Thread: My first shave with my Dovo

I'm 52 years old, my only experience with a st8 was when I was a kid my barber used to give me a shave after a hair cut. I have always had fond memories about it so I decided to try it again. Today I got up the nerve to try my new St8 for the first time. I bought a basic Dovo this week and have been dying to try it. My new razor was right out of the box and hadn't been honed. I tried running it against a few hairs on my arm and they popped off so I thought it might be sharp enough to give it a try. I hadn't purchased a strop yet so I used an old 1 1/2" belt. I stropped it slowly and could feel the draw. I had problems trying to keep the blade against the belt when I turned the razor over, oh well I'll have to work on that. At one point I ran the razor the wrong way against the belt and it took a small slice out of the leather. Wow that was a wake up call, I wouldn't want to do that on my face. I started with a shower and then lathered up with my Old Spice soap. Once I got my beard lathered up I gave it a try. It was a little tricky and nerve racking getting my hands right in the mirror. In the end I got a decent shave and no cuts or nicks. It wasn't my closest shave but not bad. I thought I had better quit while I was ahead. I'm have a NOS stainless on order which will come shave ready so I going to wait for it before I try again. Thanks for all of the advice here, its been very helpful.

I will be buying one of Tony's fancy strops but want to improve my technique on my old belt before I attempt it on a new strop.