Thread: please help

hi everyone. i was hoping someone could help by pointing me in the right direction.

ive been dating my girlfriend for almost a year, and our anniversary is coming. she has been working in hair salons either assisting or styling for almost 3 years, and always gets excited when we pass by barber shops that still do straight razor shaves.

i was curious if there were any classes i could sign her up for in the philadelphia area, where she could learn the techniques that many of you call second nature. if not, does anyone have any suggestions on gifts i could possible get?

i know that sounded like i am lazy and cant think of my own gifts, but i don't want to buy her a ready to use razor, a dvd on how to use it, and then lay back and let her go to town on my face. i know that if there was a place she could be professional taught, she would love to learn.

thanks for any and all help..

nick

I don't know if there is any place (particularly in Philadelphia) where they offer classes, but you might try stopping into as many old school barber shops as you can to see if anyone there will offer at least basic lessons.

Also a lot of people will recommend blowing up balloons, lathering them up, and shaving them. The theory being that if you can shave it without popping it, then you can shave someone without cutting them. I have also heard of shaving all the fuzz off of a peach.

An old timey barber might be your best bet though. I know most schools teach how to cut hair with a straight, but I think shaving with one has pretty much fallen out of the curriculum.

Wow! What a GF! Buy her the minimal stuff she needs, a shave ready razor, strop, brush and soap and she can practice on her own legs. Once she can do that, let her try your cheeks and as she improves give her more to do.

Originally Posted by nun2sharp

Wow! What a GF! Buy her the minimal stuff she needs, a shave ready razor, strop, brush and soap and she can practice on her own legs. Once she can do that, let her try your cheeks and as she improves give her more to do.

I agree 100%....let her get her feet wet on her legs and then go right to your face. I know i would love to be shaved and I bet you will enjoy it also. By the way, she sounds like a "keeper". Any woman that likes straights is OK in my book.

i agree what has been said early. try see shaving videos too. they could be help in video section srp + we have ladies corner in SRP too. GL

Originally Posted by nun2sharp

Wow! What a GF! Buy her the minimal stuff she needs, a shave ready razor, strop, brush and soap and she can practice on her own legs. Once she can do that, let her try your cheeks and as she improves give her more to do.

This is the best advice I think, there are a few videos floating around here too she could look at

Here is a link to the barber's instructional shaving vid

Well since you already said you don't want to just get her the kit and say good luck learning on your own (which I don't blame you, clearly you want the gift to be the knowledge and experience, not the equipment, which is much more thoughtful), I would second the idea of just walking into every old school barber shop you see and asking about lessons. Straight shaving is out of the curriculum, but if enough people do this maybe one day they'll throw it back in

Originally Posted by coachmike

I agree 100%....let her get her feet wet on her legs and then go right to your face. I know i would love to be shaved and I bet you will enjoy it also. By the way, she sounds like a "keeper". Any woman that likes straights is OK in my book.

Sounds like the voice of experience....Way to go Buddy....! Have a slice of Pizza for me....

Make sure she is the "ONE" before she goes for the throat and neck area. I am kidding, its great she is willing to learn, but let her try on you because its better she scrape you than a stranger right?
For those who say "that easy for you to say", my respnse is that I have lost multiple veins to IV and phlebotomy practice for new students in both medicine and nursing.
They really hurt, but they healed.

thanks everyone for your responses.. i guess i was hoping that there was a school i could send her to, or classes i could enrole her in where she could be taught.. i don't mind buying a kit for her so she could learn, but its just not the same to hand her a dvd and a razor and tell her to have at it.. plus, i remember her mentioning that you need a barber license in order to do straight razor shaves, so buying the tools would be pointless if she couldnt actually shave people in work.. (though letting her learn so she could shave my face would be pretty awesome)