Thread: shavette vs Straight blade

so i'm new to SRP my name is mike i've been shaving for about 3 months with a dovo shavette and have just recently switched to a DOVO half hollow and I'm finding it much more difficult to use has any one else had this issue. to me it feels as though the straight is dull and has more drag to it. it has been to 2 people for sharpening and the second guy said it looked great and was in fine shape. any ideas or pointers would be great.

The cutting angles are different: about 9.5 degrees for a DE blade and around double that for a typical straight. That's why the Shavette feels sharper, in a sense it is because it encounters less resistance when cutting. You probably need to adjust the angle of your new razor to your face to get it working properly, 30 degrees between the plane of your face and the blade of the straight is generally held to be a good starting point. The open razor is the superior instrument, but it doesn't work in quite the same way.

I had exactly the same issue. As stated above it does have much to do with the angle under which you shave (which tends to be flatter for the shavette).

However that is not only factor. A shavette is basically a micro serrated edge, the hairs will be caught in the serrations and cut of in between them.

A straight is (as the names suggests) a straight edge, you will have the hold in under a slight angle to increase it's cutting capacity, see it as a guillotine or a samurai sword. The reason those blades curve is that they cut better than way. If you where to cut with a straight blade you would encounter allot more resistance and use less surface of the blade.

Here's a quick paint mock up to visualize what I mean.



P.S. By now I am shaving just a smooth and easy with my straight as I was with my shavette, it does take a bit of time but trust me, they both do the job just as well. It's just the difference between them than makes the transition a bit funky.

In my opinion, the best of the best honemeisters never do get a straight razor edge as sharp as a commercial blade edge. Think of the top two 2 or 3 honemeisters here, and I have probably purchased honing from at least one of them. Their edges were not as sharp as a commercial edge. But, this is not a problem.

When using a straight razor you have to change technique quite a bit from the technique used with something like a Shavette. There is a reason why stretching is emphasized on SRP, for example. With a reasonably sharp straight you can get a good shave. But, if you don't have technique down, you will get a horrible shave from the sharpest possible straight razor.

As an aside, my theory is that straight razor edges shave best when slightly rounded by stropping, but still sharp. I believe the razor floats on that rounded edge, pushing the skin down slightly, right before cutting off the whisker. Then, the skin slides back up the shaft leaving the cut whisker end inside the skin. I believe this is one reason why the straight shave is so close and feels so good.

With a Shavette, the razor slices off the whisker, but also shaves off the top layer of dead skin cells. That is why you get so many more weepers with a Shavette than with a straight, and can get a pretty bad case of razor burn.