Thread: straight vs feather or shavette

I started str8 razor shaving with a Feather. I believe it gave me a head start in regard to learning to have good shaving techniques. - The Feather is extremely sharp and is like shaving with a surgical instrument. Yes, they are dangerously sharp, and you have to learn shaving skills or the Feather will win the war. Shaving with a Feather and using a very light, light touch you can get a good shave with them. There's a BUT to this:

There is nothing like a shave with a real straight razor. The edge is more forgiving, and when done correctly, the shave is like heaven. There is nothing like it! Your skin is smooth, none irritated; there is nothing like it. Of course, though......you have to learn to strop and take care of this razor. I guess you could get away without learning to hone it yourself, but that's part of the rush you get, because you did it yourself. The reward of shaving with the real straight over a Feather is ten fold. There is no comparison in regard to the super quality of your shaves.

Yes, its' more work and you need to become skilled in your techniques: Shaving, Stropping, Honing (if you choose), etc., etc...

* That's what we're all doing here

Steve

I use both a Sanguine shavette with disposable Wilkinsons and a Dovo straight. They're very different in feel and the Dovo is definitely more "stable". The shavette is more difficult to control (= you can cut yourself easily) and may get clogged with hair which is quite annoying, plus it doesn't deliver the close shave of a straight, even though disposable blades are sharper than a straight's edge (something I can't explain to myself).

You can strop the straight on paper (I use red-pasted notebook paper for stropping, plus black paste on a leather strop and it works just fine), you don't need a strop for it. Just bring your strop paste and brush/soap.