Much excitement this morning as my new Dovo finally arrived.

This was my first experience of even holding a straight razor; it's undoubtedly a beautiful piece of craftsmanship, although the blade seems huge, and it will clearly take a bit of practice before I feel less clumsy with it.

This afternoon, after a soak in the bath and an attempt at achieving a calm, zen-like state, I was ready to give it a try. The zen-like state evaporated pretty quickly once I was stood in front of the mirror and lining the Dovo up for approach, but once I'd got going the signs were encouraging. No chainsaw-massacre quantities of blood, and I was even getting a nice buttered-toast sound.

Not wanting to push my luck, I did the recommended one sideburn, and stopped for today.