Happy to have found SRP!

Hello all!

I am new here to these forums and likewise just as new to the world of straight razor shaving.

I got this wild hair idea the other day at my barber why not try using a straight razor instead of my expensive throw away cartridge razors. So I asked my barber as he trimmed my sideburns and back of the neck is that something hard to pick up, especially on one's self? He said no not really, just a little practice is all and its much more affordable.

He steered me over at some of his safety and straight razor selections which seemed very pricy in his shop and said this would be the sort of thing you might want to try starting with, focusing in on a all stainless steel Parker with replaceable razor blade. He quoted me several prices and sure enough after the initial cost the blades would be much more affordable. Plus I had always been under the impression that this is the means to the closest shave. So I got home played around on the internet, watched some Youtube, etc and pulled the trigger on a purchase.

Now I wish I had found SRP prior to my purchase and hope I haven't wasted some money on inferior products but not having much in the way of resources on the subject, I still don't regret my initial spontaneity. What I have on order is a Dovo Shavette with an assortment of blades to sample on each of the three insert holders - red/black/green with the intent being to try them in that order. I also picked up some Musgo Pre Shave Oil, Proraso Shaving Soap and a Parker Best Badger shaving brush. How does that sound for a shot in the dark semi budget friendly starter setup?

In the short time I've looked around on these forums, I realize there is an wealth of information and I can't wait to start reading the ins and outs on the "art". Hopefully all goes well with my intial experiences taking into account research from here while I await my orders shipment. And who knows maybe I will fall in love and graduate to a real blade with strope and honing getting even further away from the idea of disposables blades!

Sounds like you are off to a pretty good start. Watch LOTS of videos on the shaving process and take it slow. And Welcome to the forum!

Hi and welcome. Not a bad place to start. No need for stropping, honing and you know that the razor is sharp. Gives you a chance to work on lathering and shave technique. Good luck and any questions feel free to ask

I used a Dovo shavette for my first year. It will help you learn a lot of the basics. Just don't be to surprised when you get an actual straight, the angle is different and there will be a slight relearning curve. Welcome aboard!

Hello, and welcome to SRP !!

Hello and welcome.
I started with a shavette on a whim, then found this site, and then switched to a straight about 4 months later. Thanks to the razor burn and nicks of learning a shavette, I had very few problems switching to the straight. Take it slow, check out the library, and definitely get some witch hazel and a styptic pencil before your first shave. The pre shave oil is a good until you learn how to build lather, Poraso is a good soap that works well, the brush is a good starter as well.

Obviously, feel free to post any questions you have. Everyone on this forum is nice, helpful, and knowledgeable.

I think there is also an Atlanta wet shavers group so you might be able to find someone to walk you through a shave. A little bit of time with someone is worth hours of online reading and watching.

Welcome! I'm new here myself and I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one with spontaneous impulse urges to start straight shaving haha! I've only been on here a few days and have learned a ton from browsing the forums. Sounds like a pretty good starter set up to me too. Good luck!

Welcome and don't be surprised if you start buying a lot of stuff. If you don't, we will all be surprised.

Thanks for all the warm welcomes! I've started putzin' around the library and wow there is alot of well written informative information there. I've checked out the "beginners guide to straight razor shaving", "buying a beginners set on a budget" and "First Straight Razor Shave". From the other areas I've glanced at I've started to pickup on theres alot that goes into a straight blade which makes them different, I had no idea and probably more to come. At any rate I'm going to start looking into the whole new lathering concept info over the can experience I know :P. I've seen some videos and such and noticed some differing techniques. One that I've seen on several videos is where the person puts a smudge of soap/cream on the brush and lathers it directly on the face. So that got me thinking what does the bowl bring to the table? I see several references to it being optional but if anyone would give me some highlights that would be much appreciated.Thanks in advance!

Well, it looks like I still have almost a week before all my gear starts to show up in the mail :P. Just enough to help me with not rushing into to realize I should read more :)

Oh yea almost forgot, Styptic Pencil and Witch Hazel - Check :)

A bowl can be less messy, and ylou can get the lather you want before you put it on your face, a bowl can literally be a plastic takeaway container, the round ones about 4-5" across work, why not try it like that and see how you go, then there are scuttles, a bowl with a water reservoir surrounding it that will keep your lather warm or cold depending on what you like.
You also need a bowl to make uber lathers, whee you mix soap, cream and usually glycerin together to make the lather.

Contact Crouton976 via the PM section. He is a lathering demon. Tell him I said so. A good source for straight shaving info. I'm sure he will be willing to share knowledge with you, that's the nature of this forum.

If you are using a shaving cream you can lather it directly on your face or in a bowl.
If you are using a shaving soap (hard puck) then you usually need a bowl.
That being said, I've made lather from a hard puck in hand and wiped it onto my face with the other hand. It was real messy and definitely put the wet in wet shaving.
You can pick up a VDH starter bowl, boar brush, and soap kit at Walgreens, CVS, Walmart, etc. for about $15. It lathers up pretty easy and shaves well.

RazorCut, first I'd like to say a warm welcome to SRP! As I'm sure you're learning, the guys (and few gals) we have here are truly the cream of the crop and are definitely willing to help if you start having any issues.

Also, I did get your PM, but if it's alright with you, I'll respond here so that more of the new guys besides yourself can maybe learn something.

Also, thank you to Pope Razorfeld for the vote of confidence! That means a lot to me, good sir! :)

Okay, so as others have said before me, it sounds like you've pretty much hit the sweet spot in terms of your gear, but as some have pointed out, if you make the switch to a straight razor, there will be a slight learning curve coming off of the shavette. Not bad, mind you, just slight. Your soaps/creams are good quality, and your brush has a good reputation (I'm still using my cheap $5 Van der Hagen Boar brushes, and the Van der Hagen Badger brush that came with my starter kit, along with a vintage Eveready Boar brush... One day, I'll get a "real" brush, but can do just fine with what I have now).

From the sounds of your PM, you're two shaves in, using a combo of Proraso soap and C.O. Bigelow cream(which is actually Proraso cream rebranded) with glycerine to make an uberlather. I personally love the Proraso/Bigelow cream, as it gives a slick and dense lather. You can't go wrong with this one.

As for doing an uberlather, feel free to keep trying it, but I'd actually recommend starting with just the Bigelow cream or just the Proraso soap for now. I'd even leave the glycerine out, and probably start with the cream. The reason is that you essentially have about 7 variables when doing an uberlather (soap, cream, glycerine, water, brush, bowl, technique/experience) as opposed to 5 using just a soap or cream (soap or cream alone, water, brush, bowl, technique/experience). Controlling the variables and mastering them before getting into advanced aspects means an easier learning curve for you. The other reason I'd recommend the cream is that they tend to be easier to lather well, especially for new users.

Another thing to point out here is practice and practice, and then practice some more! The good thing about learning to lather well is that you can do it between shaves without wasting too much soap. On that note, as you go further into things, you'll find that each soap has it's own set of quirks and nuances to learn to get the lather you're looking for. Take a look at a thread I started called "The Great Common Soap Experiment!". You'll see that I went through 6 or so soaps/creams that I found in the wild at local grocery and drug stores. I kinda broke down each one and described some of the variables of each to get good lather.

As for your bowl/mug/face lathering questions, it's definitely easier to control in a bowl/mug (with the possible exception of a shave soap stick, like Arko or Palmolive, which is a different animal altogether). You can start with a relatively dry brush (after soaking, shake or squeeze most of the water out) and add a few drops of water at a time until you have just the right consistency you're looking for. Also, you were correct in mugs/bowls with ridges adding a bit more air to the lather, which if your water and soap amounts are right, means it will lather faster and easier.

Apart from a shave ready razor, which yours being a shavette eliminates that variable, your prep/lather is the most important aspect. A sharp blade and proper lather can be very forgiving to improper technique and pressure when learning.

One more thing... The toughest nut for me to crack, soap-wise, was Williams Mug Soap. I tried everything I could think of and couldn't get it to lather well. At about $1.50 a puck, I decided that I was going to make it lather well, and spent some time with my brush and bowl, loading, lathering, rinsing and repeating until I finally gave up. One day, I happened to come across a thread giving detailed info on how to get Williams to work well. The advice was totally counter to everything I knew about building lather, but by golly, it worked. That was only possible because of the awesome members here, who share their knowledge and experience so freely. As such, feel free to ask any questions you have because we love to help each other here. Additionally, since you're in the Atlanta area, I'd be more than happy to meet up some time and give you some in-person pointers. I'm not the most knowledgeable member here, far from it, but certainly don't mind showing you what I do know. We just moved to Paulding County, but I'm sure we could figure out something in terms of where to meet. As has already been said, meeting and learning in person for an hour or so will gain you the knowledge and experience of hundreds of hours of forum/YouTube time. If you're interested, just let me know.

Again, welcome to SRP, and if I, or any of us, may be of service, just ask. :)

Crouton976,

Thanks for all the good feedback fella.

As you pointed out above yes I am two shaves in, this evening will be #3.

Regarding the uberlather vs a simpler mix that's just what I did. Meaning on my second shave, I used only the Proraso Soap without the cream or glycerin. Tonight I intend to flip that and use only the cream with no soap or glycerin then reflect on the differences of all three.

In reference to your thread on The Great Common Soap Experiment!, I will definitely be looking that one up after this post. Also I'm going to search for something to sample having a textured interior mug/bowl aspect based on your feedback above.

Lastly, I would like very much to take you up on your gracious offer to meet. I live north off of 400, I'll PM you to work out the specifics of where we can meet between us.

Thanks again!

RazorCut, Crouton has a bowl I modified. See if he can have it with him to show you if you don't meet at his place. Simple to modify a bowl. Loctite quickset epoxy - dual tubes, you attach a mixing spout and apply a series of dots to the bottom and lines radiating up on the inner sides. Let set a good 30 hours and enjoy a lot of lather.

Have a good mini meet!

Razorfeld makes an excellent lathering bowl.

Going to use mine again tonight with the sample of soap Ed sent me!

It's got some nice ridges on the inside of the bowl that are just perfect for getting a good thick lather, I find myself using it all the time when I need a bowl for a soap sample of cream.

I have to agree with Phrank on Razorfeld's bowls... hands down the easiest for me to lather in (and also, many thanks for the new addition and the housewarming gift, Richard! The new version is even more perfect than the original!).

RazorCut, I got your PM, so expect a response here shortly. I'm definitely down for a "mini meet", and if I was smart, I'd try to organize a full on meet, at least for all of the Georgian's! I know WillN and DonR are in Georgia (DonR is actually in a neighborhood around the corner from the house we just moved out of). I know there are more...

Anyway, I'll definitely bring an example of Pope Razorfeld's fine work for you to see, as well as some specimens of various soaps/creams, razors, strops, etc.

I'm also going to bring a stick of Arko soap and a twist up container that if you like the scent, you can have. I personally love the scent, but some folks don't. On top of that, it's a cheap, good quality soap... In fact, I only kept out the stick I'm using to shave with while all my gear was packed up during our recent move (still unpacking boxes, sigh). I'm also going to bring a puck of Williams Mug Soap, because if you can successfully lather that, you can handle just about anything! I don't know that I'd try shaving with it just yet since you're still learning your angles and technique, but just to practice lathering to get the same consistency as some of the better soaps out there it should do you fine.

PM incoming... Stay tuned.

How can I not 'like' the previous two posts. But, in my defense, anyone can construct an effective lathering bowl. And a number have posted their versions. So all I can do as Pope Razorfeld is issue a blanket Blessing of the Lather and wish you all nick free shaves (at least for the foreseeable future).

Razorfeld any chance of some pics of the bowl so us hsndy folk can give it a shot. Thanks

Quote:

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Originally Posted by eddy79

Razorfeld any chance of some pics of the bowl so us hsndy folk can give it a shot. Thanks

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Will be taking some pictures of a SOTD later this morning. We supply a pic or two of a bowl.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by eddy79

Razorfeld any chance of some pics of the bowl so us hsndy folk can give it a shot. Thanks

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This is a plastic salsa bowl. I would recommend using a wood, ceramic, glass or metal bowl because if you are maintaing a uber lather from day to day for some reason the epoxy loosens up from long exposure to moisture.

Attachment 172974Attachment 172975

Thanks for sharing Razorfeld, I hadn't thought of just using the glue alone to create the ridges. I was thinking of needing to glue some objects down like toothpicks, pieces of plastic spoon handles etc which none where appealing to me. Thanks for sharing I will definitely have to give that a try.