Thread: Hello, from Northern Ireland

just wanted to pop on and say hello, my name is matthew, I'm 23 years old, and i am a fully qualified hairdresser and barber, although i only do it part time now while i study a degree, but i would like to open my own barbershop sometime! i have been into shaving now for sometime, i have a number of DE razors and a good collection of straight razors, i am also trained in hot towel shaving. if you have any questions i would love to try my best and answer them!

Welcome to SRP,

There is a wealth of knowledge here that may be of use to you. The starting point is the SRP Wiki. You might find it informative. At the same time we may be able to benefit from your knowledge.
As a starting point may I ask what you have been taught is the best beard prep procedure? This is a subject that has generated much discussion here. Your views on this?

I did a quick search ofr SRP members in Ireland and found 30 of them..... here is a link to that search result...........
http://straightrazorplace.com/member...rt=posts&pp=30

and a link to the SRP Forum where Get Together and Razor Meets are listed ........

Get Togethers and Meetings

I am looking forward to your reply regarding the beard prep.

thank you for the kind reply, I'm excited to join this group and learn more and more about the art of shaving, i would love to help share what i know,My current routine is as follows:

Soak brush in HOT HOT water while I'm in showering.
During the shower i wash my face with normal soap first.
I then put conditioner on my beard and let it sit while I wash the rest of body and hair.
Then I rinse off the conditioner, and let HOT water run over my beard for about a 2-3 minutes.
After shower I leave face wet while I prepare the shaving creme.
apply 1 hot towel on the beard for about a minute just to soften up the beard again.
Apply lather to face and REALLY work it in with the brush.
Shave.
for the second pass i splash hot water on my face for about 1-2mins.
apply the cream and really work it in with the brush.
shave.

this is how i do it when I'm at home but my routine is slightly different when I'm doing clients as you can imagine, but really what my teacher told me is try different things and what you feel suits you the best is the best, i have super sensitive skin so, my trial and error process can be quite painful.

my current personal set up is :
Razor; i had a razor my grandfather gave to me restored and its my favourite one its a 6/8 by T.E & R.S Richardson, though i don't know the year. have a few other razors let me know if you want to know what they are.
Cream; Jermyn Street Collection Shaving Cream for Sensitive Skin 150g (taylor of old bond street)
Brush; Cyril R Salter Pure Badger Shaving Brush Large.

hope this helps

Welcome to the forum Matthew. Very glad to have you here and you are welcome to share your experiences. Best of luck in your pursuit of a degree and your wish to open a shop.

mattie,

Welcome and hello from Hastings

Have fun !

Best regards

Russ