Newbie from Queensland Australia

G'day my mane is Greg, I am retired and from Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. I came across this forum when I decided to give SR shaving ago at the tender age of 60, to follow in my fathers foot steps. Dad passed away about 10 years ago but recently Mum moved into a care facility as she is now in her mid 80's. As a result of her move we were going through some old stuff of dads and we found an old shaving brush and other shaving gear. Something struck me, I guess you would call it nostalgia because on finding the shaving gear I recalled when dad tried to teach me to shave with a SR at the age of 16. He would take great care to lather with the old shaving soap stick and shaving brush, he would walk around the house doing it for what seemed to me to be like hours but in reality would have been about 20 minutes. Being 16 I did not have the patients for all of that so I promptly went out and bought a can of shaving foam and a safety razor which means I never did use a SR! Anyway, the long and the short of this tale is that nostalgia has prompted me to try and master the art of SR shaving. I may not live long enough to be that master of the art but I will give it a fairdinkum go.

I have recently purchase my first SR and some shaving gear from SRD which I expect to arrive in the near future. In the mean time I have started watching some of Lynn's instructional video's that have been very helpful. I am quite enthusiastic about the whole SR shaving process and have just had my first SR shave, I am quite proud of myself, no cuts!

I remember someone saying it takes about 100 shaves to become proficient at SR shaving but you have to start somewhere.

Cheers all

Greg

Hi Greg, Im Andrew.

Im also in Brisbane (West End). If you want to have a try straight shaving before you get your razor back from honing, I am happy to loan you one or you can come and try one at my place.

Also, a nice member from Sweden is coming over in January and we are having a small get together at my place, you are welcome to join and meet the other friendly and helpful local members. I have met a handful of other members since joining this forum, and they are the nicest bunch of guys one could hope to meet in one room.

What razor did you get from SRP? You cannot go wrong buying from Lynn / SRD, and will be honed to perfection. One suggestion though, if you are already paying shipping cost, it is worthwhile considering other items you may require, and get them shipped at the same time. If you are not going to hone yourself, we are lucky to have a few people is Oz who can do a good job for you... but is hard to find a good strop in Australia at a decent price so may be worth adding to your order if you haven't already.

Also, reach out to Edhewitt, although he's over in WA, he is very active and a great guy. Worth getting to know. I don't know of any members on in the Western suburbs, but AdamG is from the northside, as is Mike (bit further north), Rick and some others. Havachat (who gave me my first pro per honing lesson)is further out west near Ipswich I believe but there are other awesome members floating around. I'm sure they will post and say G'Day in this thread soon enough.

If interested in the local meetup, PM me for address. Time is not set yet, but I believe the date will be the 11th Jan.

I hope you will enjoy this pursuit as much as I have so far :)

Hi and welcome from W.A. Andrew had already filled you in on the local community so all I will add is we have the down under forum here which is worth checking out. If you have any problems or questions feel free to ask

Hi Greg & welcome to SRP. You will love it here & there is plenty to learn as there is a wealth of information on here! You will love the purchase you made from SRD.
Brands of Straight Razors to Avoid - Straight Razor Place Library
Here is a list of good brands of razors you will want to own plus there are more than just these out there which you will find out from other members here:
Good Straight Razor Brands - Straight Razor Place Library
If buying a new razor, I suggest you buy one from Straight Razor Designs or SRD. The owner & founder of this forum is Lynn & he is also part owner of SRD. When you buy a straight razor from him, he will personally hone that razor before you get it plus you will get a certificate for another free honing for when that razor needs it which should be a few months. There will be vendors who will sell you a straight razor that is supposed to be shave ready but really won't be. You will most importantly need to know how to strop & you can learn in the Library or here:
Razor stropping - Straight Razor Place Library
You will need to strop your razor before & after you shave. If you buy one from Lynn, chances are you won’t have to strop it before you use it the first time.
You will also need a shaving brush, a shaving mug & some shaving soap which I see you already have. Later it will also do you good to get a second straight razor so that when you send the first one out to be honed, you will have a backup to shave with.
Here is a link to the Library where you will find stropping in there & everything else you will need to know including how to hone:
Straight Razor Place Library - Straight Razor Place Library
Here is another good link to know:
Welcome to the Workshop: How do I / Where do I / What do I / answers are here
Should you have any questions, there are a lot of knowledgable members on here that will be more than happy to help you out. If you want to find someone in your area, you can look here:
Local Help - Straight Razor Place Library
And if you can't find anyone near you, just ask and someone that lives in your are & hopefully they will let you know how to meet up & you can get some one on one mentoring. There is a lot to do on here, just search everywhere on the forum & in the Library. You will spend hours on here & have fun doing it, so there you go, have at it!
Good luck & have fun!
Steve

Hi Greg, and welcome aboard!!

Hi Andrew

Thank you for your response, it is good to know there are other like minded people from the forum close by and I would certainly like to catch up for coffee sometime soon. I have just returned home from hospital yesterday after having the second round of surgery on my back in a month so I am presently in my recovery phase, but hope to be more agile early in the new year. Thank you for your kind offer for use of a SR, however I have already purchased a couple of Giesen and Forsthoff's SR's from AKC here in Australia and I am practicing stropping and I have had my first SR shave yesterday. I am looking at buying a razor from SRD but have not as yet made the commitment I have however ordered a set of honing stones and strops that Lynn recommended in one of his videos, hoping for arrival soon. Also thanks and hello to Ed and Engine46 for the information.

Cheers

Greg

G'day Greg & welcome from up the Bruce a bit,
good to see you are of to a good start
and the hones from SRD will hopefully not be required for a while
there is definitely some great lads down in the Brissy area that would be willing & plenty cable to help you alone your path
as you've noted already keep watching all the vids & reading the endless wealth of information on here
but a bit of one on one mentoring with Andrew or the like I think will go a lot further than any vids etc ever can.

G'day Greg, welcome to the forum.

HI Greg,

I'm in your age range and had no trouble picking up the straight. It takes about 3 or 4 months to develop confidence in handling the razor and a year or so get reasonably competent but it's an interesting journey. You'll have minor cuts and the odd major one along the way but don't give up; there's a whole lot of guys here in SE Qld who are itching to help out. Feel free to post questions about the art and me and the guys (some of whom have already responded) will give you the low down on any aspect you care to name.

Welcome to SRP, 60 your still so young, i am pretty sure you will master the open razor,especially with the help of all the forum members who go out of there way to help. Your in good hands my friend enjoy.

Thank you for the advice, I am up to my third shave and i have lost plenty of juice already.. I am not sure if my razor is sharp enough as it tuggs a bit but I will keep at it and hopefully it will get better.

Cheers

Greg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Maladroit

HI Greg,

I'm in your age range and had no trouble picking up the straight. It takes about 3 or 4 months to develop confidence in handling the razor and a year or so get reasonably competent but it's an interesting journey. You'll have minor cuts and the odd major one along the way but don't give up; there's a whole lot of guys here in SE Qld who are itching to help out. Feel free to post questions about the art and me and the guys (some of whom have already responded) will give you the low down on any aspect you care to name.

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any tugging is usually a good sign it is ready for a touch up either paste or 12k possible

Greg, welcome from NSW. Get in touch with the fellas, if there is someone to mentor you in the area take the opportunity. If there is tug already it may be that the blade is at the wrong angle or stretching is a bit of an issue. It would be worth while having someone look at it to make sure it is shave ready. Also say G'Day in the Aussi forum.

Welcome to the 'Place'

You may have degraded the edge stropping but make sure the spine is close as dammit to flat on your face . If it tugs then your lather or edge is at fault.

G'Day Greg and welcome.
Sorry I'm bit late to the party, however, I'd like to offer my assistance with anything that you need - we're neighbours after all.
Have a look at the 'Down Under' forum when you get the chance.
Cheers,
Geoff

Welcome to the forum from another Brisbane member mate. Never too late to learn a new trick! :)

Sorry, I am a bit off my game, i just noticed that andrew mentioned me, welcome to the forum, ( yes there are 2 ed's in perth).
I agree with the comments regarding lather, and angle, dry lather and or too steep an angle will definately do it, however if you are shaving with your dad's razor there is a good chance it needs a bit of TLC. It's probably worth getting into contact with os (onimaru55), he does a wicked edge.

Greetings from another person new to straights, you will get much satisfaction from mastering an almost lost art. Much advice available from experienced people on here. All the best, dmmc