hi..intro, some observations and questions
hi, i have been a long time lurker, and recently decided to dedicate myself to shaving with the straight razor i had purchased a few months ago (a TI 5/8).
a few months ago after ordering my TI, i emailed classicshaving and asked them if it was ready to shave out of the box. their answer: "it depends". in reality they should have said "no", and its clear from reading some other posts around here that many others likewise don't feel that a new TI is ready to shave out of the box. well in any case i tried it out, and given it's state, i managed to shave off my whiskers and most of my face. not cuts mind you, but just abrasion from taking so many swipes with the blade to get it to cut. my face was literally singing in pain, like having a sunburn slapped. needless to say the razor sat in a drawer for some time after that.
after a while i started to realize that other people were having success with straight blades, so either my technique and/or my blade were in need of tweaking. i put the blade on the standard 4k/8k pyramid (not sure if that was a bright idea with a newish blade, oh well), and gave it some aggresive sessions on the paddle strop with paste and the hanging strop. i am sure i have stropping OCD at this point. getting back in the habit i found the blade to be much better, but still not what i had hoped for. i found the TI needed multiple swipes with and against the grain to get me clean shaven.
i decided to order a DOVO 5/8 SS and after i received it, i just stropped it and tried it out. it literally sailed through my heavy three day growth. i could not believe how much better it shaved. this is odd, as TI seems to be a well regarded brand...but i just can't put these two in the same class. i have never had to go against the grain with the DOVO. the next razor i buy will again be a DOVO.
one question - how do others feel about these two competing brands?
also, how many people shave daily? i was shaving every other day but i think it will just be easier to shave daily and not have to whack longer whiskers. the TI simply could not cleanly shave me under my chin (the hardest part for me) with two days growth. it took twenty+ swipes to get the stubble gone. the DOVO gets it off in one swipe.
not sure, it could be my mishandling of the TI...but i have gone through a honing pyramid and have stropped it so much my neighbors probably think i am some sort of stropping "rain man".
otherwise i have been keeping to the cheap end of products. williams mug soap. any old mug. the cheapest badger brush.
