Thread: yet another newbie

Hey everyone i'm new and very interested in learning and hopefully one day perfecting a straight razor shave. I'm just tired of the manual and electric razors i've used and believe that this will be MUCH better given time to learn.

Welcome

I am new here myself. A suggestion to read the wiki and as much of the posts as you can before you start shaving with the straight and you will do much better. I Just did shave 6 with my Dovo today and with the exception of a very minor nick it was a great shave. Take your time while shaving after a good prep and you will do fine. Make sure you get a shave ready razor as well.

Lots of great information here.

Read on and remove some whiskers.

Good advice from Longrange there. He must be learning fast!

I second the emphasis on beard prep.

I think overdoing your beard prep has the distinct advantage for a new straight user: Beard prep not only cleans and preps the skin, but makes the hairs softer and easier to cut. Overdoing your beard prep means your growth will be all that more softer and easier to cut. This gives some breathing room for imperfect technique that a new str8 user will always have. (I'm sorry, but despite what our ego's would like to have us believe, we will not be shaving experts after our first shave, or before it). I've been str8 shaving about 2 months, and have noticed a continual improvement in my technique, and have had a few shaves with little beard prep that I know I wouldn't have been able to do 2 months ago.

Here is my overdone beard prep:
In the shower:

• *Shampoo hair, and work the shampoo into beard growth as well. Rinse.
  *Grab my badger brush and shaving soap. Get some soap on the brush and build lather directly on my face for 2-3 minutes. Rinse.
  *Grab the conditioner and apply that to my face, rubbing in a circular fashion for a minute or so. I think the rubbing in a circular fashion helps soften the beard just as much as the conditioner, kind of like taking a small rod of metal and bending it around in one spot weakens it.
  *Let the conditioner sit while I clean the rest of my body, and rinse the conditioner off last thing before getting out of the shower.
  *Dry off everything but the face.
  *Build new lather and apply.
  *Begin shave (razor was stropped and ready to go before shower, although some people like to apply lather, and strop while they let the lather sit to do more work)

Thanks for the encouragement i'm doing a lot of reading before i start because i dont want to screw up and i need to save some money for a straight razor and strop.
I was looking to buy DOVO BEST QUALITY BLACK 5/8" STRAIGHT RAZOR & STROP SET from SRD