I started shaving my bikini line (fur along my inner thighs and lowest belly) when I was about 13, I think. It was the same time I started shaving my legs, which I recall being after everyone else (this is probably a slightly biased memory). I started shaving cause I was getting teased about being furry, and because I wanted to be smooth; I thought it was feminine and sexy. And necessary.
Anyway, I stopped shaving my legs and armpits when I was about 17 but kept at my bikini line for another year or two. Until I was 19, I can remember because I was quitting it when I met special boy and was slightly worried that he might think the growing crop of hair on my inner thighs was unsightly-- not for being there, just for not matching the rest of the full-grown pubic hair.
Shaving was always something I did in the shower or in the tub. I seem to remember trying to do it once at a sink, somehow splashing myself to get the skin wet, but I must have been camping or something. I did recognise the importance of wetting the area to be shaved. Dry shaving can result in unsightly and uncomfortable red bumps on the skin (razor burn!), maybe because the lack of lubrication irritates the skin (not sure).
My main advisors in the art of shaving were magazines aimed at young women. Every 18 months or whatever they run a "how to get a great shave" article and frequently have questions in the advice columns about what to do about lack of closeness, lack of smoothness, whatever.
What I did was this: I got the bikini area wet, but not too warm so as to avoid making the skin swell (on the advice that it would un-swell later and leave little pricks of hair poking up), and shaved with a wet, sharp, clean, un-nicked razor in the opposite direction of hair growth (ie: from ends to roots). This translated to shaving towards the outsides of my fur.
I found it best to encroach on the fur in small increments, especially if I hadn't shaved in awhile or was breaking new territory. Saving a long swath of long fur caused problems because the hair would clog up the razor, and because hair would get tangled around and I would end up cutting parts of hairs that weren't in the line of fire. Thus, I started at the outermost edge of the fur and crept inward with small strokes.
Often I would note red bumps after shaving, which were somewhat unsightly. The only advice I can recall seeing regarding the treatment and prevention of these was to apply a disinfectant/antibiotic cream like Polysporin after shaving. Presumably this would counteract redness due to minor infection of irritated follicles and skin. My bikini line was the only place I noticed these red bumps, so long as I didn't shave anything while dry.
Violet Blue provides great shaving tips. She likes the same book I do: Hot Pink.
See also Creating Pubic Art from the authors of Hot Pink, in my Vaginal Arts & Crafts zine.
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