Thread: New to SR shaving - First shave with Dovo Special 5/8 Faux Tortoise

Hey Everybody,

New to SR shaving here! Got into it randomly about a month ago when I decided to go to a local barber for my first straight shave (also my first attempt at growing facial hair...I'm Asian and don't grow that much hair, but I would say a decent amount for my ethnicity!). They had the disposable ones so I picked one up off of him for $20 to get me started. It was a generic Moreville razor, I don't think I even found it online when I tried a search. Nonetheless, I tried it and cut myself up pretttty badly! Terrible first shot at it haha! So I decided to do some research and look into an actual straight razor and found a local store here in Edmonton that had some pretty good prices. The razor was $189, but because I got a complete set (bison leather 2.5 inch strop that I don't know the brand of, an Edwin Jagger bowl, Kent BLK2 badger brush and a puck of col. conk shaving soap) I got 10% off, which made the razor itself cheaper than anywhere I've seen online yet.

Now for the shave....
When I purchased the blade they told me it was sharpened and ready to go so I took it home, lathered up a nice mug of foam and gave it a shot!
Well....they definitely weren't right about it being shave ready as it was grabbing and tugging at my hairs so I finished what I could and luckily only made minimal cuts. I tried using my left hand (right hand dominant) and that definitely didn't work out so I finished off with a technique that would make most of you cringe...I call it freestyling haha.

I took it back to them to get it sharpened (their honemeister wasn't in the day I purchased the razor) and was asked if it mattered if they taped the spine or not. Me being the newbie that I am, asked what it was for. They told me that most people don't like the 'polish' that it puts on the spine and that they would need about 16 pieces of tape and it would be a huge hassle getting all the glue off from blade. I figured they knew what they were talking about so I told them not to worry about it.

Brought it back home, looked at the spine and saw that there was so much wear on it already from that sharpening! The rounded edge of the spine had flat spots on both sides! needless to say I was a little choked about it so I called them back and they said that there wasn't anything they could do as the blade had already been used. Well...I tried the hanging hair test on it (to the best of my ability anyways) and it didn't cut it, but I figured it was because I didn't know what I was doing.

Second shave....

P.s. sorry the read is this long! You can quit here if you want!

Took a shower while I soaked the brush in the scuttle in hot water. Came out, gave my blade a stropping, whipped up some lather and went to town.

The shave was amazing! (based on my newbie review!). I didn't cut myself once! I did two passes, one with the grain and one against. I tried the left hand again and it was definitely a lot better than the first. Never before has my chin felt this baby smooth. It was almost as if I had never grown hair on my chin before! Right side, baby smooth...left side...could use a bit more practicing on my angles haha. All in all, I'm very happy with the purchase so far! Feedback on anything I've written is also very much appreciated too!

Cheers guys and thanks for reading this far!

**To give credit to the store though, aside from the wear put on my brand new blade I was very happy with the people as they were some of the friendliest and most patient staff that I've dealt with. Helped me out with any questions I had and stayed patient with me even when it took me 45 minutes just to pick out a brush!**