Teaching my nephew

Hey guys,

I haven't been here in quite awhile but I have been faithfully using a straight razor for years now. I mention this because my last posts were full of "how to" questions :)

Anyway, my nephews came to visit me today for a week. One of them is 18 and has quite some growth going on. When I asked him about it, he said he was "saving it up" so I could teach him how to use a straight razor. lol...

I'm pretty nervous in teaching him how to use one! I mean taking your own face is one thing but risking another is a different animal! Any advice on good ways to teach? I have safety razors and I thought maybe I might start with that? Thoughts? I have a day or so I guess to decide :)

Thanks.

I think the best way would be to shave your own face with him at the same time. Also, if he wanted to learn a straight, I'd teach him that, he might not be interested in a DE. I learned from this site and YouTube video's, we all started nowhere so don't be nervous. Good luck, and I hope he likes it!

I'd say to have him watch you shave. Like a fly on the wall of the shave den. I will make a suggestion on the structure of the lesson.

Before you start, have everything layed out, and give a quick bullet points overview...
"Prep your face/whiskers...
build lather...
strop... NO PRESSURE!
apply lather & shave... NO PRESSURE!
clean up & strop razor... did you remember no pressure?
post shave..."

No need to go into extreme detail during the intro. But feel free to explain things as you go, once you are underway. Probably a good idea to remind him to not speak or move suddenly when the razor is near your face, strop, or sink. Explaining what/why you are doing things, while you are doing them, helps you not get too far off track or ahead of yourself (causing confusion). Then let him have a go. Under careful supervision. It would be acceptable to have him start with the SR. And once he starts to make mistakes or lose confidence around the goatee area, pull out a DE & explain that noobs aren't expected to complete a full three pass shave when they start out :tameshigiri:.

This is quite similar to how I break in newbies at work during training. They shadow me, and I explain the what's & why's while I'm doing it, with the exception of stuff that requires a lot of focus, then it is explained once I've finished with the high focus part.

I hope this helps! Good luck! And let us know how it goes!!

:tu:gl:

I like these stories and want to know how it goes, good luck.

Just a quick follow up. I did exactly as suggested above. I had him watch me shave with all the steps involved from stropping, lathering, pre-shave, shave, post-shave. As I was doing it, I realized that it's actually ALOT to learn in one shot! I learned myself very gradually with a DE, then a Dovo shavette and finally a straight razor and that allowed me to learn the steps slowly.

The next day, he shaved and it went very well. I can't believe it but he didn't cut himself at all and did exactly as I instructed. He loved the experience.

He wants to keep doing it but I'm not sure he will yet. I sent him home with a bunch of soap samples and a alum bar. I told him to learn how to lather the soap with a brush (told him to pick one up at Walgreens for now) and shave normally. I figure if he tries that on his own then I will get him a sight-unseen razor and an inexpensive strop. I'll even hone it for him initially. Now, I'm waiting to see if he asks me further questions and the interest continues :)

Anyway, I just wanted to bring this thread to a close and thank you all for your advice.

Great thread. Hope your nephew continues. Get him to join this forum and turn a chore into a hobby.