Thread: Trouble getting started

A quick update:
I used a new brush this morning, and the lather was already better quality. At least I could still see the lather on my face after shaving one cheek
I took a serious step back and only shaved the whiskers of the right cheek using the straight, as adviced in the beginners guide of the forum. I used a somewhat larger angle for shaving (up till this morning, the angle was zero, so the razor was held parallel to the face, with the spine touching the skin). I also went across the grain the second time with the safety razor instead of against the grain. No cuts and no redness of the face. Steady she goes ...

Jan

That's it, Jan.

Slow and steady wins the race.

I found it useful in assisting my lathering to add a few drops of glycerin with is super cheap and readily available all over the place. Also, I try to only add a few drops and go back to working the brush and repeat as necessary.

Regards,

Once you have loaded your brush, lathering in a bowl could be useful, you can whisk round and round, but also pump the brush up and down a bit, and as you said experement with water temperature and quantity, this will vary for different products.
And you can add more water to the lather and also more moist lather to your face as you go.
Practice lathering between shaves, you won't use that much soap, but you will see what the different variables will do.

Originally Posted by jprlauwers

Wayne,

I actually think I am using too much water, the lather is all bubbly and smears out very thinly on the skin. I just have to experiment some more I guess.

Jan

Shake your brush out more, and practice making lather in the palm of your hand. That is also a great way to break in a new boar brush.

Does it feel like it's pulling or are you just hearing noise? You will (should) here a noise as the whiskers are cut but it should not pull or be uncomfortable in any way. If your just hearing the "noise" your probably ok.

As far as cutting your ear off, take your time. Straight Razor shaving has pretty large learning curve. It took me about a month to get it down to the basic level and I continue to learn at every shave. The concepts that have helped me the most are: keep your skin streched tight. take small, short stokes with light pressure and learn to strop properly. Take it slow and don't rush and use just the weight of the razor.

Don't get discouraged and you will get it.

Newbie here and have a question relating to lathering....is the whole puck used or cut off a piece and put it in the bowl?

Originally Posted by treno

Newbie here and have a question relating to lathering....is the whole puck used or cut off a piece and put it in the bowl?

Just use the whole puck.

EDIT: this page in the wiki should help

EDIT #2: this video by mantic should help too:

Thanks Cangooner

Originally Posted by treno

Thanks Cangooner

You're very welcome!

If you (or anyone else starting out) have any other questions, feel free to start a new thread here in the beginners section. You'll tend to get more responses that way as a new question added to an existing thread can get a bit lost sometimes.

Good luck!