Thread: Fun news for me

Every year my school does a thing called "Wellness Day". Teachers teach each other about stuff like golf and painting and stuff. This year the school gave me the go ahead to teach a class about shaving with a straight razor and or a DE. I figure I can do a bit about environmental impact of plastics, a little history and then a demonstration of how its done. I even have a shaving mug and brush to give away as a door prize. (Glad I have a bunch of dull project razors that the people can handle and mess with.)

Any tips for stuff I should mention or show off?

Talk about other necessary equipment (strop, creams and soaps, hones, proper storage, pre shave and after shave treatments). Tell them the difference between a cheap razor and a quality razor. Most or all the cost to get started. If they are really interested guide them to this site to learn more.

I think they will enjoy the soap stuff! (Hones are my weakness though).

I think I would stress in the shaving demonstration the importance of a sharp blade, making a good lather, using the right angle on the blade and no weight on the blade. I think those are the legs a good shave stands on. Have fun.

Bob

My suggestion would be to emphasize the wellness aspects gained by sacrificing the minor convenience of shaving with cartridges or electrics for all the myriad benefits that come with wet shaving. No one seems to have a minute of spare time, so be quick to point out the much better skin care, no ingrowns, less irritation / unpleasantness, etc. at this point.

There's more to be had than a superior shave here however. For 20 minutes, I can focus my mind on executing a singular (grooming) task to the best of my ability while allowing everything else in my life to fall away completely. This meditative / zen aspect works wonders on mood and outlook. Sure, I'm an outlier and do practically treat straight shaving as a sport; shaving gets my adrenaline / excitement up akin to the outdoor sports I also enjoy (also meditative).

Unfortunately, all most victims know about shaving today is that it's the complete opposite of 20 minutes of zen. It's 5-10 minutes of sheer torture or an concentrated episode of disdain at best.

How do you get them to see wet shaving from our perspective? That's the trick. So much for progress; convince them primitive is best in this particular case.

Good luck!

Well a little history could be nice to slip in. I believe the first patent for a safety razors was in France in 1876 tothe company Rapide. They made a wedge razor, or a lather catcher. I often say that shaving with a straight has been the gold standard since 1876, because that was the first competition. I think the tough part will be to be entertaining. It’s kind of a dry subject. Most people have no idea what is in the market past the canned goo and multiblades. I try to introduce people to good soaps and nice brushes.

Originally Posted by RezDog

Well a little history could be nice to slip in. I believe the first patent for a safety razors was in France in 1876 tothe company Rapide. They made a wedge razor, or a lather catcher. I often say that shaving with a straight has been the gold standard since 1876, because that was the first competition. I think the tough part will be to be entertaining. It’s kind of a dry subject. Most people have no idea what is in the market past the canned goo and multiblades. I try to introduce people to good soaps and nice brushes.

The easy part is to be entertaining. I am a tremendously entertaining person, and exquisitely handsome as well!
Somewhere on here, I remember the phrase "Illusion of progress" and I am definitely stealing it to describe multi blades and vibrating razors and such other inferior gadgets. Moisturizing strips?

"Wellness Day" Bunch of hippies!!

Kidding aside, that sounds like fun having people sharing their interests and hobbies like that. May have some unexpected topics.
Sounds like you have gotten some good advice so I can't add much to it.

There is a member here that teaches west shaving classes, but I can't remember their name. They don't post regularly ( meaning at all).

Originally Posted by MrZ

The easy part is to be entertaining. I am a tremendously entertaining person, and exquisitely handsome as well!
Somewhere on here, I remember the phrase "Illusion of progress" and I am definitely stealing it to describe multi blades and vibrating razors and such other inferior gadgets. Moisturizing strips?

You can also throw "planned obsolescence" in there to for effect.

If it was me I'd have one of those fake-blood packets for the shaving part of the demonstration. Act as though you're going to bleed out.
99.9 percent of the people watching would never pick up a straight anyway so why not have some fun!