Thread: Complete Noob needs most help possible

Hello, and welcome to SRP!

I'd suggest you take some more time to look around the site and gather some information regarding what you might need. I can tell you straight away that your face shape, skin and hair type etc do not really impact on the kind of straight razor you may or may not need to get, at least initially. By far the biggest impact, subsuming all other factors when you start out, will be the techniques: shaving and stropping in particular. They will dominate the shaves initially, and only over time will things like razor grind, leather types for strops etc, come into play.

You will need at a bare minimum a decent razor and strop. I'd suggest you take a look at the Classifieds and Vendors sections of this forum - there should be something there for all budgets if not all tastes - remember it doesn't matter initially what things look like, just that they perform the function that they were intended for. Do not get caught up in flashy cheap razors off ebay - if they seem too cheap, they probably are not worth the money. There is a "stay away" list here somewhere - chase that down and make sure you don't buy a razor off that list.

Strops can just be a good piece of leather with something to attach it to a wall or whatever. If you are in any way handy-ish you could probably make your own fairly cheaply. If you would prefer not to, again take a look at the vendors here or the classifieds.

Lastly, it can sometimes be useful to meet up with a friendly and helpful person close to you. If you click on the Community menu and then "Find Local Help" you will be directed to a region by region list of people willing and able to provide perhaps more "hands on" help.

Good luck!

James.