Thread: No Clue! Where to begin?

I am trying to gather information to help my soon to be husbend get started with his first straight razer. So far i have gotten him a shaving set; that came with a mug, brush and soap; and a razer. i know i still need to get a strop, but entill then he is useing the shaving set with a double edge razor. The problem is, we dont know the first step of how to really use it properly. I got a link about lather in the chat room but it kinda confused me.

Do you need a lather mug and a seperate container for the soap or can you just drop the entire thing of soap into the mug, and use it that way?

Where do we start to get this kind of information? I got "Lynn Abrams World of straight Razor Shaving" for him but it dosent really cover this area.

CAN ANYONE HELP US PLEASE!!

Welcome to SRP!

Like many i keep my soap in one dish and build my later in another. quite often there is not enough room in the soap mug to make a decent lather. if there is enough room go ahead and make the lather right on top of the soap...
other people simply load the brush with lather and then build the lather right on the face.

the nice thing is that shaving is all a matter of personal preference.. try lots of things and see what works best for the two of you

do a youtube search for Mantic59 he has a bunch of shaving videos that show how to make lather and covers the basics,

Hi Camel,

Welcome to SRP. Your soon to be hubby is a very lucky man. My women folk think I'm nuts..

First, where did you get your razor? The razor has to be truly shave ready or his face is not going to be very appreciative. If it hasn't been properly honed than you are going to have to send it out to have it honed.

Look through the Vendor's Corner and classifieds for a beginners strop if you are a bit tight on funds. Many of our members also sell straight razors and accessories.

No, you don't need to have a lather bowl. Many people just get the soap on the brush and lather it up on the face. My recollection of Lynn's video is that he builds his lather in the soap bowl (Tabac if memory serves me right)...

Welcome to SRP. For someone new to classic style of shaving, all that is involved can be bewildering. The advice that is already given is good. Some of the fun of classic shaving is figuring out what you like and then other ways of doing things. The SRP Wiki, is found on the top menu bar, it is an excellent place to get started. To answer your specific questions. You can keep the soap in the cup and make the lather over the soap. It is very common for guys to leave their brushed in the cup, (at this point you will hear other members screaming, wailing, gnashing teeth) however, this is not recommended. It is best to rinse the brush and let it air dry between uses. You will find that mug and brush lathering is great for your own shaving needs. I let my wife use my brush and soap. After she tried it, she promptly threw her can of shaving foam in the waste basket. I quickly gave her own brush, bowl, and shaving cream setup. I needed to keep peace in the bathroom.

Sticky point here, you may have purchased the good stuff, but there is a LOT of un-useable shave gear being sold out there, especially on Ebay. They look pretty and are written up as phenomenal values, but the reality is the steel is so low grade that they cannot be sharpened even by someone who knows how to do it – said steel will just crumble when it gets thin enough to be a shaving edge. This needs to be addressed before you even get to the “send it to someone to be sharpened” stage. So read up here, post specifically what you have already purchased. Then, you and your fiancé be prepared to have fun no matter what.

By the way, I have a separate mug for most of my soaps, a lid for each one. Makes it easy to lather up, easy to put it away. I don’t think I am in the majority here, but it works and certainly makes the bathroom look more impressive.

welocome to srp i have a deep shaving mug for my soap and i just lather on top of my soap it works good if the mug is deep enough i got mine from vintagebladesllc.com for about $5 and it came with my choice of soap

It can be as simple as my Pops did most of his life, the Old Spice shaving mug and brush, or as CRAZY as some of us here have taken it... that is all just personal preference...
One thing to figure out is which group your guy is going to fall into, the "Hey it's just a shave" group or the "God I love this" group either way it all works out....
Now I will warn you though, the lather thing can get addictive for you too, as Ken already said..... My wife also now shaves her legs with real "ÜberLather" and a badger brush, haven't been able to get her off those darn disposables yet but one small step at a time.....