Thread: good shave ready straight razor to start?

Recomendations for first razor, stone and stroppe?
Im been wanting to start for quite a while and now is the
time. Thanks
(brand and site?)

Dovo is a good brand? was thinking of one of their
profesionaly sharpened ones. All good or certain
models? Should be a good starter and last?
Sorry for all questions but pretty green here. lol

Dovo was my first razor but I quickly moved into using only vintage and custom razors. It'll be great to get started (the site has a lot of options, see what looks best to you).

They'll all be professionally sharpened - there are some more expensive models but I wouldn't be able to speak to whether or not the quality would be better, probably just different styles and materials. Once you get started and read around the site you'll start to get an idea of what you want

A kit is the cheapest way to go to start. Don't worry about the more expensive razors, the Dovo best qualities are great razors, they just use plastic scales. Stainless, and exotic woods just raise the price point, doesn't mean the blade is any better. Go for a 3" latigo strop to start, trust us, you WILL buy more stuff eventually!

Thanks. Have other stuff already, brush, soap, before and after lotion.
Just need razor, strop and should I also get a stone (or that can wait)
Also, why the 3" strop rather then 2"?
Also, 5/8 or 6/8?

Originally Posted by mcgaret

Thanks. Have other stuff already, brush, soap, before and after lotion.
Just need razor, strop and should I also get a stone (or that can wait)
Also, why the 3" strop rather then 2"?

Forget the stone for now, you will get to that later down the road. The 3 inch razor just takes away a little bit of the learning curve with stropping but it isn't any better or worse, just preference

If you get a 2" strop you will have to learn the "X" stroke as the full width of the blade doesn't fit on the strop, whereas it does on the 3" so it's just straight up & down. To be fair the "X" stroke isn't difficult. I'd also say don't go spending a lot on your first strop as you'll probably end up cutting it with the blade. I get the impression most people do. I certainly did, both ends are a little nicked up because if you're going to catch it you'll catch it when you're turning the blade over at the end of each stroke. From my understanding strops are mostly repairable, but would you really want to hack up an expensive strop while you're still practicing. That's just my opinion though, & I'm pretty new to this myself. I'm sure there's a lot more experienced folk out there who will advise better.

I agree with ats200 though, save your money & forget the stone. If you get a shave ready razor it shouldn't need honing for a good while.

I just ordered a "sight unseen" razor from Larry at whipped dog. $30 including international shipping.

I at first got a brand new dovo a 2" strop and a norton 4k-8k. I did good with the razor and hone but got a crappy strop. then got a 3" bridal strop from SRD (much better than my first attempt) but if you want a good razor for cheap. Whippeddog.

I am very new myself; I have about 6 weeks of daily shaves under my belt. I started with a dovo best quality 6/8 and within a couple of weeks also purchased a dovo astrale 5/8. I really like the 6/8 blade. It has a little more weight and I find for ME I tend to let the weight of the blade take care of the pressure on the 6/8, but I have a tendancey on the 5/8 to add a little too much of my own pressure and tend to irritate my face a little more. I also started with the 3" latigo strop and really like it. It took it a couple of weeks of working it with my palm and stropping before it felt like is was breaking in properly. Get a quality shave ready razor and get started...it's a blast. Good Luck!