I've never shaved before, and my beard and mustache are beginning to grow quite long. I've decided that I need to have a clean shave, once and for all. Unfortunately, there is nobody to show me how to do it. So, please, enlighten me on this subject, for I don't know the first thing about shaving.

Well, there are several ways to go about this, but using a conventional safety razor is probably the easiest.

1. Purchase or find a safety razor. That's the kind that's sort of t-shaped, with a handle and then a blade perpendicular to it. The blade may or may not be detachable, it doesn't really matter. A multiblade type gillette thing is nice but not necessary.
2. Get some shaving cream if you can. Get your face wet, then rub it over your face. If you don't have any, just get your face very wet.
3. Run the razor over the parts of your face with hair in the direction the hair runs or perpendicular to that, pressing just enough not to cut yourself. Exactly how much that is is something oyu have to learn from experience. The direction your hair runs depends on you, but you can feel it out. When the blade is covered with her, rinse it off before continuing.

Ask your dad?

But don't shave too hard on your skin, as you could cut yourself. When you do, continue shaving on other parts of your face and clean, or clean the spot immediately.

:\

Take a safety razor.

Use a cream or a gel. You dad should have some. But get a razor of your own, makes you feel grown up.

Make shaving motions. Try the angle against your skin.

Eventually, you will find yourself shaved. Do it! :D

If you haven't done it already, then do it .. tonight! :O

And feeel the cleeeaaanness.

Oh, and yeah, rinse. Obviously.

I almost never cut myself while shaving. So you probably won't either. Cutting occurs when you let the blade run along the skin, and not against. Ya. Good luck :>

Trim your hair first. If its over afew cm long then its a pain to shave with only a razor.

Afew things i'd like to add:

Use warm water, as warm as you can stand it. It will loosen up the hairs so its easyer to cut. (I usually shave strait after a hot shower, your skin and hair are softer that way and its easyer.)

Try not to shave agaisnt the hair, this will cause razor burn (Redness, small cuts etc, it hurts).

Never shave dry, it hurts. ALOT.

Thanks for all the advice, guys. Unfortunately I don't live anywhere near my father, but fortunately I'm independent enough to do it on my own. I have a safety razor but no shaving cream; I will try shaving as soon as I acquired this item and then report the results here.

You dont NEED shaving cream. I dont use it and i do fine.

Expect to get afew blemishes the first few times though.

Okay, I shaved the first time today. I was a bit of a wimp and ended up not shaving enough, so a few tiny hairs were left over. Not noticeable unless you looked closely though. It stung very slightly, but that went away quickly. Other than that, it went off without a hitch - I didn't notice any blemishes.

It just takes practice. Usually now I can get all the hairs in an area of my face with one pass. The fewer the passes, the less it will sting.

And though it's not necessary (nor is shaving cream, though), some sort of aftershave balm can make it feel better. This is especially important if you're going to do something like fencing where you have friction on your neck. I usually use the nivea balm if I feel like it, it seems to work pretty well. Unless you're a masochist don't use something alcohol based like bay rum because it will burn. I do it anyway, but it burns.

I just realized I have shaved 6000 times now .

thats nothing cause I have shaved more than NINE THOUSAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND

>>12
what?

>>13
4chan meme.

>>8
not using shaving cream will make the blade get dull faster

>>12 i lold

shave ur ballz and fuck a pig!!!!!!

its best (but by no means necessary) to have a shave just after/duing a hot shower. get your face wet with the warm/hot water, which opens youre pores up, allowing a closer shave. if youre not having a shower you can always just wet a handtowel with hot water and hold it against your face for a few minutes, keeping it warm enough (but not scalding) and wet enough.

then yeah, youve got the shaving motions. try to use as few strokes as possible on the same area, but keep the areas small. what i mean is that you may only shave a few centimetres at a time (rinsing the blade between strokes) but only needing one stroke to get all the hair in that area. id suggest sticking with going with the hair or maybe perpendicular in some areas. avoid going against the grain just yet. you get a closer shave by going against, but youre skin is more likely to get irritated and youre more likely to get ingrown hairs. if i ever go against the grain, what i do is shave with the grain once for my whole face, then apply a new layer of shaving cream and shave against the grain. oh also one thing just for shaving in general is that if you try to pull the skin tight with the hand that isnt holding the razor, youll get a closer shave. you dont really have to do much, just like e.g. push your cheek up with your thumb when doing the cheek.

after youve shaved, one thing i was recommended recently (that i rate highly!!) is of course firstly clean any remaining shaving foam off your face... and then splash on COLDDDDD water. and i mean cold. just like leave the tap running for a second or 2, and then splash the water onto the areas youve shaved a couple of times. yeah its cold and not nice, but it closes up the pores (that have been opened by the warming water and shaving foam) so that they dont get irritated or get any gunk in them and get infected. after youve splashed on the water, DONT TOWEL IT OFF. leave it to air dry. yeah its kinda inconvenient but only takes a few min. i used to find that id get some kind of razor irritation at the bottom of my neck stubble, but since doing this method i dont have any problems :) this might make youre skin feel quite dry btw, but once all the water is air-dryed you can apply a moisturing cream if you so desire.

>>18
lol

Use some small scissors to shorten your beard/moustache hairs before shaving if they're long. Your razor will thank you for it.

>>after youve splashed on the water, DONT TOWEL IT OFF

ew. dripdripdrip. wetness is a prime environment for germ multiplication. true story.

Screw shaving!
Set your face on fire.
I know, I know.
Doesn't sound safe.
But it's all the rage in Mongolia.
It's supossed to make your skin smoother, and keeps the hair gone longer, cause it gets right down to the root.

>>21

the water dries quicker than youd think, and it doesnt drip. ok yeah at first when you splash it on it does but then you just have some droplets on your face. i just get ready for uni or whatever in the minute it takes to dry. i never get problems with spots on my face.

>>14

A FAILED 4chan meme, it's not even humorous in this context.

The back of your razor package might have the instructions.