Your Son's First Shave

Just curious, when your son became old enough to shave... how did you start him out? Cartrigde, DE, or straight?

My father never taught me how to shave. He had a beard and when he did shave, I’m pretty sure he used an electric. I just figured it out on my own with a cartridge.

My boys are 5 and 6, I want to get them a toy shave set to teach them the art of wet shaving. But I’m curious what I should do when they are old enough to need a real razor.

I just recently learned what a DE razor was. It made me remember when I saw Cliff give one to Theo for his first shave on “The Cosby Show”.
See clip below, start at 5:00 in.

YouTube - The Cosby Show Season 1 Episode 15 Part 1

I unfortunately do not have sons.. my daughter on the other hand is 9 and is completely embarrassed by her leg hair and has asked me about shaving her legs.

She has already said she does not want to see a straight anywhere near her legs currently. I have a DE but my wife does not want her using that either. She will probably start by using the electric wet/dry shaver I abandoned for straights. I will however be teaching both my wife and daughter how to create a nice lather to help them on their way that way.

When my son gets old enough to shave, I will tell him to go and read the wiki. :rofl2:

Sorry, couldn't resist.

My son is 15, I got him a Wilkinson's sword retro range double edge (cheap, but not bad) , brush and shaving soap and showed him how to shave.

He can choose how he wants to go on from there, but I wanted to start him off right. So far, he is sticking with the double edge, so I'll prob buy him a Merkur on his next birthday.

What about childhood?
We seem to be encouraging small kids to think about things that were normally thought about around the age of puberty.

Good point about Childhood, I figured it was time he was shaving as he was starting to look like a wookie :-)

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Originally Posted by welshwizard

What about childhood?
We seem to be encouraging small kids to think about things that were normally thought about around the age of puberty.

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Really!?!? It's not like I'm telling my kids to stop playing outside or stop using their imagination. :confused:

It's 10 minutes of male bonding on a Sunday Morning. The kids are already interested in shaving and wonder what it is that Daddy does. What is wrong with teaching him a little bit about what it is to be a man? Isn't that what fathers are supposed to do?

I would just like to do something for them that my father did not do for me. Yes, it is not important until they reach puberty, but what harm is there in having a little bathroom mentoring before then.

I could do nothing and then when I go to show my son about DE razors, soap cakes and brushes later he is confused, because that is not how they shave in commercials.

My son is 15 and he's been getting rid of his facial hair (all two of them :D), more or less frequently, about a year.
I didn't want to start talking about shaving; i rather wanted to wait until he gets interested to want it himself. When the time came we had a nice talk; i promised to teach and help and get the gear if he just wanted to, but finally i had to teach him how to use electric. It was his choice.

One day he said he wanted to try straights some day, but not yet. Maybe it happens and maybe not, but giving too strong opinions and pushing him this time would surely have made him forget wet shaving for good. So one day he will ask or then not. It is his choice.

My son is 12 years old and is eagerly awaiting signs of puberty. He is totally fascinated with my new venture into straight razor shaving (I just started on May 1, 2010 and absolutely love it). He is genuinely disappointed when he shows up in the shave den in the mornings if I've already finished shaving.

I let him make my lather a couple of days ago and put some on his face so he could feel it for himself. He was smiling from ear-to-ear.

He has repeatedly asked me if he can shave with a straight razor when he's old enough to shave. My response has been "We'll see, when the time comes". He's a very responsible Boy Scout, has his whittling chip, and is wise beyond his years. I hope I have the guts to trust him when the time comes. As others have pointed out on other threads, in the past, young boys learned to SR shave with little to no instruction and managed to survive:).

Surely with my guidance and SRP my son can one day do the same...

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Originally Posted by thevez2

It's 10 minutes of male bonding on a Sunday Morning. The kids are already interested in shaving and wonder what it is that Daddy does. What is wrong with teaching him a little bit about what it is to be a man? Isn't that what fathers are supposed to do?

I would just like to do something for them that my father did not do for me. Yes, it is not important until they reach puberty, but what harm is there in having a little bathroom mentoring before then.

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