Thread: 16 Year old beginner

Hi Ellis

One of the best moves you can make is to get with an experienced razor. SRP has Mentors who will gladly help.

Here is a link to find SRP members near you.
http://straightrazorpalace.com/memberlist.php?do=search

Welcome. Good on you starting with the best tool for the job. As mentioned, a bit more info on your kit would be useful. Don't grab a cheapo strop from an auction site. Straight Razor Designs, vendors on here, whipped dog and most quality makers do good beginner strops that won't bust the bank. Library also has some very good information.

Welcome to the forum Ellis. Great to see someone so young wanting to start their shaving journey with a straight. My youngest is 17 and won't let me anywhere near him with a straight. He uses a crappy disposable about once a fortnight. I despair!!

Already some great advice on here, but at the risk of being repetitive...

Get a quality strop. No need to spend too much initially, as you may well nick it several times. You really do need a strop to maintain your edge for your shaves. As for your redness, was the SR properly shave ready? Use a very light touch, no pressing. Just let the razor glide gently across the skin. Aim to shave off the cream/soap. The hair will come with it. Which leads me onto my next point. Cream or soap. Bin the canned goo and get a proper cream or soap. Make a good, creamy, cushioned lather.

Don't interchange or swap different aspects of your shave at once. You'll never know what was good or bad. Change one aspect at a time, so you can assess each part and narrow down the options if something isn't working for you.

Lastly, where do you live? If there's a mentor close by, I'm sure they would willingly give you some hands on help.

The very best of luck Ellis.

Welcome! You have come to the right place for help and support, this forum is full of helpful and friendly people.
You seem to have gotten off on the right foot, follow the advice given above and every shave will get better. As you come across questions please ask and we will be glad to help

Welcome to an older but better way of shaving

A properly honed razor is a must, a poorly honed razor or an inferior razor is your enemy. You will need a decent strop and a brush and actual shaving soap is also an essential.

This age old art takes patience so go slow, it's not a race.

Learning to hone should be at the very last of your list of things to learn. It's an art all of it's own. Learn how to Properly make lather, strop and shave. I always recommend that someone should wait at least a year before even thinking of learning to hone.

I'm a former meat cutter and I'll tell you straight out that honing a razor and sharpening a knife is as different as black and white. The time will come, be patient

Please add your location, there may be help just down the street. Here's a very good example:
http://straightrazorpalace.com/begin...questions.html

See post #9.

Be sure to read all you can in the Wiki there's a lot of good info.

It's a long strange trip but well worth the journey

Welcome!!
The redness probably came from to much pressure and angle, almost everyone does that at first, start with the razor flat on your face and add angle. Real shave soap will help quite a bit as well.

Welcome to the forum Ellis.
I started at about the same age as you, it only gets better with time and practice. But just as everyone has stated. Soap/cream, "STROP"!!, and mentors, then learn to hone.
Congrats on a successful first full face shave, I did it too.
Mind you get a styptic pencil, youll need it eventually

Better shaves coming!!

Mike

Ellis,

We get a lot of new members here all the time but rarely do we get one as "new" as you. Everyone has already provided you a lot of great guidance to start off with. I'm sure I can speak for everyone in that we are delighted to have someone your age join us. Whether this group is able to hold your interest long term is debatable but I hope that straight shaving always will. Good luck!

I started straight shaving at 16 too. I used folded up newspaper on the edge of a table to strop with for a few months. Leather is pretty cheap for decent strops. A better soap wouldn't hurt you either. Canned foam never felt slick enough for straight razor shaves to my face. My first razor was a 6/8 hope cutlery improved German Eagle My grandpa found at a gun show for a few bucks. I'm not sure where he had it honed but it worked well for years with a barber's stone refresh and newspaper stropping.

My grandpa used Gillette foamy and a Schick Injector. He said he was too old to waste time on his razor.

Originally Posted by rodb

Welcome!!
The redness probably came from to much pressure and angle, almost everyone does that at first, start with the razor flat on your face and add angle. Real shave soap will help quite a bit as well.

It also could be his face is not used to a SR and/or face prep. Going back to my first shave 2 months ago, my face looked like it was sun burnt! But what I did wrong was in face prep, lathering, and technique. For face prep, I just washed my face with a wet rag and placed a hot rag on as hot as I can stand. Taking a full shower beforehand would have softened my,skin more thoroughly. My lathering was too thick and I tended to drag the razor a bit. MWF is a very good soap, but in retrospect, its finicky lathering qualities probably make it not the best choice for a first time wet shaver.

With my technique, the angle was fine as I went for about 2 spine heights. My problem was that I didn't stretch the skin as well as I should have done. This caused me to make multiple passes just to get smooth as I wanted. But I soon figured it out and my shaves soon were irritation free.