Back after Hiatus

Hello everybody here once again from Nebraskee. I am back after taking quite a while off due to being very, very busy. I have been haunting here and B&B for a while and just now started posting again. I have been shaving with a DOVO shavette that I got for a very good price from a B&B member. I have been using that for a while now, about five months, and the shaves have just been geting better and better. I am now in the process of buying a bunch of new DE blades for it from westcoastshaving.com and two soaps from mama bear. I do have a question though, I eventually do want to take the plunge into using a real straight but I dont have the money for all the equipment, razor+strop+paste+stone=too much for a college student:shrug:. There is a few posts here and at B&B that really try my will due to such a great price on razors but then I have to think of everything else. One question remains though, In preparation for a real straight I want to use a longer blade in the shavette but I dont know where to find them:rant:. I have an order of Fromm blades on the way and both the green and black holders. So my question would be, does anybody know what blades I can use with these holders and where I can find/order them?? Any help is most appreciated.

Well let me be the first to say welcome back. I too am a fellow university student and have to say that the money thing is a bit of a hurdle when making the switch to a proper straight. I can't help you at all with your questions about the shavette, etc. but I can give you some advise with the straights. I'm sure there are lots of other posts here that do a better job of listing what you need and don't need to start shaving with a straight, but I'll still give you my opinion.

My starting set up was a old tarnished Henckel (from eBay for less than $20, shipping included), a barber's hone (again eBay for probably $12) and the most basic Tony Miller strop ($30: a must have, no exceptions). This might seem like a lot (~$70 all together with shipping), but it's really only a few cases of beer (the standard currency for students). You could just dial back (not stop) on the drinking for a month at the most, nothing too rash, and try to save the money that way.

You could get a shave-ready razor for a little more and not need the hone for at least a month or two (depending on the level of use), and even then you could just send it out to get honed. Either way you definitely don't need to spend a bundle on a razor. I have to say I shake my head every time I hear someone say that they bought a new DOVO for their first razor. Still to this day I haven't shaved with a razor that cost me more than $35 and I've been at it for over 3 years now with no complaints. The main thing in starting is to just start with one razor, don't worry about building a collection, that will come with time. I now have a few hones, still the one strop, and 45+ razors that I am slowly rescaling and polishing up, but I still only have 6 modest razors in my rotation. My family thinks I'm nuts, but I'm a far cry from some of the guys on here with collections that could fill lecture halls. I know I've spent a bit of money, but I just think of it as "invested" as I plan on continuing to sell most of them.

In the end there is really no substitute for a real straight razor and I thoroughly encourage you to take the plunge and buy one. If you budget is really tight I may be willing to help you out and sell you a proper shave ready razor for what ever your budget is. PM me and I know we can arrange something. If that works out all you'll need to buy is a strop and you're set, just in time for school to start back up again.

Welcome back.

Good suggestion above. Prices on new razors these days seem to start at around 70 for Dovo and a bit more for Thiers-Issard. There is the option of Wapienica for 20-ish or Double Arrow for 10. When you add the cost of honing you're looking at 30-40 at minimum for a new razor. In the classifieds you can get a not brand new razor for rather good price (some are in that range). My view on that is that you normally trade condition for better steel. In any case one razor is more than enough and there are plenty of options. As far as whether they fit your budget - you know better than anyone else what you can to and what you can't.
If your time is cheap you can make yourself a strop by finding leather locally to you (there are several threads on the subject).
Make sure the razor is honed properly and you shouldn't need to worry about a hone for a month or two. You can probably go quite a bit longer than that by using CrO (ChrisL will sell you more than you'll ever need tor $4) to refresh the edge.

Anyways, you don't need to spend a lot of money to start using a straight razor. It may not be the prettiest looking one, but it can still shave better than many razors 5x it's cost. Take a look around see what's available, ask some of the more experienced members for advice.

Enjoy

I just skimmed the posts so I don't really know if anyone answered your shavette question. And I like you have been using a shavette up untill yesterday. You should check classicshaving.com for all your shavette needs. Hope it helps.