Thread: Newbie Question

Thanks in advance for all the great information, advice, and general knowledge compiled on this website. It is greatly appreciated. I recently purchased a pre-honed Dovo "Classic Black", 5/8" from Vintage blades. I have been shaving with a shavette and feather blades for a week or so now to try and get the feel for it. Last night I shaved with the 5/8 and it seemed drastically different. The 5/8 didn't feel nearly as sharp. I felt like I had to put quite a bit more pressure on the blade to do the same job and that the hair was being pulled a little. After one cheek, I stopped and stropped. It seemed to help a little. Is that normal? Or do I need to strop more? I wasn't sure if I needed to strop before the first shave on a pre-honed razor, so I didn't until it seemed to be pulling a little.
thanks for any help

One big difference you will notice is that a real straight requires a much firmer hold than a Shavette. You don't want to use any more pressure against your face but you do need a stronger hold to keep the blade from being deflected more than you would get with the DE blades. I have come to the conclusion that this isn't so much an issue of sharpness but of thickness of the blade itself. A straight will always be thicker so there is a bit more stability required to smoothly cut the hair. I would also check your blade angle as the straight is less forgiving in this area. you must be more precise and often much shallower in order to enjoy as comfortable a shave. On the upside as you get this down your shave will become more comfortable feeling than the Shavette, as the real straight has a les harsh edge againt the skin.

That makes sense. I did feel like a few times I got the perfect angle and it was easier. I'll keep working at it. Thanks. I did notice that I didn't cut myself once with the straight as compared to the shavette where one little slip would draw blood and although the end result wasn't quite as smooth it was much more comfortable.

Thats the way it works for me too. If I use the shavette I get a really close shave but have a much more scraped up face and a greater chance of bleeding. When I use a real straight, I now get a shave that doesn't feel as raw while I'm doing it and doesn't leave my face as raw later, and I can now get just as close though it might take one more pass than the DE blade, still I don't end up burned the way the shavette does.

The bigest key for me was a firm hold. When I started out the lighter I wanted to glide the razor on my face the lighter I held on to it, as if there was some sort of correlation. For the best shaves I now hold the razor quite firmly but barely even skim my face with it, get this right and the hair just kind of jumps out of the way.

Hi,

I have never used a shavette, just cartridge and DE's, but for what it is worth I experienced the same problem as you when I first went onto a straight. It has taken about 2 1/2 weeks but I can now confidently shave WTG better then with a DE (in most places). For me it came down to angle, pressure, keeping the skin taut and practice. In terms of angle and pressure it was an evolving process of finding the best combination of angle and pressure over the various parts of the face, though guesswork and what felt right.

If you have a pre-honed razor then it will be sharp enough, it is just technique. I have a very thick and coarse beard and only now am I just getting the razor to glide through like it wasn't there. So keep at it and what you are experiencing is normal (well for me it was anyway) but will soon be replaced by better shaves.

Thanx

Nath

thanks, I'll keep at it and hopefully my form will improve.