upon me on my 18th birthday. This is such a great community, I hope to get to know many of you over the coming years. -Harry
Welcome to the Shave Den! Been through Normal many a time... Sister even went to Illinois State. Glad to hear you dropped the goo. Things only get better when you step away from the cartridge as well. Congrats & Keep it up!
Welcome to TSD Harry. I see you have a Valet Auto Strop. Got to say you have quite a shaver there. Prospects are that you will not find modern blades to use with it. If you have some original blades ordered you need to strop them well. We have a resident SE guru here, D.Irving79. He has made a few YouTube videos about getting blades honed & stropped as well as how to modify a modern SE blade to fit the auto strop. Check out his YouTube channel Here. Good Luck with the Valet as well as your Gillettes.
Thanks for the warm reception all! And it's nice to see some other Central Illinois-ans. I've got some Feather SE blades on the way for the Auto Strop, and if they work, they work, if not, I'll just wait for Gillette and I'll keep the Valet in a case in reverence to it's status as my first real razor :-D. Maybe down the road, as I hone my skills (nyuk nyuk), I'll get a new strop for the Valet. Unless someone knows if my 60+ year old strop can be revived?