Welcome to Wet Shaving! No doubt, you have many questions about shaving with fine soap or cream and a badger brush - or perhaps trying to decide whether you want to bring a straight razor or double edge safety razor to your face! One of the first places that we would suggest going is the Badger & Blade shaving forum. Go on and register and head straight to the Shave Clinic and Newbie Check-In Forum. There you can introduce yourself and you will be greeted with a warm welcome and have access to years of shaving experience. They will help walk you through those first few weeks of shaving while you are learning your razor technique and shave preparation techniques.

A few suggestions:
**Start out with a good quality razor. You can find many antique straight razors or vintage safety razors on the internet that are either in pristine condition or can be cleaned up with some scrubbing bubbles, some metal polish, and boiling in water. Excellent safety razors to look for persons new to wet shaving are Gillette Superspeeds, Gillette Techs, and the famous Gillette Fatboy adjustable razor (set on a low setting such as 2 or 3).
If you would like to purchase a new razor, Merkur Solingen makes very nice modern razors in all shapes and sizes. The accumulated wisdom is that persons new to shaving with a double edge safety razor start with the Merkur Heavy Classic or HD as it is affectionately known. We carry these here in our store. This is because its weight allows the razor alone to do the job and the head protects your skin fairly well. Once you are ready to move up, many fellows suggest trying the Merkur Slant Bar to receive an even closer shave. This occurs because the blade is slanted when drawn across the face and you receive a much closer and comfortable shave. We also carry the Slant Bar. The Slant Bar does require that you have excellent shaving technique established before you use it.

**Use a high quality badger hair brush. These brushes hold water very well and creates a very thick, rich lather. Additionally, the badger hair is very, very soft against your skin.

**Use a high quality soap or cream. The soaps and creams we carry are of very high quality and will provide an excellent shave. These soaps and creams will provide lubricity, provide cushion, and moisturize your skin. The products also last a long, long time - so do not let their prices alarm you. Particularly, the triple-milled soaps (like we carry here) will last many, many, many months - or perhaps years if you rotate through your favorite soaps on a regular basis.

**Take it slow and easy. Apply no pressure to your face when using a safety razor. Let the weight of the razor do the work. One technique is to hold the razor only by the very end and let the weight of the razor do the work. Another technique is to hold the razor just below the head and find a good balance point and again, let the weight of the razor do the work. To begin, place the razor with the handle perpendicular to your skin. Slowly lower the handle until you just start to feel the blade cut hair (not scrape skin). That is the correct angle you should use for all shaving (approximately 30 degrees). Use short strokes.

**Use multiple passes. Don’t try and take all of your beard off in one pass. Take off some stubble, then go back and take more off. Re-lather between passes (never shave on skin without lather). On your first pass, shave with the grain of your hair. On the second, we suggest shaving with the grain again. On your third pass, you can shave across the grain of your beard. Different men have different beard textures. Some require more passes, others less.

**Map your beard. Take a cotton ball and run it over your face. If your beard stubble catches some of the cotton, you know that you are going against the grain. If the cotton does not catch, you know that you are going with the grain of the beard. This is especially important on your neck - where your beard can change direction in ways you cannot imagine! Draw this map out on paper - or better yet let someone else with an objective eye map your beard for you. Study your beard grain patterns and then shave with the grain. There is also another technique for shaving called “Method Shaving”. This technique somewhat ignores the grain of your beard and uses shaving patterns exclusively. More information about “Method Shaving” is available at Badger and Blade.

**Don’t give up! Wet shaving with a safety razor can be frustrating at first. If you experience razor burn or bumps, you probably used too much pressure or went against the grain, or your shave preparation was inadequate. The best time to shave is after a shower when your beard is wet and soft. Take time to really work the lather into your beard and allow time to let the water in the lather soften your beard. Follow up your shave with a shave balm to soothe and moisturize your skin. Geo. F. Trumper’s Skin Food is one example of a shave balm.

**You help the environment. No more used shaving cream cans to throw away. No more cartridges to throw away. The only thing you must throw away is the spent razor blade refills, which biodegrade.

**It is less expensive than cartridge blade refills. A replacement blade only costs you 50 cents, not $2.00 or more. If you use a straight razor, there are no replacement costs. You just strop and hone your razor!

**Have more questions? Please feel free to contact us via email and we can help you establish a good shaving routine. The trade off will be healthy skin, no shaving irritation, no redness, no shaving bumps. Just a clean, professional looking face and a shave that will last longer throughout the work day. (No more 5:00 shadows at 1:00p.m.)