Thread: Nervous from San Francisco

Hello SRP,
I appreciate the encouragement and openness to beginners your site seems to laden with. I began searching SRP when I decided to get my brother a straight for his 30 bday. I have since decided to make the switch myself and am shopping for a razor and strop, but may just end up with a Dovo BQ if nothing turns up. Thanks for creating a place to learn. I will post again after my first shave.

Welcome to SRP. I suggest you take a look at both the classifieds here and whippeddog.com for razors and strops to start off with. Good luck.

KN, Warm greetings and congrats on choosing quality. Its a path that has some learning curve to it, but I've not found a more helpful and kind bunch on any forum on any topic. You already know to spend some time on the beginning threads, paying special attention to stropping, making lather, and beard prep. Those are the things you need right up front.

I've used a Dovo BQ, and you could certainly do alot worse. They seem like a great value. Small and even medium differences in the first blade will still be pretty far down the totem pole of importance. Learning to shave is alot bigger task than it might appear. That doesn't mean poor shaves in the mean time, but that you'll continue to discover more for a long time.

I hope your first shaves go very well, and hope to hear about them here.

Again, I can't believe I would be welcomed by 2 senior members the first day. If I still have either of your attentions, I have a quick question on blades. I have a very full coarse set of facial hair along with sensitive skins to almost every safety razor I have ever tried. I am really looking forward to learning and practicing very intentional prep from here on out which I hope will help abate my skin issue. But for my face and the learning curve ahead, will I notice a huge difference between half and full hollow? I think I settled on the Dovo Astrale for my brother who is similar skinned mostly because it was the only middle of the line (for my budget) that was both round and half hollow. I haven't bought it yet so if there is another, better razor in the same 100ish price range I'd love to know. Thanks for the support guys.

Hello, KidNervous:

Welcome to Straight Razor Place.

You can't go wrong with the Dovo for starters. You might consider getting a set with razor, strop, brush and soap. Check out Straight Razor Designs or other vendors noted here at SRP.

San Francisco, eh? That was my home for many years. I miss it.

We're delighted to have you with us. Stay well.

Regards,

Obie

Hi KidNervous,
Welcome from Australia as well.
I look forward to hearing about your first shave.
Cheers,
Geoff

Welcome aboard! Good to see another Golden State resident here. Since you have sensitive skin and a coarse beard, face prep will make a BIG difference. The best time to shave is right after your morning shower, the warm water will go a long way in softening the hair and hydrating the skin. Next, you'll want a good cream. Proraso makes one specifically for sensitive skin (Shaving Lotions, Shaving Soaps, Creams, Lotions & Toiletries - ClassicShaving.com). Also good for sensitive skin is any cream w/ lavender or violet (Trumper's is a great one). You want to build a thick lather, something that resembles a soft whipped cream, as this is what's going to protect your face from the steel.

As for purchasing your first SR, I heartily second wmac's suggestion of shopping the Classifieds or visiting whippeddog.com. You'll get a great, shave ready straight at great price. The proprietor of whippeddog, Larry Andressen, is also an SRP member (LarryAndro). Look him up. The man has some phenominal deals and great customer service.

Welcome aboard IMO any quality razor regardless of grind, if properly used should have no problem with your course facial hair and sensitive skin. That said I have read other suggest going with a heavier grind. And for a first razor I'd probably agree as I feel they are a little more forgiving both in terms of shave and stropping.

Welcome aboard Kid,

There are some guys who truly do have sensitive skin. I, for one, THOUGHT I had sensitive skin until I started wet shaving years ago. I used goop in the can with various safety razors and always got razor burn. When I started using a brush and quality shaving soap with proper prep, the razor burn disappeared. I didn't have sensitive skin, just poor choice in grooming aids and methods. If you DO have sensitive skin, using good shaving soaps/creams and using proper prep will make a world of difference.

Enjoy your new found addiction. Wishing you many enjoyable straight shaves...

Greg

Welcome.

Since you mentioned you have a sturdy set of
whiskers and a young man's skin I would remind
you that you can practice "latherin" anytime.
If you shave a couple times a day to "practice"
you end up with chopped meat for a complexion.

But "lathering", you can do that a lot -- try
too much water, too little, hot, cold... A good
lather can make or break a shave. Also
if you are nervous, sneak up on the process.
Shave the easy bits with your new razor
and tidy up with a tossable blade. I like
the yellow handle BiC for sensitive skin tossables
because the single blade shaves well
enough without giving me a multi-blade rash.

Have fun...