Hello I am New To All Of This

Hello, my name is Brian and I just got a straight razor and everything I need to start shaving in the world of straight razor shaving. I watched Lynn's DVD (worlf of straight razor shaving) and it helped me out a lot (thanks Lynn) but it still left a few questions unanswered for me.

When do I use my paste (yellow an white) on my strop? and I use my linen side first?

when I am making my cream in my mug do I just leave the soap cake in the mug and then just use hot water on my brush during my next shave? I am really confussed about the mug and cakes.

Welcome, We are all confused especially to begin with. I'm still new here so I'll let the pros answer your questions. What I will tell you though is the WIKI has loads of the type of information your looking for. Go here...


Beginner's guide to straight razor shaving - Straight Razor Place Wiki

This place helped me a lot when I started month ago. Again welcome to SRP.

Welcome to SRP. Personally I wouldn't apply paste to my only strop. I'm not saying that you need to have a bunch of them but I like to have a regular strop and an alternative paddle or flat bed strop to use for pastes. Using paste every time you strop may be too much of a good thing IMO. Others may differ but that is the way that I see it. Yes, you do use the linen before the leather. Here is an excerpt from a barber's manual on stropping in the help files in the SRP Wiki where you can find many other tutorials that will be of help.

WElcome to the srp

yes please check WIKI + VIDEOS . THERE is a lot information available.

Like Jimmy, I am against using pastes constantly, I save them for the occasional touch up or the final finish after honing. Linen then leather, usally 30 of one and 50 of the other, but its important to find out what works best for you and your gear. Leave the soap in the mug, get the brush hot and wet, with a flick of the wrist remove the excess water and swirl the brush on the soap in a circular motion until a good lather develops. I like to shave after my shower so that the whiskers have been softened up and ready for removal. Good luck and welcome to SRP!

Regarding the mug and cake, you've got two options. Option one is to put the cake in the bottom of a mug and make your lather in that mug. I did it that way for over twenty years before I discovered option two. Option two is better but it requires two mugs, or containers or of some sort. You load lather onto the brush using the mug with the cake and then you build the lather in the second mug. This way is better because you have better control of varying the ratio of soap and water when building the lather. For more info, see the wiki!

thank you all for your help and imputs. it helped me out a lot. I look forward to bugging you all with questions when they arise hahaha

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Originally Posted by Utopian

Regarding the mug and cake, you've got two options. Option one is to put the cake in the bottom of a mug and make your lather in that mug. I did it that way for over twenty years before I discovered option two. Option two is better but it requires two mugs, or containers or of some sort. You load lather onto the brush using the mug with the cake and then you build the lather in the second mug. This way is better because you have better control of varying the ratio of soap and water when building the lather. For more info, see the wiki!

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I do the same as Ron except I use a bowl to build the lather. Like nun2sharp I shave following the shower. Before I get into the shower I throw a splash of hot water on top of my soap and also fill the lather bowl with hot water to preheat the bowl and to soften the soap a bit for easier lathering. You'll find all sorts of neat tricks to make the shave better as you go. I also use a scuttle to keep the brush warm between passes but that is another topic. :)

Hello, I am having some more trouble hahaha. newbies right? anyway i have now been shaving with my straight razor for about 4 days now and when I shave the razor still leaves a lot of stubble (even after a few passes) Does this just come with time and experiance or am I just lost?

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Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Welcome to SRP. Personally I wouldn't apply paste to my only strop...

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Pasting a strop is little down the road for you. Get you basic items first then worry about a pasted strop. You won't need it right away... :tu

Welcome aboard !

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Originally Posted by Kaspar

Hello, I am having some more trouble hahaha. newbies right? anyway i have now been shaving with my straight razor for about 4 days now and when I shave the razor still leaves a lot of stubble (even after a few passes) Does this just come with time and experiance or am I just lost?

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It is quite common to get stubble when are first learning with a straight razor. I would recommend going slow doing the cheeks with your straight finish off with a de or trac 3. Keep adding a new area with the chin and jaw last, these last areas are the hardest. There is a lot of thing that need to be mastered to get a good straight razor shave. Skin prep, skin tension, lather, blade sharpness, be patient it takes months or more to get your first great shave more or less depending on lots of factors. Do lots of reading, experementing, and asking question and you will get it.

Crom

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Originally Posted by Kaspar

when I am making my cream in my mug do I just leave the soap cake in the mug and then just use hot water on my brush during my next shave? I am really confussed about the mug and cakes.

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Hi,
There are a lot of ways to do this-- I have 2 mugs. The first holds the puck, the second I just use to warm the brush in hot water while I'm doing my face prep or stropping. I also drizzle about 1/4 teaspoon of hot water on top of the puck to soften it up.

When I'm ready, I take my brush out of the hot water, squeeze out about 90% of the water, then load up the brush with soap. At this point you can either use the second mug to whip up lather as mentioned in an earlier post, or just build lather directly on your face (which is what I do). If you need to add water, add just a drizzle to the brush. It is easier to add water if the lather is too thick or too dry vs. dealing with runny lather and wasting soap.

Some folks use a small bowl instead of the mug to make lather-- more room to whip the brush.

-Chief

Welcome to SRP, Brian,

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Originally Posted by Kaspar

when I am making my cream in my mug do I just leave the soap cake in the mug and then just use hot water on my brush during my next shave? I am really confussed about the mug and cakes.

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There is an illustrated guide in the Wiki for this problem (thanks to TonyJ and gugi): Making basic soap lather - Straight Razor Place Wiki.

Keep us updated on your progress.

Best regards,
Robin

Welcome to SRP Brian!! There is a lot of great info here. Congrats on joining the straight shaving world.