What pearl of wisdom can you give a beginner?

There is so much great advice mixed throughout the forums.. This thread is an effort to organize these "pearls of wisdom" into one common thread. It could end up a pamphlet or a book!

1. Buy a "shave ready" razor from a reputable web sight like this one's classifieds or SRP member selling on EBAY... ask the seller how he sharpens his razor and why he calls it "shave ready". How has he tested the "shave ready" status... Hanging Hair, shave test..etc...A "New" razor is frequently not honed to a "shave ready" edge.

who else has a pearl of wisdom for a new straight razor shaver?

Maq

2.) 50 Linen/50 Leather a day keeps the honer at bay. :gl:

If you think you're using very light pressure you probably aren't - try using even less.

Spend $2 and invest in a stypic pencil.

My sig line below on holding the razor.

don't cheap out on consumables IE .. shaving soap/cream ,AS, pre shave oil etc ...

Don't eat yellow snow.

Slow down and be patient - this stuff isn't easy or people never would have stopped doing it in the first place.

Interesting one. Most of what I found useful in the forums went into the Straight Razor Place Wiki, especially the Frequently Asked Questions - Straight Razor Place Wiki and the beginners guide (see sig, also available as a PDF - which somewhat qualifies as a book, I should hope).

My personal findings (some of them marked by mind numbing simplicity, I came to realise) are below. JimmyHAD's "light touch" and Bart's "finer points of angles" as well as Lynn's and Glen's remarks on honing being my personal "pearls of wisdom".

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Things I learnt during my previous 999 posts

1. Having a shave ready razor is absolutely essential. My first razors were not, and this had a rather negative impact on my initial shaving experience.
2. Shaving two or three times a day does not necessarily make the learning curve any less steep. It will, however, affect your marital life, up to a point where your wife might be secretly looking for professional help for you.
3. A wider blade (5/8 or, in my humble opinion, 6/8) is better suited for beginners than the 4/8 blades I started with. 4/8 blades are easy to manoeuvre, but they also make it difficult to watch the angle of the blade against your face.
4. A 1/2 hollow grind is a good compromise between feedback (which you get in spades from a full hollow) and the ability to cut hair with slightly wrong angles.
5. One razor is good. Two are better. Three are the beginning of marital difficulties, or early warning signs of a neurotic personality disorder. Replace "razor" with "hone", "strop", "brush" were applicable.
6. A brush is a tool with which to apply lather to a face. Expensive brushes can, but not necessarily will, enhance your shaving experience.
7. Unlike inexpensive brushes, most inexpensive creams, soaps, aftershaves, etc., will have a negative impact on your shaving experience. Expensive products like those made by Castle Forbes or Art of Shaving, tough, have the ability to change your shaving life forever.
8. Knowledge transfer is not always possible. While using a bigger hammer if you cannot fix the problem is a proven path to success when it comes to IT security, it does not work well with straight razors. If a razor pulls because it is not shave ready, additional force will not make your shave more successful, let alone comfortable. Holding the razor in a grip that is a light as possible, and applying no pressure to the blade against your skin, will remove hair consistently, and efficiently, provided that your razor is sharp.
9. Strops get nicks. Buying an expensive strop will not help you to learn stropping faster, or better. It will only lead to your turning an expensive strop into a nicked pasted strop, eventually.
10. There are many hones on this planet. While it may be tempting to buy as many of them as you can, no stone, or combination of stones, will turn you into a honemeister. Practice will, though, but it takes a lot of time.

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Things I learnt during my previous 1000 posts - Straight Razor Place Forums

1. Big blades are good. Bigger blades are gooder. As my technique gets better, I am learning to appreciate 8/8 razors.
2. There is more to life than lavender, lime, and sandalwood. In fact, there is even a life beyond Castle Forbes. But when it comes to lime, nothing beats Castle Forbes's shaving cream.
3. Apart from face preparation, stropping is the single most underestimated contributing factor to a successful shave. Being the proud owner of the three best strops on earth, and having received a stern stropping lesson from Bart, my edges now last forever.
4. Even if they don't, I can now fix every problem I have with any of my razors with just one hone, a Coticule. Thanks again to Bart for another round of lessons. Honing life can be fun!
5. Organising a European SRPCon can be rather challenging. But you can have lots of fun, even if you're only four people. Especially if you manage to buy a Dorko 8/8 300 in the process.
6. Speaking of NOS razors, they are generally overpriced. Unless you're looking for a specific model and make, you'll be much better off financially buying something from the Classifieds.

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1. If you don't buy from somewhere renowned for selling TRULY shave-ready razors, send your blade off to be professionally honed. Not only will this kickstart your straight shaving hobby, you'll also have a benchmark for what sharp is when you're finally ready to touch your razor to a hone yourself. There are many very well respected members here who offer professional honing at reasonable rates, including none other than Lynn Abrams himself.

2. Stropping is one of, if not THE most important aspect of owning and maintaining a straight razor. Stropping seems simple at first, and it actually is, but many people often become overconfident and end up stropping improperly. It's an activity that should NOT be taken lightly, and I urge every beginner to take the time to truly become proficient with it.

Improper stropping technique can result in rounding an edge or even damaging it. The beginner, not having the experience needed to know much of a difference, feels that his razor or shaving technique is at fault (not saying that's not part of it), and feels the need to put his time and energy in the wrong places when their stropping was to blame the entire time.

3. Don't go hone crazy just yet; there's plenty of time for that later. Odds are, if you buy a razor that's already been professionally honed by someone that knows what they're doing, you won't need any hones for quite some time. It would help, however, to pick up some chromium oxide to paste a piece of balsa wood or an inexpensive strop with for the occasional touch-up. This goes back to what I said above, though: Your stropping technique will greatly increase the longevity of your edges.

BTW: You mentioned a beginner buying off eBay. Personally, I think it's a smarter idea to buy from someone here or, if they're looking to buy a new razor, from a place like Straight Razor Designs or Classic Shaving. That way, a newbie KNOWS what they're getting. eBay is often a crap shoot and they can end up becoming frustrated because their razor wasn't as described. There are, however, some guys here that also sell on eBay.

Good luck...

don't panic?

if you want the real good ones you'll have to dig out afdavis's post on the matter. my favorite is:

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Originally Posted by alan

little stubble is better than little irritation

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I have a few I was considering last night.

Buy a strop that produces draw
(I find it really convienent when the strop tells me the razor is sharp)

Barbers were forced to know what they were talking about, but couldn't put it into words very well

Finding a razor with nice balance can make for an enjoyable shave

By the time you get to the third pass you've produced all the prep time anyone has ever recommended

A strop is the perfect tool to sharpen, smooth, or dull a razor

One good quality tool or product from each of the essential groups is enough to get a great shave every day & keeps a marriage happy!

Of course, this is not the route i followed.

When you've done your first pass and you want to try again.. Its ok to re prep your face.. hot towel, preshave oil or cream and fresh hot lather!

If you feel you can't quite see adequately... try getting closer to the mirror!

Great Pearls of Wisdom!!

Whatever you do to that razor besides shaving, KEEP IT FLAT!

What I learned from danny wonderful to enable me to shave with the non dominant hand. Practice (carefully) stretching the skin with one hand and manipulating the razor on your face with the other. Use a dull blade, or one with a taped edge, while in front of the computer screen or watching TV. We only shave once a day for a relatively short time. Practicing the movements will cut the time it takes to begin to get the moves into muscle memory.

So much good advice - and from Moderators and Mentors, even. :rock:

For the new at the game - read, practice, learn :gl:

:beer2:

Most of the good ones are already on here, but this is one I love... and pretty cheap and easy :p

This is called WET shaving for a reason, a splash of hot water, right before you brush on the lather will greatly improve comfort, and closeness...

My signature is my advice to newbies:gl:

Hot shower before you shave. Leave face wet. Simplest and easiest prep (at least works for me):gl:.

If you ever feel uncomfortable during a shave, stop before you cut something important off.

Always look at the razor. Always.

When in doubt, check out SRP! This is the best place to find answers on straight razor shaving.

:gl:

Heres one that I never got, that caused me a lot of cramping and rolled edges...

A strop should be tight. A strop should NOT be stiff as a board. A little flex doesn't hurt... sometimes it helps. Do not leave slack, leave flex. That way, you aren't wrenching your arm and making your razor hand tense as the rest of you is.

Live it, learn it, get a styptic.

Don't worry about BBS for a while.... Shave WTG, with the grain, till you are very comfortable with the razor in your hand.. To shave xtg or atg you'll have to change your grip.. again....No pressure.... none! if you feel you need to add pressure your razor is dull.... when your razor is sharp you automatically will not want to add pressure.... for fear of being cut.....Shave with no pressure... then check your face.... you'll be surprised!! Maq

Just thought I'd add a couple more advices...

- When first starting, your shaves are likely to take a good amount of time. As such, your brush and cream/soap are going to get a little chilly and uncomfortable by the end of your shave. You may want to consider either buying a dedicated shaving scuttle or rigging one of your own. Your lathering bowl simply placed inside of a larger vessel full of hot water should work fine.

- Ensure that you THOROUGHLY dry your razor after shaving. You'd be amazed how fast some of them can rust.

Do not expect to get perfect shaves from the start.
Shaving with SR has some similarities than using the hand tools: It is is matter of time, practise and patience.

Sanitation.... keep all the bits tidy, clean and sanitary.
The first seven day set to get is a short pile of clean face towels (even kitchen towels will do).

A wet wash cloth or hand towel in the microwave for 30 to 40 seconds works great if you don't have hot water.

A small bowl in a larger bowl of hot hot water works as a scuttle and keeps your lather warm to hot!

Maq

Never give up!

Anyway you have to get your razor sharp.. Guranteed way... send it to a reputable honemeister for honing...

Practice your stroping with anything else but your new sharp razor ... then.. strop lightly and evenly with good technique so as not to dull your reazor ...15 strokes each way before each shave..

Light touch... 20 degrees.... let the razor do its job.....

better to do 2 to 3 passes then one bad pass..

pre shave prep is the most important.... shower... or hot towels then some sort of pre shave lotion, cream or oil... nice thick lather ... then have fun!!!

after shave balm... let your face rest if its sore before shaving again.. so you don't cut the same areas over and over....

your face will continue to get smoother and smoother as the blade exfoliates the accumulated dead skin... untill then... you may nick your face a little more!! patience!! Light touch!!

Maq

Don't get yourself too worked up. Yes people stopped doing this. However for centuries before that, a massive chunk of the population did do it. I'd guess more than change their own oil now. There's a bit of a learning curve, but it's really not too bad. A couple nicks on your face or strop perhaps. A close inspection of a few honing demos, and a good choice of razors at the start will make it go much smoother than you might think.

Best resource from the wiki imho are the stropping sounds. Funny how significant something so simple can be, but I personally feel that stropping a properly honed razor is less likely to be executed successfully by a beginner than honing a properly ground one. It's really easy to see why. You're extending your arm much further, you have to maintain balance, often at an angle and resist the natural sweeping motion our arms make, while holding the strop taut AND keep all points on the blade in contact without pressing into the strop. It's actually not a particularly simple motion for someone who's never used it before. With thicker tangs or loose scales, just holding the razor and flipping it can be a challenge.


Audio files are under "Using your senses"
http://straightrazorpalace.com/srpwi...azor_stropping


Oh, and don't decide your lather is "good enough". A good lather makes a huge difference. The only times I've finished and been displeased with the results was when I was trying a new method of making lather, and got impatient and shaved without getting a good lather. If there's one skill I wish there were more resources for it'd be lather making.

Ian,
I agree with you! Stropping is a very important skill to learn in the begining.

Practice is the key to speeding through this part of the learning curve.

Not a bad idea, if you can, to have a practice razor, or practice razor and strop, until you get the correct technique mastered. Once mastered your sharpened razor will last a long time with daily maintenance on the strop.

Maq

Shave drunk so it hurts less when you cut or nick yourself.













JUST KIDDING!!!!!LOL

Have patience.

Really. Straight razor shaving and related activities are not rocket science. It is something you can learn fairly easy, but it takes a bit of time before you get it right.

Don't lose hope when the initial results are less than satisfying. Back when I finally decided I was going to learn this (I had already tried once before), come hell or high water, the first shave was so bad that when I splashed on my aftershave, my neighbors must have heard me scream :) Then I ended up on SRP, started learning the basics, and gradually improved my shaves over the next months.

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Originally Posted by Maq

...who else has a pearl of wisdom for a new straight razor shaver?

Maq

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1. Never shave naked....
2. Never try to catch a dropped straight razor...


Funny how those two are oddly related... :chop: :roflmao


v/r

Allen