New to the Board....

.... and almost ready to purchase my first straight razor. I have used a beauty store "disposable" straight razor for about a year now and at this point I have not relieved the blood pressure in any of the main arteries in my neck.

I have used a number of disposable razors over the years, as well as a couple different electric razors and have been largely unsatisfied. For the first time in my life last year, I went to the barber and got a shave. Closest shave I had ever had. And more importantly, I didnt break out in shave bumps after the hairs started growing back in.

Fast forward to now... gonna buy a real straight razor next month. I see Royal Shave . com has a beginners kit for about 200 bucks. Its a hollow Dovo and measures 5/8 I believe. Comes with a strop, shave soap, and a brush. I looked through the classifieds here and see alot of good deals, but I am thinking that getting this kit would not be a bad way to start and gives me everything I need.

SImple question that I think I know the answer to already.... Dovo makes good stuff... right? Been reading up on this for a bit and this is one of the names that has been mentioned as being a good razor.

Any input would be grand.

Dovo makes very good facial shaving gear ;-)
If you want something more fancy instead of a new model though..try the "Classifieds" section..good guys here and regardless of what you buy we will all be here to help!

pcdad

.... and the beauty store blade came with replacement inserts.... not using the same actual blade for a year!

Figured I should clarify that.

Yeah I checked the classifieds.... good stuff there indeed.

Is the brush and strop absolutely necessary? The strop is right? To decrease any light pitting that may occur?

Wikis and stickies and FAQs, oh my!

Ummm.. blade maintenance is a necessity, buddy. This ain't another kind of disposable your getting. Brushes aren't necessary, if you're going to be using a brushless (non-lathering) shave cream. I have the peppermint shave cream from "Avalon Organics" (they retardedly call it "cream shave") and it doesn't lather, it's not designed to. It's not a bad product at all, works quite well. It is a 3-in-1 product in that it moisturizes and leaves the skin in a supported, healing state. I honestly don't have to use any aftershave or balm or skin tonic when I use that product. It can't be applied with a brush, there's no benefit to that and cleaning the brush would be a hassle if I tried. But you're definitely going to need a strop. Plan on getting more than one strop, or a double-sided strop, one side/strop is going to have an abrasive paste. This is to renew/refresh the edge of the blade beyond stropping. You're going to need a good strop(s) and abrasive paste and good shaving cream or soap. If soap then you'll need a brush. I suggest going straight for a badger. I have a Tweezerman, a small, modest badger and it's great.

Any attempt to leave out a necessary product will be an act of self-sabotage. You'll pay... one way or another.

Welcome to the board!

Yeah I only use disposables on my head now. I started using a shavette a year ago and have not gone back since. Ready to graduate up to the real thing.

The shave is way better than I ever knew. Had I known I would have switched twenty years ago. Woulda saved me some of these shaving scars I have now. Not bad ones at all, but I woulda been a straight razor master by now.

Might be a dumb question, but once I get a real razor, how often should it be honed? I am figuring that I will end up getting a few razors as if I have to send them away to get honed, I would be without it for a few days at least.

Seems like honing is not something that a novice should do....

You will really love the real straight razors after using a shavette. Much smoother against the skin! Just make sure you get a shave ready one to start!

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Originally Posted by lcaldwell3rd

Might be a dumb question, but once I get a real razor, how often should it be honed? I am figuring that I will end up getting a few razors as if I have to send them away to get honed, I would be without it for a few days at least.

Seems like honing is not something that a novice should do....

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Might be a dumb answer but, get it honed when stropping no longer keeps the edge ideal for you.
The time frame you're after will be variable depending on your shaving & stropping skills.

Honing is something a novice should practice on a razor that is not valuable or not in use but touching up with say 5 strokes on a barber hone should not be too challenging as long as you have a solid grounding in the principles of what you are doing..