Thread: Help me get started?

Hi ladies,

I new to everything, I just bought my hubby his first straight razor and got to thinking I'd love to have something other then craptastic disposables that I hate using. Like explained so often, shaving is such a chore for me and I really hate shaving. After watching a bunch of youtube videos of men shaving with straight razors I really wanted that yummy lather good shave. lol I really have no idea where to look or start... even what type of razor I'm not sure...

Could you ladies share what you use including products and such? Or any tips in general?

Thanks so much!

I would start with a double edge razor and then move on to a straight if you choose to. I prefer a double edge with a long handle (more to hold on to). There are several great soaps in several fragrances depending on your preference you can get a sample pack of blades that are not very expensive. Check the sponsors of this site for both blade packs and razors.
I have had a preference lately for personna red blades and either a vintage gillette or an Edwin Jagger ej89l. If you want to get into it for less you can always find a vintage razor at antique stores.
As for soaps I usually just use whatever my husband has lathered up, but if he's not shaving I like coffee scented soap from mamabear (yummmmm).

I've heard great things so far about the old Gillette's by skimming through some of the different forums. I'll definitely start looking into those, we have a great flea market close by too, but sadly anything there that's other then 30 minutes old it seems is an "antique" and automatically $200. lol ....but it still has its perks from time to time. I'll have to go searching there too.

The soap sounds amazing too. I'd totally use hubby's, but he's working in the ND oil fields and gone 6 weeks at a time. Are most shave soaps all natural? I'll love to find something all natural or organic even. Not sure what's all in them, but would love to try to find some. Thanks so much for the advice! I also heard somewhere that Lush products are pretty good for pre and post shave, have you had any experience with these? At least with cartridges as soon as I put water/lotions on I get instant razor burn sometimes.

Morning Ladies,

Happy to hear that you are taking the leap into the world of wet shaving. I agree with Wanda that a good place to start is a double edge safety razor. I ended up with something new for my first DE, at the moment I can't remember which model Mark (significant other) purchased for me, wow... think it is a Dovo Merkur Features I like about the razor, the top pulls off to replace the blades very easily, I don't have to unscrew anything. I also love the adjustable feature, not all DEs are adjustable. I wasn't sure if I would utilize that feature, but now I love it. The part I like the least, the handle is smooth in texture. Although when you clean the razor it is easy to hold onto, but when sudsy it makes me a little nervous. Would rather have something with a textured grip, but definitely all metal, not a covered handled. I think that would get icky in the tub. As for the replacement blades, when I purchased my razor online they offered a sample pack of replacement blades for pretty cheap. I liked trying different blades, some I knew I didn't like the moment I used them. I was thankful to have a stash to pull from, within there I found at least 5 blades that work really well for me. The only time I have gotten razor burn with my DE is when the blade I was using didn't work for me, it pulled... otherwise if the blade agrees with me, smooth shavin.

Soaps, brushes, and scuttles... oh my! Next component for me was my brush. Along with my DE Mark purchased me a really nice Dovo micarta silver tip badger brush, we went ahead and spent the money on a good brush the 1st time. Brushes don't seem to be something I need multiples of, so I went with something that would last. I have tried a couple other brushes and for me this one was soft enough. Soaps/creams: I started with soaps, Geo F Trumper in a wood bowl to be specific. I kept my process really simple in the beginning, the same soap the 5+ shaves, no pre oil or other goodies, just a presoak in the tub. \ Purified water from the Espresso machine aka Speedster helped, we have the anti lather tap water here... for me the water helped a lot. My process, soak the brush until it is full (no more bubbles coming up) and then drain the excess water, when the stream of water started to break and not run out of the brush I put it in the bowl and started my lather. If I needed more water after that I used my fingers to sprinkle on a couple of drops at a time. It took me a couple tries to figure out how the lather worked. After I had that simple system down, I tried other products and variations. I tend to use more shaving creams now (vs hard soaps) they are a bit more user friendly. That being said, maybe shaving cream would be the place for you to start, with the cream I love using a scuttle. Georgetown pottery has amazing beautiful scuttles. Advice on the scuttle, get something big enough for your hand and the brush handle. If it's a shallow scuttle, it doesn't need to be as wide because you hand can work with your hand and the handle mainly above the rim. But if the scuttle is deep, a narrow one is problematic for me. I have also tried to add a couple drops of glycerin in the mix with the cream, I like this component. I work my water amount the same as mentioned above, start with less... you can always add more.

Organic and what's in the products is a mystery to me. I don't know much about parabens and or if there are a lot of organic products out there. Mark just bought Castle Forbes Lime essential oil shaving cream, the box mentions paraben free, no added colour, no fragrance only essential oils. That seems like a pretty good line up.

Hope the info I shared was helpful. Please keep the questions coming. I have a few soap samples I could pass your way, send me a PM if you are interested.

Cheers!
Sarahbella

Oooh thanks so much for all the advice!! I saw a few on ebay I liked, I know ebay is a danger place to buy razors though. I liked the Gillette Blue Lady...? I don't know if it's good, or just pretty. I know I definitely want metal like you said, I hate plastic stuff... kinda a hippy in that area. lol I also planned on trying the $25 assorted razor combo I think it was, or something similar.

Does Georgetown have a website? I tried looking it up, but all I managed to find was sports gear. lol I just may be Google dumb.

I'm not sure how organics would work into it either. LOL I know there is a lot of organic glycerin soaps, but I have no idea if they're even close to something like a shaving lather. I did find a few on Etsy though. Etsy is amazing for anything homemade or organic. lol

Vanilla Sandalwood

Cocoa and Rhassoul

Coffee and Goats Milk

Some of them don't say it exactly on the listing, but on other listings that are pretty much the same. So I think if I did dig deep enough I could find organic if I really wanted to. Plus I live for goats milk soaps... so it's just so tempting. lol I'll have to pm you, I'd love to snag a couple of your samples.

Oooh I just found a ton searching "organic shave soap"... Tahitian vanilla, vegan lavender, stout, sandalwood, rose and red clay, carrot and honey... sounds like a interesting dinner more so then soaps. lol

Just have to find one that's up to par and reliable.

Another option is a single edge razor..the blades are stiff and don't "flex" like most de blades..hence nicks n cuts....you COULD get him a strop n straight razor..nothing wrong with that..just takes a few months with good hand and eye coordination

I actually did end up getting him a straight razor, he's always wanted one for years and years. So it'll be a great surprise for him. I'll just make sure to include a styptic pencil.

Me on the other hand, never even thought of straight or safety razors before... I didn't even think women used them really.... I guess thought legs were just a no go? ...but I started watching a bunch of youtube videos especially those by mantic59... don't know if he's popular? I actually started to get jealous because I hate hate hate shaving, and I'd really like to love it. Needless to say here I am now, and although I want to go to straight razors one day, I definitely want to start out with a safety razor.

So what do you ladies use on for pre-shave and after shave? I normally don't use anything, which makes my legs super dry. Although, if I use something... usually lotion or such then a lot of times I get really bad razor burn instantly... and boy do I mean burn.

I don't use a preshave but after is use cucumber thayers witch hazel. They also make a rose and i think a couple other scents.