Thread: Ordering First Shave Soaps

so ive read a bunch here and other places, and i think im gonna go with mamma bear soaps, i really like that they have many scents to choose from. i already have a small pure bristle ( im 99% sure boar) shaving brush, i have good face soaps from dove for a good prewash.
i bought this nivea all in one kit, i doubt itll be up to par, even though i have had good experiences with nivea, but itlll be a good youtube review. ( 4 step kit , face wash, shaving cream, after balm, and face lotion).........
ive yet to order a strop, polish, and hones though. anything else im forgetting?


*sorry, i somehow got in the wrong topic, i meant to be in newbs

Assuming you already have a good, shave ready straight, it sounds like the first priority would be a strop. With this, you can keep your straight up to snuff for several months before it needs to be touched up on a hone. I would recommend that you pick up a "practice" razor if you are going to begin honing yourself as it can be a bit tricky, speaking purely from my own experience, some take to it immediately. Good strops can be had here at Straight Razor Designs or several other places such as The Well Shaved Gentleman (Tony Miller), Ruprazor's, etc... You might also find a good one in the classifieds. Believe Gugi, a member here has one along with a STR8 and soap in there now.

Enjoy.

Joe

Sorry I have to do this .......LOL

This should probably be in the Newbie section...

Get your strop first like was said above...dont worry about the hones yet ... you wont need that for a while...a good strop will hold your razor shaving sharp for a while if using good stropping technique.

If you are looking at Mama bear soaps...PM me I may be able to send you a chunk to try...or email me at

[email protected]

ok im gonna order a strop first.
the ones that say leather/canvas, do you use the canvas in place of linen? or is that just a reinforcement for the leather?

Yes, canvas and then leather.

Joe

canvas, linen, cloth component, these are all basically different words for the same thing. A fabric strop on the back of the leather that you use first...most guys do like 20 to 30 laps and then go to leather for usually double what they did for linen. When you see a guy say he did 20/40 no his strop he did 20 on the cloth(linen, cotten, canvas) and then 40 on leather.

Octopus

Do you have a brush already? If not you can pick one up at walgreens or walmart ... a cheap boar brush to start off with ... you will need one with the shave soap.

Or you can get this one pretty cheap that alot of guys say is a good starter Badger brush

Amazon.com: Tweezerman Men's Shaving Brush: Health & Personal Care

yea for now i have asmall boar one i found at alocal beauty supply shop, it was only 4 bucks and seems amazingly sturdy

that should work fine and if you decided you want something better try out the cheap tweezerman i linked above