Thread: Brother angry and unhappy with DE shaves! :(

Originally Posted by bondpunk

See if there is a member in your area that could help him out...no offense... I have an older sister and when I was a teen I would rather die than take her advice on anything. even if it was good advice

One of the things experienced canoeing teachers do, is to break up "couples" into separate boats. It saves a lot of grief.

Nobody _has to_ enjoy DE shaving, or get good at it. If the man (kid?) wants to use a cartridge razor, or an electric razor, let him. The more investment you have in his success, the harder it's going to be for him to succeed -- or to enjoy succeeding.

Charles

PS -- this advice is worth what you paid for it.

Additionally, and this is important to understand: facial hair can be much, much harder than leg hairs.
I don't know if this is true for your brother (for men this gets worse with age) but the way you shave your leg may not necessarily translate well to shaving facial hair.

And indeed, at that age, he may not be prepared to take advice from his sister. It's a man thing.
It would be much better for an actual male shaver to give him advice.

Originally Posted by Bruno

(for men this gets worse with age) but the way you shave your leg may not necessarily translate well to shaving facial hair.

Anything you want to tell us, Bruno?

I use a straight now, but often rotate in a DE and my dad's old Schick injector. While I tend to get a few more nicks with both of those, I do enjoy them after I took the time to remember watching my dad use the injector and my papaw use a DE. Picturing their movements and methods in my mind has helped tremendously and also brings back very fond memories for me. Being more than half my life removed from my teen years now, I sometimes forget how much the "cool" factor plays into everyday life. The suggest to find a member close by that could help is a good one, as is your recommendation of videos. There's a guy on the 'Tube that is a straight shaver that looks to be early 20s at most. He's long-haired and inked so he's definitely not the Ward Cleaver Teaches Shaving type. His videos are pretty good and your brother might relate a little better to those. I have to wonder if he'd be a little more into it if you could find something like a steampunk style DE much as the steampunk straights I've been seeing over in the Customs and Restorations forum lately.

Either way, though, as a dad of three and a little brother who lost his big brother way too soon, let me say THANK YOU for being so supportive and encouraging for your brother. Though he may not listen now, in a few years he'll look back on it with a big grin and warm heart to see yet another example of how much his big sister loves him.

Bubba

1. If he's been trying for a while, has he been using the same blade for a long time? If so, it might be dull, and that might cause some problems.

2. Tell him to remember to set the angle of the razor in relationship with the skin, and THEN begin a stroke with the arm (being sure to maintain that angle.) There is a tendency to use some wrist to sort of "wipe," and this has always caused me problems.

3. Maybe his hair grows strangely? I have a sensitive spot where hair grows in all different directions, and I get maybe 2/5 shaves without raising blood there.

4. Go slowly but surely. There's no need to make passes too quickly nor too slowly (I actually find that it's less effective to be too slow.)

Good luck.

okay, i actually posted a mini-cover letter slash mission rant, and it disappeared. No sweat, "brevity is the seat of wisdom":
1. 18 months DE shaving.
2. 2 razors: '57 fatboy(sorry to gush, but this razor has 2gthf 0 yrs on me) and most recent (2010)short handle HD from Merkur (my first DE, don't wanna get 2 to dark, just know that this razor knows me and saved me. I'm happy to hear anyone's explanation -short or brief - why a guy who avoided shaving, can pick up a DE razor instead of a -------- fill in the blank and not just be going through the motions.

somehow this post got way to heavy and gloomy, maybe its the hurricane 'er sompin. The take away of my post soon to be forgotten, was that a man who knows what a baby-butt-smooth shave is, and has that barbershops smell that we (i) can faintly remember. That meant it was July 4th, or memorial day, or labor day, ad infinitum - now i look back on my dads and his dads generation, and I'm tellin you- some of the shaving soaps, aftershaves, etc. are a potent thing - a lot of things (savory and otherwise) took place in the barber shop. If you don't think wasington DC doesn't have it's version of the town barbershop - where secrets are better put in the vault, lest collaterall comes a knockin,

Originally Posted by fatboy57

okay, i actually posted a mini-cover letter slash mission rant, and it disappeared. No sweat, "brevity is the seat of wisdom":
1. 18 months DE shaving.
2. 2 razors: '57 fatboy(sorry to gush, but this razor has 2gthf 0 yrs on me) and most recent (2010)short handle HD from Merkur (my first DE, don't wanna get 2 to dark, just know that this razor knows me and saved me. I'm happy to hear anyone's explanation -short or brief - why a guy who avoided shaving, can pick up a DE razor instead of a -------- fill in the blank and not just be going through the motions.

somehow this post got way to heavy and gloomy, maybe its the hurricane 'er sompin. The take away of my post soon to be forgotten, was that a man who knows what a baby-butt-smooth shave is, and has that barbershops smell that we (i) can faintly remember. That meant it was July 4th, or memorial day, or labor day, ad infinitum - now i look back on my dads and his dads generation, and I'm tellin you- some of the shaving soaps, aftershaves, etc. are a potent thing - a lot of things (savory and otherwise) took place in the barber shop. If you don't think wasington DC doesn't have it's version of the town barbershop - where secrets are better put in the vault, lest collaterall comes a knockin,

I'm not quite sure what you're getting at, here...

Originally Posted by fatboy57

okay, i actually posted a mini-cover letter slash mission rant, and it disappeared. No sweat, "brevity is the seat of wisdom":
1. 18 months DE shaving.
2. 2 razors: '57 fatboy(sorry to gush, but this razor has 2gthf 0 yrs on me) and most recent (2010)short handle HD from Merkur (my first DE, don't wanna get 2 to dark, just know that this razor knows me and saved me. I'm happy to hear anyone's explanation -short or brief - why a guy who avoided shaving, can pick up a DE razor instead of a -------- fill in the blank and not just be going through the motions.

somehow this post got way to heavy and gloomy, maybe its the hurricane 'er sompin. The take away of my post soon to be forgotten, was that a man who knows what a baby-butt-smooth shave is, and has that barbershops smell that we (i) can faintly remember. That meant it was July 4th, or memorial day, or labor day, ad infinitum - now i look back on my dads and his dads generation, and I'm tellin you- some of the shaving soaps, aftershaves, etc. are a potent thing - a lot of things (savory and otherwise) took place in the barber shop. If you don't think wasington DC doesn't have it's version of the town barbershop - where secrets are better put in the vault, lest collaterall comes a knockin,

Uhhhh.............what?

Perhaps the pipe had something other than tobacco in the bowl...


Mick

Glad I'm not the only one who missed that boat.