Thread: Shaving another person

Today was the first time I used a straight razor on another person. I was pretty apprehensive at first but thought that my wife shaves my neck and around my ears on a regular basis so I would give it a try. My dad is in the hospital and unable to shave himself. I normally use a Gillette Tech to shave his head and face. My dad has always shaved his head, I have never seen him with hair. He has some stitches on his lower lip (unrelated to being in hospital) and I did not feel comfortable using the DE where I could not see exactly what I was doing so I cleaned up around his stitches with a straight it was no big deal once I started. I went slowly with a very light touch.

I guess I wanted to say shaving someone else for the first time was kind of like using a straight for the first time; scary at first but not big deal once you get going.

Charlie

Thats something Ive always wanted to try, maybe one of these days, hope dad is doing ok.

I completely understand the apprehension part. The worst is when the person, who wanted the shave in the first place, is more nervous than you.

I've been wondering about this myself. I asked the wife a few times, if I can shave her legs once for her, but I always get the same answer, "NFW!"

Maybe my brother will let me the next time he visits.

I have been toying with this idea myself, the wife still isn't convinced

Charlie glad to hear that your Father's shave went well, and my best wishes on a fast recovery hope he is doing well.....

This is something I can talk about...

Earlier this month I went to Milan to pick my brother up after his shool year ended. We ended up having our own little holliday out of that, returning to Portugal.

Since he had been there for the whole lenght of the school year (except Christmas and Easter holidays) he had been kept up to date on this new hobbie of mine through our long conversations on the internet and, therefore, he had had little contact with my straight razor business. Long story short, he ended up developing his very own interest in this lost art and as often been directed to this site for information. I suppose I'll be converting him any time soon... So this is the story: during one of our conversations I brought up my interest in shaving someone else, I mean, playing the role of the barber for once. And he volunteered for it... So, one night when we were chilling in a sibling fashion he told me to fetch my gear for he needed a shave.

I tried to do the whole pampering barber shop routine with hot towels and all... The result, despite not being scarry, was not what I expected. It resulted in no nicks nor cuts and no razor burn nor irritation. But the whole experience was unconfortable... I was at ease for I could trust my skills - some confidential information still classified is not to be revealed - and my brother was quite at ease. The problem was the chair. Normal chairs are not designed to be used as barber chairs. They do not recline enough as to provide a good back and neck support for the "client" and the position in wich he seats forces the "barber" to kneel and engage in other awkward positions. Plus, the strain in the "client's" neck is unconfortable and might result in some sudden movement after a while and that is a potential hazard... But it was, if nothing else, a good experience and I'd like to do it again. This time prividing better seating for the "customer"...

After that I taught my brother how to use the razor himself. He did the second pass and I freacked out a lot... the razor was always to close to the sink, the faucet, the wall or his fingers for confort. Nothing wrong happend, though... but I did sweat a bit on this part of the shave... I know Wapis are cheap, but hey! not that cheap!

So... long story short: it's a good experience and I say it's a good thing to make you improve on your light touch, much needed in our way of shaving. And if anyone is willing to do this barber shop thing, try to use a good confy chair, high enough to keep yourself standing and that can recline enough as to provide neck support in a layed back position. I mean... like a barber chair, right?!

Hope this helps...

Same story here, the wife looks at me cross-eyed when I even hint about it. But she knows how shaky my hands can get when I concentrate!

Originally Posted by joke1176

Same story here, the wife looks at me cross-eyed when I even hint about it. But she knows how shaky my hands can get when I concentrate!

I seem to have steady hands... but it all boils down to the position of the one being shaved... however is being shaved... FOCUS focus focus!!

Originally Posted by bpave777

I've been wondering about this myself. I asked the wife a few times, if I can shave her legs once for her, but I always get the same answer, "NFW!"

Maybe my brother will let me the next time he visits.

You want to shave your brothers legs?? Now that is strange.. I have heard of kissing cousins but leg shaving brothers.. hummmm

Actually I have shaved my 14 year old sons FACE a few times but he is always too nervous (I guess he has seen what I have done to myself) He squirms and eventually jumps and then he gets nicked. Oh well maybe when he is older...

Since I started straight shaving a couple of years ago, my wife has been very supportive with this new hobbie/lifestyle of mine. She often tells her friends about me and what I do now (first shaving, then selling stuff and now restoring razors), so I knew that eventually one day she would want to feel a straight razor at work.
The other day I was finishing my shaving routine and my wife entered the bathroom and after talking about something else, that idea poped in my mind and I told her to lift one of her legs and she did without hesitating and gave me that look like she wanted to say "I know what you're going to do, but that's fine, I trust you". I put some lather below her knee and with the razor in my hand I do a single pass. She barely felt the razor. Not sure if it was what she expected.
But it was fun.