Experience counts

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Originally Posted by Scrapyard Ape

Well for one thing, I pretty much had to learn everything on my own. There was precious little information about the "hows and whys" of straight razor use in the early 90's.(no web connection and the local libraries sucked) The only real help I could get was from a local leather worker who made me a small bench strop and showed me how to use it.

I'm still trying to learn honing. That skill has eluded me all this time and still bothers me considerably.

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I can relate to your experience completely. I've used a str8 razor for about 25 years. I've learned more here at SRP in less than a year than all 25 years put together. The newbies today have a definite advantage with all the available wisdom and help through this forum.

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Originally Posted by eagle

I can relate to your experience completely. I've used a str8 razor for about 25 years. I've learned more here at SRP in less than a year than all 25 years put together. The newbies today have a definite advantage with all the available wisdom and help through this forum.

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It's true, not only do I have all this information now that I am a newbie, but even before I was a newbie I had a ton of information to go on before deciding if I really wanted to start straight razor shaving. I would imagine it was much more of a plunge doing it so long ago.

Still, I'm only five shaves in, and all you guys with 1000+ :bow are saying that your still novices. I guess I have a long ways to go haha.

The amount of info available to us noobs on here is awesome. In a way there's almost too much of a good thing! Being still in full flush with the newness of it all, I'm running around thinking:

"gotta get that jagger brush"
"need a norton 4k/8k"
"must remember to pm Tony Miller for a Latigo"
"mmm, look at those maestros"
"have to get some of colleen's oak & moss shaving cream"
"it's clear, I need some of that Coral skin food"
"watch Lynn's DVD again (and again!)"
and most recently... "the moss scuttle: the only way to go?"

and of course, more importantly, there's even more to learn on technique here. It gets so a poor noob can't focus on one damn thing!

One thing I HAVE learned for sure: there's no one way, no single combination of technique or products, and it's going to take at least 1000 shaves (or 10k!) before I work my way through the list and discover my own personal preference.

Just want to say thanks again to all the experienced and less-experienced voices here. This is one hell of an interest!

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Originally Posted by majurey

The amount of info available to us noobs on here is awesome. In a way there's almost too much of a good thing! Being still in full flush with the newness of it all, I'm running around thinking:

"gotta get that jagger brush"
"need a norton 4k/8k"
"must remember to pm Tony Miller for a Latigo"
"mmm, look at those maestros"
"have to get some of colleen's oak & moss shaving cream"
"it's clear, I need some of that Coral skin food"
"watch Lynn's DVD again (and again!)"
and most recently... "the moss scuttle: the only way to go?"

and of course, more importantly, there's even more to learn on technique here. It gets so a poor noob can't focus on one damn thing!
One thing I HAVE learned for sure: there's no one way, no single combination of technique or products, and it's going to take at least 1000 shaves (or 10k!) before I work my way through the list and discover my own personal preference.

Just want to say thanks again to all the experienced and less-experienced voices here. This is one hell of an interest!

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I have to agree to the highlighted points. I am sure that too much info can be as damaging as too little. Fundamentals should be practiced and perfected before experimentation imo. A good sound knowledge of honing and stropping along with well practiced shaving, should be the goal of all who shave with a straight. Options abound for hone choice, razor choice etc. Perhaps a basic starter setup should be posted so anyone new to this could at least start with proven equipment and technique. Lynn has made a video with good sound advise on it but even here the choices exhist to confuse on a starter setup.
With over 10,000 shaves under my belt, I still find products and techniques new to me which I try and include or disspell from my usual routine as I see fit. This is made easier because of the basic fundamental skills learned on a basic setup in the past. you need to have engrained a certain amount of technique before you can broaden your skills.
I have yet to stop learning, though the amount of new information coming to me now has lessened over the years. We all have something still to learn, possibly from a gifted Noob too :)

PuFF

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Originally Posted by PuFFaH

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I have to agree to the highlighted points. I am sure that too much info can be as damaging as too little. Fundamentals should be practiced and perfected before experimentation imo. A good sound knowledge of honing and stropping along with well practiced shaving, should be the goal of all who shave with a straight. Options abound for hone choice, razor choice etc. Perhaps a basic starter setup should be posted so anyone new to this could at least start with proven equipment and technique. Lynn has made a video with good sound advise on it but even here the choices exhist to confuse on a starter setup.
With over 10,000 shaves under my belt, I still find products and techniques new to me which I try and include or disspell from my usual routine as I see fit. This is made easier because of the basic fundamental skills learned on a basic setup in the past. you need to have engrained a certain amount of technique before you can broaden your skills.
I have yet to stop learning, though the amount of new information coming to me now has lessened over the years. We all have something still to learn, possibly from a gifted Noob too :)

PuFF

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As a newbie myself, I'll add an Amen to the comment by Puff that I bolded. I have found that it all boils down to that. Like any craft or art, a solid foundation of basics is a must. No matter what I do, I always need to come back to these issues (stropping, honing, shaving) and practice, practice, practice.

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Originally Posted by steve

As a newbie myself, I'll add an Amen to the comment by Puff that I bolded. I have found that it all boils down to that. Like any craft or art, a solid foundation of basics is a must. No matter what I do, I always need to come back to these issues (stropping, honing, shaving) and practice, practice, practice.

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Ditto!

Our challenge as newbies is to sort through the info, and translate it into our practice. I play golf rarely and badly. When I do, I am miserable if I pay too much attention to my more zealous golfing buddies overly-technical tips for my swing. I want to get better at shaving than I do golf, so I will keep reading this forum and trying to sort out what makes my basic techniques better.

Like others have said, I add my thanks to all who post, most especially to those of you with all the shaves behind you, who learned (and are self-described learners still) the hard way and are helping make it a little easier for the rest of us. Thanks for the help!!

- Dale

I find that going back to the barbering books in the library and reading through them is a great way to cut through the din. These are nice condensed, coherent descriptions of what we're trying to master here, without all the flourishes and special cases and personal preferences that cloud the fundamental issues.