Thread: Advice needed for beginner

Welcome to SRP Pete!

I would say to put some miles on the Dovo Shavette your spouse gifted you. It's better in the long run w/ relations. Move onto straights in a few months. This will give you time to research your purchase and ask questions here.

As for the irritation and bumps, it is a result of your technique. Extremely light pressure and the proper angle will help out here. Since your spouse helped you into the craft ask for assistance in your technique. I had my wife watch me a few time when I was first starting out. There were lots of places on my face I could only see put the corner of my eye and wasn't able to get the proper angle. With some assistance form your spouse you will develop a feel for the correct angle and greatly reduce or eliminate the razor burn/irritation. Start shaving only with the grain of your beard growth. Once you eliminate the irritation you can move to XTG and ATG (across the grain and against the grain). Performing these passes too soon will prolong your learning curve. Also note that different manufactures of the blades for your shavette will give different results.

Be sure to prep properly. A hot shower followed by a shave works best. Lastly be sure to use a good shave soap or shave cream and not the stuff out of a can. While not the best, Williams Shave Soap and a boar brush from CVS may be a good start and on the cheap. If you would like to spend more money read through the SOTD's and see what everyone else is using and read some soap/cream reviews. SRD (www.StraightRazorDesigns) is selling some good shave soaps under their own brand for ~ $8. There will be plenty of time to branch out and find the perfect soap/cream for you but just be sure to get away from the canned stuff.

If you are looking to be frugal in shaving by getting away from the safety razors you may be surprised by the RAD, SAD, HAD and other acquisition disorders you may contract as you progress.

Good luck!

A quick question:

What pre-shave treatment are you using?

Also, a detail of your prep would be good to see. One nice thing about the shavette is that we can already rule out the edge and possible incorrect stropping.

Welcome to SRP! We are always glad to see someone beginning the journey!
-Rob

My shavette was purchased at The Art of Shaving, and I followed the advice and directions on the package that contained their Pre-shave oil, shaving cream, and after-shave. I shaved following a hot shower. After reading the responses to my initial post, I am wondering if my skin irritation is due to incorrect angle and excessive pressure.

I also did a second pass against the grain, and I think I'll stick with one pass for now as Joed suggests.

I have a quick question. I have read elsewhere online that nicks come from beginning the stroke only. That is, when the stroke begins and ends you should not cut yourself. Is this true?

Thanks,
Pete

Hi Pete,

I couldn't possibly shave with a shavette. They are needlessly rough. Another example of a good idea not completely thought out. A true straight has a long learning curve though. Keep that in mind.

I didn't see your second question. I think the idea that you can only cut yourself at the beginning of a stroke is nonsense.

Howdy...

I'm new to the forums, in fact just signed up, and glad I found this thread.

I started off with a shavette, and after a month or two opted for a straight razor, that was about a year ago, and since then I have had mixed results, but a lot of the time there is quite a bit of irritation, and sometimes it feels like i've hardly shaved anything off, but I am persistant and want to get this, so a few days ago I decided I had to get to the bottom of it lol, I took care to sharpen and strop my blade then I decided not to shave for a day or two and do some research.....

Well I found this thread and reading it I thought about the pressure I put on, and maybe it was too much, so i got set, got my face prepped, lathered up and tried a shave with a feather touch, there's no real irritation which feels good, there is still a little fuzziness, but I did only do one pass, and I think that maybe my angle needs a little work, but im glad there's no irritation, so thanks guys

Geek

Originally Posted by TheGeek

Howdy...

I'm new to the forums, in fact just signed up, and glad I found this thread.

I started off with a shavette, and after a month or two opted for a straight razor, that was about a year ago, and since then I have had mixed results, but a lot of the time there is quite a bit of irritation, and sometimes it feels like i've hardly shaved anything off, but I am persistant and want to get this, so a few days ago I decided I had to get to the bottom of it lol, I took care to sharpen and strop my blade then I decided not to shave for a day or two and do some research.....

Well I found this thread and reading it I thought about the pressure I put on, and maybe it was too much, so i got set, got my face prepped, lathered up and tried a shave with a feather touch, there's no real irritation which feels good, there is still a little fuzziness, but I did only do one pass, and I think that maybe my angle needs a little work, but im glad there's no irritation, so thanks guys

Geek

Welcome to SRP, Geek. They only get better.

Welcome! I also started (about a year ago) with a handle that uses double edged blades snapped in half. I agree that you should use it for a bit for both economic and spousal reasons. Then you will be in a situation where you can start looking around (on the classifieds here and at local flea markets, antique stores etc) for inexpensive vintage blades (which would be nice gifts that your spouse could also give you in the future). You sound like the kind of person who will probably delve into the world of honing as you progress. There are lots of economical ways to do that too (such as 3M microabrasive sheets and honing compounds, but I digress...)

You can get a very decent shave using a shavette... there are many barbers out there who offer straight razor shaves that are required to use a device such as this in order to meet health regulations ( ie: no sharing of blades between clients).

As for your technique... One of the most helpfull things for me was Chris Moss' guide which is probably on this site somehwere but I haven't found it. I know you can download it for free here: www.shavemyface.com/downloads/The-Straight-Razor-Shave.pdf . I printed this off and have read it over and over and over... I have found it a tremendous instructional guide to all aspects of straight razor shaving and have found him to be just about bang on 100% on everything he says (just my opinion).

Thank you for the insight. I was kinda thinking that the shavette can be a bit unforgiving.
Pete