Thread: N00b

Hei straight razor shavers!

I'm new to straight razor shaving, having used Gillette disposables my whole life. Recently I decided to make the shift from disposable culture to reusable in an effort to reduce my own plastic trash consumption. On a whim I bought two cheap Selective brand razors and a strop for 19 bucks. I know, a poor brand of razor but it can't be too bad for learning can it?
My first shave was a relative success with only a minor nick on the leg from impatience and a thin lather.
Sharpening it was easy and took only seconds. The lather was a honey-oat lather from a liquified soap bar that I rather like. Before this I had also shaved with mahogany obsidian, plain obsidian, flint and chert but no stone, of course, keeps its edge and shape as long as steel does, naturally.

So I hope I'm welcome here and my question is how does one create a thick lather that wont just run off and how does one shave legs without a bathtub. We only have a shower stall and straight razor shaving standing upright may be impossible and I haven't even moved to shaving armpits yet, I'm still using a disposable headed safety razor for that.

Any advice? Thanks!

Welcome!

What brand of razors did you get? As for any advise, just check out the wiki and the ladies section.

Hello, Thornapple:

Welcome to Straight Razor Place. Yes, of course, we are delighted to have you with us.

Please dig into the WIKI for a wealth of information and tutorials on many the aspects of straight razor shaving. Beyond that, if you have questions, please ask away and you'll have your answer in no time.

Regards,
Obie

I'll just say welcome and let the ladies answer the leg shaving questions. As for the razors i do not think they are of good quality. I believe there in the razors to avoid list of the beginner's section of the WIKI.

Welcome to SRP. As for the razor, i cannot speak from experience, but the strop i can. Total junk. The only thing it is good for is learning proper stropping techniques. Please invest in some better equipment as your experience with straights will be better. Good luck.

Welcome Thornapple,

The razors and strop you purchased are not really the greatest. The razors do not maintain and edge well and the strop is pretty useless as well except as a practice strop. I would suggest taking a look at the classifieds and getting a vintage razor from there. Often there are strops listed also.

As for lather, shaving soaps and creams are formulated to provide the think dense lather that you need for shaving. You may be able to make due with a regular soap, but you will have much better luck if you get something formulated specifically for shaving.

For shaving you legs without a bath tub, you can shave anywhere you are comfortable doing so. When I first started I sat on the commode in the bathroom or in a kitchen chair where there was good lighting so I could see what I was doing and lathered only one section of my legs at a time. There are a couple of good threads in the ladies section for different ways of doing it. One is http://straightrazorpalace.com/ladie...-gfs-legs.html. It's about someone else shaving you but goes into alot about prep and ways of doing things yourself.

Originally Posted by Thornapple

.....snip...
So I hope I'm welcome here and my question is how does one create a thick lather that wont just run off and how does one shave legs without a bathtub. We only have a shower stall and straight razor shaving standing upright may be impossible and I haven't even moved to shaving armpits yet, I'm still using a disposable headed safety razor for that.

Any advice? Thanks!

First off welcome!

As for only having a shower stall -- find one of those
plastic deck chairs without arms or a stool. From the
paint department in you local home improvement store
pick up a drop cloth (one made of cloth if you can find one).
Or a big old beach towel or two.

It is about the season for outdoor sales items. I have
seen beach blankets that have a water resistant back.
You could use one of those...

You will also want a small bucket of water to rinse the
razor in. One of those childrens plastic beach buckets
will work.

The goal is to setup a stable safe place to get the job done
and make the clean up easy too.

Hi Thornapple and welcome to SRP. Glad to have you aboard.

If you're interested in learning about straight razor shaving or finding out about essential, qulaity gear to begin that journey, consult The SRP wiki. It has tons of information.

Also, feel free to post your question or questions in the appropriate forums. SRP members love to weigh in with their advice and opinions about straight razors, shaving equipment and straight razor shaving.

Again, welcome to SRP. Take care--and smooth shaving.

Originally Posted by Thornapple

I haven't even moved to shaving armpits yet, I'm still using a disposable headed safety razor for that.

Any advice? Thanks!

i havent had much luck shaving armpits.. medicore at best, not good at worst. consider a DE saftey razor, or even closer to a straight razor in character: a Rolls Razor (or something similar, is there anything else like a rollz razor, folks?)

i think i might just pick up a rolls razors because they are cool.
i think i can pick two up used (well, antique, eh?). you are in canada, maybe you'd be interested in one of them?