Beginners Tips: August 2014

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When we discover straight razor shaving, or wet shaving, most of us are quite curious and very excited. The new world comes with a lot of questions such as:

Where to start? What do I need? How dangerous is it? Who is right and who is wrong?

Finding answers is easy - a quick search on the internet yields a wealth of information. The problem is separating the wheat from the chaff, as all opinions are not created equal and sometimes the loudest are the ones to avoid.

While there are some shortcuts, you really get what you pay for. The only way to not be taken for the proverbial ride is if you do your homework.

This being said here are some shortcuts:

• Take advice from those with experience, especially with experience helping other beginners. On this site look for those who have the badge 'Mentor' Attachment 176626
• Be aware of conflicts of interest.
• Be realistic.
  
  • For example, going for 'dirt cheap' is not a good idea, instead go for quality - even if you give up with quality equipment you can recoup part of the cost via reselling, and it'll cost you the same or less than going with a throw away equipment which could be subpar.
  • As another example the 5/8 size of a razor is most popular by far for a reason. Stick with a standard razor (5/8 or 6/8) instead of an outlier (something like a 8/8 or odd looking custom) no matter how much hype you may see about the latter.
  
  
• Do your homework and look in the background of those offering to help you. While there are many genuine and honest people who love this hobby and help new guys to get into it and be successful, there are also some who are primarily interested in getting your money, or raising their own profile (again with the purpose of getting business).

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Great points! I'll just add that when I started, the library here at SRP was also a huge resource.

I really like the "quality" gear suggestion. So often I read, "how can I get started cheaply" or words to that effect. I'd add to that: you don't have to buy one of everything you see or read about all at once (or maybe ever). I'd suggest a good basic wet shaving kit is a good SR or 2, professionally honed, a decent brush (which can be had for $10-20), a quality cream or soap (Proraso comes to mind), a coffee cup for lathering (or just your face), strop with replaceable leather (Chicago screws or the like) and a styptic pencil. As a backup a decent DE and 10 blades would be excellent ($25?). That's it...no need to buy hones, scuttles, 8 soaps, 3 varieties of brush, pastes, balsa, strop dressing, exotic pre or after shave balms, etc.

In short, go with the basics, but buy quality, especially in SRs.

And enjoy learning!

And following on from what Harold said, quality doesn't necessarily mean expensive, a nice vintage razor from the classifieds here can be had for $50-60 if you are patient. A strop with replaceable leather, whilst a bit more expensive at the get go will be a solid investment longer term, the replacement leather component is relatively inexpensive. A brush for $15-20 and a $2 soap (or a bit more if you don't want VDH, Arko or palmolive) are all you actually need, so for somewhere under $200 you can be set with nice stuff, but if you were to compromise slightly on the strop and brush you could probably bring it to less than $100.
Thanks for the concise article gugi.

Good job... I like that it's short and to the point.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dzanda

Good job... I like that it's short and to the point.

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Me 2 :).....

Timely. I'm bumping this thread.

Lord knows, I love helping people out, but it gets a bit wearisome answering the same questions over and over again when they've been mostly asked/answered or detailed in the Library.

Thanks Ivan.

A little knowledge goes a long way and this place is filled with more knowledge than most would ever need in a lifetime. Homework is one thing when you have questions but when you don't know what you don't know it can be daunting to say the least and so many get lead astray by Google and the Internet gurus that claim to know all the answers. That is why I like SRP, because I learn more just by reading someone else's question and seeing the qualified answers that quickly follow. Thanks Ivan, couldn't have been better timing with all the new converts joining everyday.

Excellent post Gugi!

When Lynn started SRP all those years ago it was with the goals of bringing like-minded people together to share experience and knowledge, experiment, and revive the art of straight razor shaving (forgive me for putting words in your mouth Lynn, but I think that is basically correct). While a lot of people have come and gone during that time, one thing has always remained and grown - the knowledge imparted by the membership.

That knowledge and information has been sifted and weighed, tested and tried, over and over again. What we are left with is undiluted "good" information. SRP is a valuable resource of good information, and that information is added to constantly. We have no horse in the race apart from growing the art by providing that information freely to anyone who cares to read.

There are other sources of information too, of course. When you are starting out the different sources of information can muddy the waters, sometimes. You need to think critically about the sources of the information, just as you might think critically about the news you read or watch (what angle are they trying to push?), or research you read (who funded it? why?).

Gugi's given some excellent tips and shortcuts to getting good, unbiased, sources of information. Save yourself some frustration and put his ideas into practice - it will help and, more importantly, it will make your straight razor shaving experience much more enjoyable.

Good luck!

James.

Gugi,

Good show on a fine little essay for beginners. You have posed many realities newcomers should consider.

You are right about "cheap" not being the ideal way to go for beginners. In most cases, cheap means exactly that: "cheap" in quality. So then what will your experience be starting out? Probably nothing but disappointment. Yes, starting out does take a few dollars, but it is money well spent. Not only that, but make sure you see what you buy. If you're not sure about it, please ask, because we're all here to help out.