My Son's First Shave

stagger · Post by **stagger** » Tue Feb 02, 2010 10:47 pm

My teenage son came to me today while I was straightening up my shaving stuff and said he wanted to take his first shave. When he said that, I think I was probably more excited than he was. I gave some instruction and stood by with helpful advice and the shave went great. I was rather surprised that there were no nicks as I had to slow him down a few times. Prep for the shave was as follows: hot towel on face for a couple of minutes. Lather and another hot towel for a couple minutes. Re-lathered...and shaved. Lather was built in his great, great grandfather's shaving mug (he thought that was VERY cool).
He used:

Superlather...VDH, Speick Cream, and glycerin
1939 Gillette Tech
Shark blade
Lotions and Potions Face Balm
Brut "Revolution" after shave

First thing he did upon completion was go to my wife so she could feel his face. Overall it was just a great experience for us both and I thank you all for letting me share with my friends here on SMF.

desertbadger · Post by **desertbadger** » Tue Feb 02, 2010 11:16 pm

Nice going, stagger! Got to break the young ones in the right way....

CMur12 · Post by **CMur12** » Tue Feb 02, 2010 11:42 pm

Wow, that is neat, Stagger! We're not hearing about many sons interested in trying our brand of shaving. Then, the fact that he did so well his first time with a DE is also most impressive!

I would expect that you are a proud father, indeed.

- Murray

Steve-o · Post by **Steve-o** » Wed Feb 03, 2010 3:53 am

Bringing up your kid right! Good for you, Stagger -- and congratulations to your son for reaching another one of those milestones of manhood.

jww · Post by **jww** » Wed Feb 03, 2010 6:46 am

So far - the closest I have come to getting either of my adult sons to try traditional shaving (both are cartridge users) is that the younger one has become addicted to Coral Skin Food post-shave. It's a step in the right direction at least.

aircraft_electrician · Wed Feb 03, 2010 7:48 am

I'm glad you enjoyed that moment with your son. I'm looking forward to a similar experience with my nephew. I have 2 girls of my own, no son, but my brother hasn't been there for my nephew, so I'm soon going to be the one to "show him the ropes." His 16th birthday is in March, and he's getting a pretty decent teenage mustache, so he's getting some shaving gear for his birthday.

Tom

HUBBY with a C · Post by **HUBBY with a C** » Wed Feb 03, 2010 11:07 am

I cant wait for the day I can share this same experience with my son. Right now he is only two months old.

Post by **ichabod** » Wed Feb 03, 2010 1:39 pm

That's a great rite of passage moment, my son's beard is still quite sparse, as he's 8 years old, but I can tell his interest has been captured with the straight razors, as they're shiny and sharp.

BeatlesFan · Post by **BeatlesFan** » Wed Feb 03, 2010 3:11 pm

I have two sons, 23 and 24.

My older son went through a period of terrible neck trouble from cartridge shaving in the shower. I got him an Aristocrat, a badger brush, Tabac, and Derby blades. Within 2 weeks, his face and neck looked absolutely perfect. Unfortunately, he has back-slid somewhat, and has been using Barbasol and a different cartridge. Results are not as good as DE, but at least his prep is better than it was, and it isn't a disaster. He still uses his DE from time to time.

My younger son, who generally figures that he has 75 IQ points on his dad (at least), taunted me for years about how great the Fusion was, and how stupid DE shaving was. Then one day he decided he hated the Fusion and ACTUALLY ASKED ME FOR ADVICE! (I immediately checked the news to see whether hell had frozen over!) He likes to shave only every 4 or 5 days or so (he's in grad school), and that he wants to get as much as possible in one pass. In consequence, we set him up with a Slant + Feather, along with Tabac and a brush. So far, he's loving it -- says it doesn't tug and pull the way the FUSION did.

Maybe the kid does have a high IQ, after all . . . ?!!

Congratulations on a great moment with your son. You're pressing back against the dominant shaving culture, but hang in there . . . sometimes parents can actually influence their kids!

Post by **drmoss_ca** » Wed Feb 03, 2010 4:06 pm

My son bought into the wetshaving thing altogether. Used a Gillette Knack, Vulfix boar brush and a Kriss Kross DE blade sharpener to use the same DE blade for months at a time. Then he went to university, and this is how he looks now:

Oh well...

Chris

Squire · Post by **Squire** » Wed Feb 03, 2010 4:11 pm

Great story Stagger, I particularly like the way you tied the family history together.

Lou · Post by **Lou** » Wed Feb 03, 2010 5:03 pm

Thank you for sharing this with us. I think all of us fathers of young sons look forward to that day.

By the way, I should say hi again after being away for so long. The siren song and all that.

Gene · Post by **Gene** » Wed Feb 03, 2010 9:17 pm

Chris, my son is about the same as yours. Early 20's, and he works in a music store and has a band. So, the artsy-fartsy scruffy look is "in" for him.

Plus...he scoff at the old-fart notion of using DE's and such.

My nephew on the other hand WAS usually clean shaven. He is an Army Green Beret, and just deployed to Afghanistan...and was ordered to grow his hair out and grow a beard. Pretty sure that's for working with the local population.

*Edit: Stagger I agree - a great story!

maskaggs · Post by **maskaggs** » Wed Feb 03, 2010 11:30 pm

BeatlesFan wrote:I have two sons, 23 and 24.

My older son went through a period of terrible neck trouble from cartridge shaving in the shower. I got him an Aristocrat, a badger brush, Tabac, and Derby blades. Within 2 weeks, his face and neck looked absolutely perfect. Unfortunately, he has back-slid somewhat, and has been using Barbasol and a different cartridge. Results are not as good as DE, but at least his prep is better than it was, and it isn't a disaster. He still uses his DE from time to time.

My younger son, who generally figures that he has 75 IQ points on his dad (at least), taunted me for years about how great the Fusion was, and how stupid DE shaving was. Then one day he decided he hated the Fusion and ACTUALLY ASKED ME FOR ADVICE! (I immediately checked the news to see whether hell had frozen over!) He likes to shave only every 4 or 5 days or so (he's in grad school), and that he wants to get as much as possible in one pass. In consequence, we set him up with a Slant + Feather, along with Tabac and a brush. So far, he's loving it -- says it doesn't tug and pull the way the FUSION did.

Maybe the kid does have a high IQ, after all . . . ?!!

Congratulations on a great moment with your son. You're pressing back against the dominant shaving culture, but hang in there . . . sometimes parents can actually influence their kids!

Tell your younger son (from one grad student to another): in grad school, a daily shave is an excellent respite from the stress of schoolwork!

ExecAccess · Post by **ExecAccess** » Thu Feb 04, 2010 2:48 am

drmoss_ca wrote:My son bought into the wetshaving thing altogether. Used a Gillette Knack, Vulfix boar brush and a Kriss Kross DE blade sharpener to use the same DE blade for months at a time. Then he went to university, and this is how he looks now:

Oh well...

Chris

Chris I can so relate. My son is 25 and an amateur wrestler, the closest thing he gets to a shave is a little topiary around the edges. And then he manages to block the sink!

gsgo · Post by **gsgo** » Thu Feb 04, 2010 4:23 am

Stagger, thanks for sharing the story, hope that your son picks up the hobby.