Thread: Encourage - just do it

Great post!

Quality equipment (not necessarily expensive but quality) is important.
As you pointed out quite well in my opinion investing wisely and research pays off, senior members, meet-ups, and mentors are your friends.
Thanks for the post I really enjoyed reading it.

Just to add to ncraigtrn's excellent post, get a razor they is "shave ready" which means honed by an accomplished practitioner of the honing skill. Many members here are, and several are among the best in the business.

Originally Posted by Haroldg48

Just to add to ncgraigtrn's excellent post, get a razor they is "shave ready" which means honed by an accomplished practitioner of the honing skill. Many members here are, and several are among the best in the business.

That's why I love this place. I meant to put that in the getting a razor section.

Since this looks like the start of a fine newbie thread, let me add one nugget of wisdom.

Before anything, before learning to shave wtg, before learning to strop, before learning to make lather, learn to judge when your razor is shave ready. Develop whatever test you have to to correlate when a razor is shaving your face sweetly and it's sharpness at this point. For me it's plucking a hair from my beard (slightly course), holding it between my thumb and forefinger and slicing it cleanly about an inch from where I'm holding it. When my blade is sharp enough to do this all along the edge, I find the accompanying shave to be a good one.

Lots of problems can be avoided by simply knowing whether or not your razor is truly shave ready.

I would just stress getting quality gear from the get go. By quality I don't mean top of the line. Too many guys go the bargain route and when they are struggling to learn they need all the help they can get and using crappy gear doesn't help. Once you start mastering this the quality gear will still carry you for a long time instead of a year later saying gee, now I need to buy everything all over again but better stuff. Sure mishaps happen. They can happen to a seasoned shaver.