Thread: Am I seeing SRP wrong?

Why is it that SRP isn't very helpful to beginners? Why is it frowned upon to learn to hone? It almost seems as if it is one giant advertizement to buy stuff, rather than to learn skills. It kinda makes me sad, because I don't remember it being as bad 2 years ago. I have never seen a forum that all the moderators/mentors have the same exact opinion on all subjects. Kinda makes you wonder who is doing the thinking. I know it must be bad, when I have received so many PM's from people scared to post their thoughts in public for fear of being banned. What's the deal?

yes you are.

No one frowns upon any one learning to hone. In fact if there was a conspiracy to maximize sales for a few mystery vendors, it would be advantageous for everyone to buy as many hones as possible.

I think you will find people bend over backwards to help people too. Even when it is the same question they have answered 10000 times before.

There is a strong push for new shavers not learn to shave and hone at the same time. You know why? Because we were all new at one point too and made various mistakes. We know how difficult it can be and how different a shave ready razor and sharp knife are.

SRP is all about making the learning experience as easy as possible for people. No one has ever been banned for having a different opinion.

FYI. If there is a master vendor making a ton of SRP money, can I have some for all the time I have spent fixing stuff so we can keep the noobs down?

Originally Posted by MCFLY49

Why is it that SRP isn't very helpful to beginners? Why is it frowned upon to learn to hone? It almost seems as if it is one giant advertizement to buy stuff, rather than to learn skills. It kinda makes me sad, because I don't remember it being as bad 2 years ago. I have never seen a forum that all the moderators/mentors have the same exact opinion on all subjects. Kinda makes you wonder who is doing the thinking. I know it must be bad, when I have received so many PM's from people scared to post their thoughts in public for fear of being banned. What's the deal?

You have to remember there are tons of new shavers like me who have a lot of questions and try to master it too quickly...and that can get frustrating. The more experienced members here have made the same mistakes we do/did and they are just trying to help us do it right by advising us not to move too quickly. It is very helpful here for beginners, but your experience of non-helpfulness is pretty subjective...it's VERY difficult to help out beginners in an anonymous online setting, as successful shaving is highly tailored to individuals; what works me for doesn't work for you and honestly there's not much they can do except make suggestions to us that may or may not work. Some stuff you're going to need to figure out yourself, not because no one here wants to help, but because the help that can be given is limited.

I learned to hone by reading posts on SRP, tutorials in the SRP Wiki (now known as 'The Library') and from one on one conversations with members. Learned how to strop and to use a straight razor to shave on SRP as well. The info gained here and a lot of practice with a lot of razors picked up mostly from ebay. You generally reap the rewards based on what effort you put into whatever it is you're doing. How are you doing BTW ? You've been a member since 2009 and have 22 posts ? Were they to help newcomers ?

When a beginner starts he has a lot of enthusiasm. He wants to do it all. After reality smacks him in the face (pun intended) and he realizes that his skill level is lacking, his frustration grows. Questions about his beard prep, stopping ability, shaving angles and pressure all erode his confidence. Decisions to stay with it come up and it's a good chance we might lose this newbie before he gets to enjoy a close shave. That would be a great loss. If at the same time he also tries to hone that will bring a whole new level of frustration into the picture. So when the mods try to advise against learning to hone while still learning to shave their interest is to keep a positive attitude. My thanks to all the mods who have guided us and kept us on the path to a great shave.

Hi and welcome McFly

I have to echo everything that has already been said above. I'm not sure what happened that you are referring to, but I have overall had only positive experiences since joining SRP.

I have never seen SRP as pushing any kind of sales. As with any new hobby aquiring things is almost a necessity. Based on advice from people here I have bought a TON of razor, hones, oils, colognes, etc.!

YET I AM NOT A VENDOR, NOR HAVE I EVER BOUGHT ANY ITEM OR SERVICE FROM SOMEONE AT SRP. With the information on this site I have restored and learned to hone my own razors for over a year.

And yes, I had a lot of dull shaves when starting. I could have sent a razor or two out to be honed for a more pleasurable experience, but I am stubborn and think that bleeding from my own mistakes will make me more careful next time I hone a razor or shave.

Having said that I have to emphasize that I DO plan to have a vintage Dorp & Voos I am restoring honed by somone in the SRP classified just so I can compare my work with that of somone that hones so much that it comes second nature to them.

Any recommendations I have received from somone at SRP have been intended to help me have a better experience with wet shaving. It's up to me to decide if I want to follow that advice or not.

Please don't get frustrated. This is by any measure the best resource for wet shaving on the internet. There are one or two that come close, but even on those sites they will reference topics generated and discussed here.

Originally Posted by MCFLY49

Can you direct me to a thread that a mod/mentors tells a beginner "Go get a hone and give it a shot, I bet you get the hang of it pretty quick"? I highly doubt it.
I don't think I even need respond to the rest.


That is not the message I see in most responses. People will voice very valid thoughts and ideas, only to be shot down in a very rude fashion. HHT anyone?

I think they go further than advising against it, most will damn you to a hot place for thinking this.

I feel that you are just looking for an argument. If you are new then walk first then advance. There are approx over 500 results in a quick how to hone search. Do some leg work and read. If you don't want to take advice then it sounds like you should look elsewhere, perhaps Badger and Blade will tell you what you want to hear? You have gotten under people's skin because of your own actions. You did not hear the answer you wanted so now you flame SRP??? Bad choice for this board and in life. Zero humility and ego will not get you very far.

I agree that some mods are overly sensitive and will over react to anything that could be percieved as sales talk ie "that looks great I will take two " while others will happily join in and only remove flagrant violations. But overall I feel that the majority of people and mods here will go out of their way to shed light on your wet shaving concerns.

I think the whole honing thing just stems from people wanting to learn to run before they can walk. In the long run it will save more people from the frusteration of learning what a truly sharp edge feels like while learning what angles work best plus what pre shave treatment to use etc etc also it can save people from possibly destroying a beautiful classic blades.
I dont see an issue with learning to shave for a year(or whatever time is comfortable) before touching a stone.

all is IMHO so take for what its worth. Im just a wet shaver avoiding doing real work by looking at SRP until his boss catches him.....

I think it is a sad day if that is how we are perceived by newcomers to this site.

As stated by Slart, there's a huge crowd in here trying their very best to help people out as much as they can.
For absolutely no other reason than to give back to the society that got themselves up and running with straight razor shaving.

The reasoning behind the advice to learn to shave first, then to hone, is IMHO pretty sound.
That said, I did quite the opposite, and have advised others that felt that was the way to go, to the best of my abilities, how they should go forward with that.

Learning both at the same time, did provide me with the usual frustrations and uncertainty that comes with it for most new starters.
For that reason, and no other, I try to give that experience back to the community.

And about the fear of being banned for having a view other than that of the mods, I really don't see that happening on SRP.
Believe you me, we mods are just as different between us as the regular members are
And to me, that is half the fun!

Originally Posted by Slartibartfast

No one frowns upon any one learning to hone.

Can you direct me to a thread that a mod/mentors tells a beginner "Go get a hone and give it a shot, I bet you get the hang of it pretty quick"? I highly doubt it.
I don't think I even need respond to the rest.

Originally Posted by U2Bono269

what works me for doesn't work for you and honestly there's not much they can do except make suggestions to us that may or may not work.

That is not the message I see in most responses. People will voice very valid thoughts and ideas, only to be shot down in a very rude fashion. HHT anyone?

Originally Posted by Snuff

Not helpful? Maybe they advice not to try honing for beginners because there are already so much things that can go wrong (beard prep, stropping, lather, ....) that it would make things only more complicated then necessary?

I think they go further than advising against it, most will damn you to a hot place for thinking this.