High School Teen Looking to Start Shaving: What I Need?

Need a few questions answered to get on my way. Then I think the stickies will help me with the rest.
Shaving has started to become a topic of interest to me.

Some info:

• Used a spring hair remover for 2-3 years. Kept hairs pretty fine and it worked good enough.
• Areas needing shaving: hair under chin and above upper lip (moustache)
• Looking for a method that would limit the growth of hair

After reading some threads, the stickies and the 'How to Shave Like Your Grandpa' article from Art of Manliness, I decided that I want to go with some sort of traditional wet shave.

What do I need to get started?
Suggestions?
Safety razor vs double edged?


Looking forward to getting started.

I'm guessing that by wet shaving you mean with soap, brush and razor? The first things you would need is, well, some soap a brush and a razor.
Sorry, couldn't resist. Shaving is basically simple. All you really need is a shaving soap or cream, a bowl or mug, a brush and a razor of some kind . Personally, I prefer double edge razors to carts or plastic all in one safety razors.
Recs:
Razors: If you don't want to dump much money into a DE razor, you can get a Wilkerson Sword Classic DE for dirt cheap but you do get what you pay for. If your willing to spend a bit more, I would recommend the Murkur 180. It's a much better razor and will last a lifetime. I think I found mine for about $30 usd.

Soap and brush: here I would get a VDH starter kit as it will have a soap, brush and bowl and you can find them for $10-15 usd.
I've also had good luck using Gillette Fusion shaving gel once apon a time. You don't need a brush with it and it runs about $5.

Blades: These are perhaps the hardest to recommend as each persons needs are different. I started out with Sharks, but then quickly switched to Wilkerson Sword blades as the sharks didn't work very well for me.

I hope this helps and welcome to the B&B!

P. S. When you first start, shave with the grain and use cold water to rinse. You'll save yourself quite a bit of irritation.

no way in gods green earth to limit hair growth. if you have it, its gonna grow, and since youre a teen, its gonna grow all sorts of ways until it works itself out. As mad hatter said, this is a real different way of shaving and you first need the basics of it, and perhaps you should start on low priced stuff and slowly move up....slowly. lol. Im actually new to this whole thing somewhat, and it does take time, but its better on your face. and you kind of would like to keep it looking as good as you can...im 25, and I wish I did this at 15

Welcome. It's probably going to be easier to find things online, rather than in a store. If you have an Art of Shaving store nearby, it's a good place to look around, but razors and brushes are fairly expensive there. A better option may be to look over the vendors here, and explore their websites. Along with the Merkur mentioned, another popular model is the Edwin Jagger DE89 with the barley handle. Both are fine razors at roughly the same cost. Brushes are where it starts to get confusing. I started with a Parker "badger best" for around $20, but later tried an Omega boar for about $10, which I much prefer over the badger. Soaps and creams are all individual, but most here would agree that creams are easier to lather. The sandalwood cream from Art of Shaving is very popular for its lather and scent, but it does cost a bit. Another good one to try is Cella, which is a hard cream that looks more like a soap, has a nice scent, and lathers like crazy. Forget about a scuttle, you can try one later if you wish. I've never used one. Any old coffee mug will do for making lather. I'd suggest trying a razor blade sampler from one of the vendors here, that way you'll have a few types to try.

That's my quick checklist to start. Do read through the tutorials here, they will be invaluable to you. Never hesitate to ask questions here, you are not the only young man on the forum. This is a very supportive group of gentlemen, and there are hundreds of others who have more experience than do I, so you will have a wealth of experience upon which to draw.

Welcome, and enjoy your shaves!

Get a straight. I thought young people were fearless.

Getting started is as easy as buying a Gillette Tech or Superspeed from the BST for about 20 bucks, then going out to Walmart and picking up a Van Der Hagen set with soap, bowl and cheap boar brush for about 8 bucks.
While there grab a pack of Wilkinson Sword blades (10 for about $1.50).
From there, the sky is the limit.

Great advice so far! Welcome to B&B young man.

Welcome to B&B!! Great advice so far. Van der Hagen soap from Wal-mart or CVS will produce a great lather and is cheap. I also highly recommend an old Gillette Super Speed. Good luck!

Ben

BladeScrub said:

Merkur 180 or Edwin Jagger DE89, VDH kit, and Wilkinson Swords
I can find a razor in BST? Would like to spend ~$20-30 on that.

What about acne, occasional bbumps around the shaving area. How do I work around that?

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I'd imagine you try to shave around any acne. Worst case scenario is that you nick it and you've effectively popped your pimple. At that point do what you normally do with your acne.

In regards to "occasional bumps" are you referring to ingrown hairs or something else?

Ding! Ding! Ding! You just won a newbie start up kit. I'll PIF the whole 9 yards, PM me for details. Included will be:

Merkur 1904 Open Comb
Small blade sampler
Omega boar (only used for test lathers)
Razorock Moroccan Secret

You have 24 hours to claim it before it gets offered to the masses. Parental approval is necessary. Welcome to B&B!

CharlieFoxtrot said:

Ding! Ding! Ding! You just won a newbie start up kit. I'll PIF the whole 9 yards, PM me for details. Included will be:

Merkur 1904 Open Comb
Small blade sampler
Omega boar (only used for test lathers)
Razorock Moroccan Secret

You have 24 hours to claim it before it gets offered to the masses. Parental approval is necessary. Welcome to B&B!

Click to expand...

+1 nicely done!

AEIOU9 said:

I'd imagine you try to shave around any acne. Worst case scenario is that you nick it and you've effectively popped your pimple. At that point do what you normally do with your acne.

In regards to "occasional bumps" are you referring to ingrown hairs or something else?

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Meant acne bumps/not actual pimples yet.

CharlieFoxtrot said:

Ding! Ding! Ding! You just won a newbie start up kit. I'll PIF the whole 9 yards, PM me for details. Included will be:

Merkur 1904 Open Comb
Small blade sampler
Omega boar (only used for test lathers)
Razorock Moroccan Secret

You have 24 hours to claim it before it gets offered to the masses. Parental approval is necessary. Welcome to B&B!

Click to expand...

PM'ed.
Thank you!

Claimed. Who is chairing the initiation committee this quarter?

CharlieFoxtrot said:

Ding! Ding! Ding! You just won a newbie start up kit. I'll PIF the whole 9 yards, PM me for details. Included will be:

Merkur 1904 Open Comb
Small blade sampler
Omega boar (only used for test lathers)
Razorock Moroccan Secret

You have 24 hours to claim it before it gets offered to the masses. Parental approval is necessary. Welcome to B&B!

Click to expand...

Way to go CharlieFoxtrot

Welcome to B&B, BladeScrub! Now you know what kind of place this is!!

MAJOR kudos to Charlie-Foxtrot for showing BladeScrub what the spirit of B&B is all about!! You, sir, have my thanks and admiration!!

If you need tips on how to use your new gear, check out the links in my signature. There's "Getting Started" and "Tutorials", both of which I recommend to you. There are worlds of shaving information waiting for you behind those little blue words.

When you have a moment, plese stop by our Hall of Fame and tell us a bit more about yourself. If you have questions or run into problems, feel free to post them up. We're a welcoming and friendly bunch (as if you haven't figured THAT out by now!), and we're always happy to offer advice or lend a hand.

Enjoy your time here and your new shaving gear, and once again WELCOME!!

Welcome to the B&B young man! You already took the best step on your quest by hanging out with us on the forum! Stay tuned, learn along with us, tell us how it's going and enjoy your shaves!

P.S. When I was a teen my father told me to hold off shaving is long as I could because once I started shaving I would wish I would have waited. Now I know what a real shave is about and what we used to do I understand why he said that.

Welcome to the site. I just wished I had this resource when I was young. Good luck in your search for the perfect shave.

Thanks Wingnut will take a look at those links.
Right now looking for an aftershave, it's pretty overwhelming. Something that would be good for a teen and not have too much oil.

Thanks for the warm welcome guys!

CharlieFoxtrot said:

Ding! Ding! Ding! You just won a newbie start up kit. I'll PIF the whole 9 yards, PM me for details. Included will be:

Merkur 1904 Open Comb
Small blade sampler
Omega boar (only used for test lathers)
Razorock Moroccan Secret

You have 24 hours to claim it before it gets offered to the masses. Parental approval is necessary. Welcome to B&B!

Click to expand...

Good job CF, I was thinking the same thing when I read your post. You realise you'll be responsible for his not being able to afford college due to all of the AD's you just introduced him to, no?