Recommend easy to use shave cream for a first time, teenage shaver?

Hi All,

I'm going to teach my step son how to shave this weekend. He's almost 16 and his mom has decreed that it's time for him to shave because he's lookin like Shaggy.

She's also forbade him from using a straight, probably a good idea ;) So I'm going to buy him a Merkur 34C HD.

He doesn't have a full beard yet and I don't think he'd be willing to use a brush to apply the typical creams/soaps that we use around here. So my question to ya'll is do you have a simple, but good shaving cream to recommend? Something that can be applied without a mug and brush?

Thanks for your help.

Justin

I have never used it, but i heard that the cream at trader joes is good.

I believe proraso(or co bigelow) can be applied without a brush too.

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Originally Posted by jammyman34

Hi All,

I'm going to teach my step son how to shave this weekend. He's almost 16 and his mom has decreed that it's time for him to shave because he's lookin like Shaggy.

She's also forbade him from using a straight, probably a good idea ;) So I'm going to buy him a Merkur 34C HD.

He doesn't have a full beard yet and I don't think he'd be willing to use a brush to apply the typical creams/soaps that we use around here. So my question to ya'll is do you have a simple, but good shaving cream to recommend? Something that can be applied without a mug and brush?

Thanks for your help.

Justin

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Any cream can be used with a brush, but it's not optimal.
Put a dab between the palms and swirl, add a few drops of water as needed and move to the face and continue with the swirling action with the fingertips.

If you are looking for local stuff, creamo cream is brushless, the trader joes stuff if brushless.
There is also Nancyboy shave cream(not sure if a teen would feel comfortable using this due to the name)
At some local drug stores you can get the real shaving company cream, and
Kiss my face are 2 that come to mind.
There is also crabtree and evelyn and the body shop that both offer their own line of creams.

I have used nancyboy brushless when on vacation and in a rush. Why not use a brush? it really does make a nice quick lather. If you're willing to use a brush, I also really like JM Fraser Polar ice, brushed onto the face, it works really really nicely.

Both are good and slick, good for learning shavers. Never used the Trader Joes, but the Bigelows can also be nice with just a brish on the face.

Good luck!

I found that King of Shaves is not bad with a DE, & the Lush creams too. Both ranges were below standard with a straight though. Nice razor you're getting him!

Musgo Real is one I use when I do not have my brush with me, can be used with a brush as well but has lanolin in so can make it a bit gummy. Very slick stuff.

If you're going to get something from the drugstore/WalMart type of places, go with a gel over a canned foam. More protection to learn with. Aveeno makes a very good gel. I also like the Brut gel. The few Gillette and Nivea gels I tried weren't that great.

What do you (the dad) use now?

Good Luck!

really, if your not wanting to use a brush the gillet shave gels, are very nice, they are what i learned to shave with (with a good ol bic disposable) and the allow for sensitive skin one is very good for first shavers (i discovered it after a horrible case of razor burn on my first shave) and can be gotten very cheaply at your local grocery store.

also if you seek to have a straight and brush in the future the gell does require a bit of lathering though i always just used my palm but the concept is essentially the smae

Wow, tons of great tips, thanks guys!

Why I'm planning on starting him off without a brush is because at the moment he doesn't have all that much to shave. I don't want to scare him with "too much" to do or "too much" effort. I'm hoping that once his beard really comes in that he'll want to do all that he can to get the best shave... you know, to impress the ladies ;)

Any thoughts on if this makes sense or not, or if anyone's had this experience before I'd love to hear it.

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Originally Posted by omegapd

If you're going to get something from the drugstore/WalMart type of places, go with a gel over a canned foam. More protection to learn with. Aveeno makes a very good gel. I also like the Brut gel. The few Gillette and Nivea gels I tried weren't that great.

What do you (the dad) use now?

Good Luck!

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I use Trumper's Violet Shave Cream w/ brush. It was the first stuff I tried, I loved the scent and just sort of stuck with it.

Well, take my thoughts for what they are worth...I have one kid, and SHE is 16 months old. BUT, I was a 16 year old young man once.
I remember thinking it was pretty cool to be "in the club" of men that had to shave. Adding the brush wouldn't have been a negative for me until later when shaving became a tiresome chore. Then it came full circle, and now I love it again!

Alright, point well taken. I remember when I first needed to start shaving too, I was psyched to be in the club as well. And the idea of using old school type tools would have been even more appealing to me then, I think so anyway.

So what would be a good starter brush? I'm not made of money of course, but I do believe you get what you pay for. Is it alright to go simple, non-sliver tip, maybe a fine or best badger brush to start? Hell, I don't even have a silver tip... maybe I should by myself a silver tip and give him a hand-me-down?

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Originally Posted by jammyman34

Hell, I don't even have a silver tip... maybe I should by myself a silver tip and give him a hand-me-down?

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Now THAT sounds like a plan! Maybe you should get a few good creams & a soap or two too & you can both get stuck in!

ya know i have to agree with smokelaw, my dad didnt really teach me to shave so much as hand me a bic and tell me i looked like crap (i know real touchy feely family right) but ya i felt pretty darn bad as* to finally be shaving and really adding the brush (and sneak in the straight for that matter) would only add to that feeling

Any solution that ends with you having a silvertipe sounds good!!

In all seriousness, there are some VERY reasonably priced basic badger brushes out there that perform quite well. I don't have first ahd knowledge of them, but I know many men here do, and will hopefully chime in.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jammyman34

So what would be a good starter brush? I'm not made of money of course, but I do believe you get what you pay for. Is it alright to go simple, non-sliver tip, maybe a fine or best badger brush to start? Hell, I don't even have a silver tip... maybe I should by myself a silver tip and give him a hand-me-down?

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What sort of budget are you looking at? There are several threads about making your own brush, which I followed and made my own silvertip for about $35. That price includes an antique brush (I bought for the handle), a silvertip knot shipped from The Golden Nib, and the marine epoxy used to seat the new knot. If you're crafty with wood you can just make your own handle instead of buying an old brush for one.

I'm not much of a craftsman and I found the process surprisingly easy, affordable, and only took about 30 minutes of work. Hardest part was waiting a day for the epoxy to dry. :)

I have a thread w/ some pics here:
http://straightrazorpalace.com/brush...back-life.html

It all goes back to personal preference again. You going to teach him to bowl lather or face lather? Like many of us, after I did the bowl lather for a while, I found it was just easier to face lather. For that, I prefer a boar brush. The inexpensive VDH boar was a good choice (once the bristles quit shedding ;)).

I'd suggest something cheap Palmolive or Body Shop Maca Root SC - neither of them is particularly thick, so they could easily be massaged into the beard with the fingers. On the other hand though, the slick from the Body Shop stuff is not that flash. The Palmolive's probably best for the price, and easiest to find too (my local Supermarket sells it, and I live in a SMALL town/city).

Alternatively, you could buy him a cheap brush and decent soap (e.g Supermarket boar or Tweezerman and Col. Conk) and a bunch of small foams/gels, and teach him early on that brush + soap/cream is infinitely better than foams or gels.

**Tangent**

My old man taught me to shave with a Mach 3 gift pack (inc sh***y gel and cartridge razor), but ages prior to that I'd watched him using his brush and soap and pestered him for ages to be allowed to use his brush. He eventually bought me a cheap and rubbish supermarket brush (I was about 10 at that point), and I felt like the man using that brush and some hand soap to scrub my face.

I still have that Mach 3, but I've now progressed on to straight shaving (and am going to buy a DE next pay day). I've rediscovered that great feel of using brush and soap on one's face, only with the incredibly close shave a straight offers (which I doubt my old man's ever experienced). Maybe I'll teach him when I get enough razors to donate him one or two...

Well, there aren't a lot of good Rights of Passage in a young man's life these days, so why not make this one? Get him a tub of Cella, a lather mug, a Jagger best badger brush, a nice vintage Gem 1912, some of the Ted Pella blades, and a bottle of witch hazel? That way he'll have a kit he will never have to replace or upgrade. A man's kit, and one he can be proud to own and keep. Something he'll remember you by.

I think the Cella is good as a starter soap. Great stuff, easy to lather and not much scent, so he can wear whatever AS he wants (if any). And you can't beat the Gem 1912 for an easy razor to use, yet one that has lots of class and a sense of history. A million of them on Ebay for cheap, too.

(and if he doesn't take to any of this stuff, you can make a nice starter kit to sell off here on SRP)

If you want something inexpensive, extremely effective and widely available, try Headslick. It lathers incredibly with little brush action and is just very effective lubricant. Buy some and try it out yourself before giving it to your boy.

You have to be able to stand menthol.

Oh and for a cheap, soothing balm, its hard to beat Cornhusker's Lotion for injured skin.