Thread: Babygirl Barber... Never trained in the Art of Shaving..... New Member

Megz,

Welcome to SRP, and I also want to say thank you, on behalf of men everywhere (or at least in HI) for deciding to try and offer such a fine service.

In regards to your current situation, I would do the following:

1. Start by reading through the SRP wiki (under the "Library" link at the top of the site). Even though it is geared for shaving your own face, pretty much all the knowledge you would need is contained there.

2. Also in the wiki, research the different equipment types, be it razors, hones, brushes, strops, soaps, creams, etc. to get an idea of what else you'll need, as well as how to use them. This will be invaluable to you, because in a way, you can somewhat "try before you buy".

3. If you do decide to move forward after all of that, send all of your razors that do not have a disposable blade (a shavette is what we call them) to a professional to have them honed. If you check under the classifieds section of this forum in the "Member Services" area, you will find a slew of talented pros who can get your blades in tip top shape. They offer everything from honing to shave readiness to a full restore or custom work.

4. Start obtaining the other gear you'll need, mainly a strop and brush as well as an offering of creams and soaps to offer. Aftershaves and post shave products such as alum blocks or talc would fit here too. There are many, many reviews of which gear is good and not so good here, and if you have any specific questions on them, all you need do is ask.

5. Watch as many videos on youtube as possible on shaving with a straight razor, namely the ones from gssixgun and Lynn Abrams. Also, if you can get in touch with another member here who is in HI for an in person session, that would be even better.

6. Once your gear has arrived and everything is properly honed, start practicing just shaving your legs or a balloon as mentioned earlier. In order to truly understand how much pressure/correct angle/etc. it takes to shave someone else, you need to know how to do it yourself first.

7. Learn to build a good lather. This one would be an easy one to practice, especially on yourself. Since the surface area of your legs would be much greater than a man's face, if you can build a great lather to cover that much skin, you should have no problem building one in your profession.

8. Practice your stropping technique. You will need to strop between each customer, so this will be an imperative thing for you to know. In fact, I would say you might know how to strop more successfully than a lot of members here in a shorter amount of time due to the volume.

9. Give thought to what type of prep you will offer your customers. This could range anywhere from a good facial scrub and cleaning to hot towels and lather. The choice will be yours, and, it's possible that one type of prep may not work for all customers, since no two beards are exactly alike.

10. figure out if you would like to maintain your own blades or send them out again to a pro. Since you'll be shaving more frequently than we do, you''ll need them maintained more frequently and sooner than we will. If you go the route of maintaining them yourself, keep at least one that is professionally done as a benchmark to how well your own honing is progressing.

11 (bonus step). Convince as many of your professional peers, friends, family, neighbors and perfect strangers to begin shaving with a straight razor. No, really, it IS that much better!

Good luck and let us know if there's anything we can do to help. Also, check out the women's subforum... I dunno how active it is, but I know there are plenty of threads there with good info for a woman to start shaving with a straight, so this could be valuable to you if you practice on yourself.

Aloha and welcome Megz I have been a shaving with a Straight Razor for a year now. I have not started to hone yet but I plan too in the future. I don't know how much help I can be but I am on Oahu.

Megz where did you go? Last activity was 9/13/13 I hope you come back I would like to make your acquaintance and check out your razors.