Thread: A Progress Report after 2 Months of Straight Razor Shaving

I thought I would share my progress after 2 months of almost daily shaving with a straight-razor, as this may be encouraging for beginners just starting out.


Shaves 1-10 were not good. Lots of razor burn, and quite a few bleepers and bloody nicks here and there. A bit discouraging, although I was very much aware that you cannot expect fast results with straight shaving. It's an art, and only time makes you master it.


Shaves 10-20 were progressively better. I was slowly refining my technique: getting the proper blade angle which may vary depending on your face configuration; reducing the pressure to a low level; making sure I always stretch my skin as much as possible wherever the blade was going. By shave 20, I was getting a very acceptable shave (not BBS) with close to zero razor burn or nicks. I was sold to straight shaving and was convinced I could make this work and eventually master it.


Shaves 20-30 brought me to a plateau: no more progress really. I was kind of stalled. What was bothering me is that it seems I just could not get a shave as close as I was getting from a DE razor. Especially on the upper lip and chin area, I could still see and feel some whiskers. Although I had my razor honed by a trusted honemeister, I was wondering if my beard perhaps required another honing to make it more sharper than what honemeisters will typically do.


Then I read on the forum about the Feather Artist Club straight razors, with disposable blades. Opinions varied about them, but most people seemed to agree that they were terribly sharp, more in fact than any traditional straight razor can ever be honed. I figured I could do no wrong trying one, so I ordered the Feather Artist Club SS model (new model) with the professional, regular blades.


I have been shaving with the Feather since and I must say I am incredibly impressed, now that I have passed the learning curve after about 20 shaves with them. The marvelous thing with the Feather is that I get BBS everytime with only 2 passes WTG (and a few ATG touch ups on the lower chin and jaw). The drawback is that I initially got a fair amount of deep nicks and bloody gashes too. My goodness, those blades cut deep... They are so sharp that you really need to back off the pressure (especially with the first 2 shaves on a new blade) and stretch, stretch and stretch again so that your skin is the flattest it can be to prevent the blade from catching into it. But whiskers it cut, and cut them exceedingly well...


Now that I have adapted my technique to the Feather, I am honestly getting the best shaves of my life: BBS, no razor burn, no nicks, perhaps one or two very minor bleepers sometimes. I am ecstatic. I seriously think that if you master this razor, you can master any traditional straight razor, as those are more forgiving than the Feather Artist Club.


However, I'm missing the stropping and honing of a traditional straight razor. So my next objective will be to up my honing skills to eventually bring my "practice" straight razor (one I bought to practice honing skills) to a level of sharpness similar to the Feather, or at least to a point where it can also give me a BBS shave.

Sounds good to me sir. I went through my second shave with the Parker Shavette last night, razor burn yes, but it was reduced to only two sections on my neck, so I can deal with that. My question for you would be, since you switched to the Shavette as well (the feather), have you used your traditional straight at all since then to perfect your technique with that or is the idea to try getting them as sharp as the disposables and then try perfecting? The only reason I ask is because as I'm sure you've read around here, there are guys that use the traditional to much greater effect than a shavette and as you said yourself, a traditional straight will not achieve the shame sharpness. Anyway, keep up the good work!

Originally Posted by Hollywood67

Sounds good to me sir. I went through my second shave with the Parker Shavette last night, razor burn yes, but it was reduced to only two sections on my neck, so I can deal with that. My question for you would be, since you switched to the Shavette as well (the feather), have you used your traditional straight at all since then to perfect your technique with that or is the idea to try getting them as sharp as the disposables and then try perfecting? The only reason I ask is because as I'm sure you've read around here, there are guys that use the traditional to much greater effect than a shavette and as you said yourself, a traditional straight will not achieve the shame sharpness. Anyway, keep up the good work!

Good question. I have used my properly honed Dovo only once since starting to use the Feather. And it confirmed to me that although not a bad shaver at all, it isn't as sharp as the Feather. But come to think of it, that was early on with the Feather, so perhaps my technique as continued to progress to a point where using the Dovo would be much better now. I am going to take the Dovo out and shave with it tomorrow morning to verify that.

Ultimately I'd like to get my traditional straights as sharp as possible and shave with traditional straights when at home as I do like the whole stropping/honing part, and keep the Feather when traveling or going to camping.

Originally Posted by Tzar

I thought I would share my progress after 2 months of almost daily shaving with a straight-razor, as this may be encouraging for beginners just starting out.


Shaves 1-10 were not good. Lots of razor burn, and quite a few bleepers and bloody nicks here and there. A bit discouraging, although I was very much aware that you cannot expect fast results with straight shaving. It's an art, and only time makes you master it.


Shaves 10-20 were progressively better. I was slowly refining my technique: getting the proper blade angle which may vary depending on your face configuration; reducing the pressure to a low level; making sure I always stretch my skin as much as possible wherever the blade was going. By shave 20, I was getting a very acceptable shave (not BBS) with close to zero razor burn or nicks. I was sold to straight shaving and was convinced I could make this work and eventually master it.


Shaves 20-30 brought me to a plateau: no more progress really. I was kind of stalled. What was bothering me is that it seems I just could not get a shave as close as I was getting from a DE razor. Especially on the upper lip and chin area, I could still see and feel some whiskers. Although I had my razor honed by a trusted honemeister, I was wondering if my beard perhaps required another honing to make it more sharper than what honemeisters will typically do.


Then I read on the forum about the Feather Artist Club straight razors, with disposable blades. Opinions varied about them, but most people seemed to agree that they were terribly sharp, more in fact than any traditional straight razor can ever be honed. I figured I could do no wrong trying one, so I ordered the Feather Artist Club SS model (new model) with the professional, regular blades.


I have been shaving with the Feather since and I must say I am incredibly impressed, now that I have passed the learning curve after about 20 shaves with them. The marvelous thing with the Feather is that I get BBS everytime with only 2 passes WTG (and a few ATG touch ups on the lower chin and jaw). The drawback is that I initially got a fair amount of deep nicks and bloody gashes too. My goodness, those blades cut deep... They are so sharp that you really need to back off the pressure (especially with the first 2 shaves on a new blade) and stretch, stretch and stretch again so that your skin is the flattest it can be to prevent the blade from catching into it. But whiskers it cut, and cut them exceedingly well...


Now that I have adapted my technique to the Feather, I am honestly getting the best shaves of my life: BBS, no razor burn, no nicks, perhaps one or two very minor bleepers sometimes. I am ecstatic. I seriously think that if you master this razor, you can master any traditional straight razor, as those are more forgiving than the Feather Artist Club.


However, I'm missing the stropping and honing of a traditional straight razor. So my next objective will be to up my honing skills to eventually bring my "practice" straight razor (one I bought to practice honing skills) to a level of sharpness similar to the Feather, or at least to a point where it can also give me a BBS shave.

You progressed faster than I did. I have never used a Feather because I didn't want to have to rely on Feather blades, but I'm sure they are outstanding. I don't like the Dovo shavette because it is too small and too lightweight, but I like the Parker shavette for traveling purposes.

Suffice to say, you can handle either a traditional straight or a shavette. I had a chance to buy a set of Shapton hones second hand for a great price and my honing got a lot better with those. Stropping is still a struggle. I'm determined to do it the right way without bending my wrists and flipping the shank and I'm still trying to keep in sync.

I started with the Bluebeard's Revenge shavette just after Christmas but got a proper straight pretty shortly afterwards, professionally honed. I have not used the shavette since but I am thinking I'll have another go soon. But I am quite happy to admit that the thoughts of it scare me now! When people say that the real straight is more forgiving, I know exactly what they mean and I am sure I'll end up bloody when I pick up the Bluebeard again. The corner of the blade got me good right in the middle of my right cheek and there is still a slight scar well over a month later. That said, a few shaves with the shavette will probably force me to reassess my technique and teach me to be less reliant on the forgiving nature of my straight!

I did try my Dovo this morning and it definitely isn't as sharp as the Feather. Actually, it felt like it was pulling also which is not good. I think I'll have to get it re-honed as sharp as possible.

I am much tempted in ordering a Parker or Bluebeard shavette, just to see if the huge price tag difference of the Feather is justified. Looks like Feather is charging so much for their straights because they have full-length blade and great engineering to mimic exactly the feeling you have with a traditional straight, which is probably better than using a smaller DE blade. In the long run however, the Feather has the highest cost of ownership as the blades aren't cheap (although much cheaper than any of the Gillette disposable stuff). I can do about 7-8 shaves with a blade on the Feather (which is 3-4 haves more than I do with a DE).

If you're scared of the Feather high sharpness, you can try the Pro Guard Feather blades. I have those also and shaved a couple of times with one. It does help to reduce the chance of a bad cut. However, now that I am used with the razor, I'd say the regular blades (black package) are no more dangerous to me than the Pro Guard

Originally Posted by Tzar

I did try my Dovo this morning and it definitely isn't as sharp as the Feather. Actually, it felt like it was pulling also which is not good. I think I'll have to get it re-honed as sharp as possible.

I am much tempted in ordering a Parker or Bluebeard shavette, just to see if the huge price tag difference of the Feather is justified. Looks like Feather is charging so much for their straights because they have full-length blade and great engineering to mimic exactly the feeling you have with a traditional straight, which is probably better than using a smaller DE blade. In the long run however, the Feather has the highest cost of ownership as the blades aren't cheap (although much cheaper than any of the Gillette disposable stuff). I can do about 7-8 shaves with a blade on the Feather (which is 3-4 haves more than I do with a DE).

If you're scared of the Feather high sharpness, you can try the Pro Guard Feather blades. I have those also and shaved a couple of times with one. It does help to reduce the chance of a bad cut. However, now that I am used with the razor, I'd say the regular blades (black package) are no more dangerous to me than the Pro Guard

Hi Tzar - that's an interesting journey, especially the difference in sharpness b/w the feather/shavette and SRs, which echo's somewhat the same dilemma I had (and about the same amount of shaves, in) in always getting that bit better shave with the Dovo shavette. The route I took was a little different though, as I experimented with other SR's and my stropping. I thought my Dovo Forestall must have been a little dull but had been honed by an expert - but buying a 3" latigo strop made quite a difference and I was able to get closer to the Shavette (the Dovo was actually very sharp, just my stropping wasn't). The next bit of improvement, was buying a freshly honed vintage SR. Now the shaves were almost on par with the shavette, just not quite so easy/comfortable. The next improvement came from getting comfortable and more proficient doing XTG and then finally ATG with these SRs, which now gives me BBS shaves. The final bit was buying a vintage 7/8 wedge, which (my God) is sooo comfortable. So I'm no longer using the shavette as all three razors are giving me the same result and I get BBS every time, just the level of comfort differs. The Dovo and Vintage are about the same with the Wedge clearly the most comfortable - love it!

cheers,
Kevin

Shaving with a Feather is the same level of sharpness you get in a DE. That kind of sharpness gives you a closer shave relative to the best straight blades. It takes more skill to get the same result with a straight. A DE gives you a fixed head angle and with a shavette a sharp edge. A straight gives you total control. If the straight is hollow ground you have to consider blade flexing which you don't have in a shavette or a DE. It takes more practice and more skill to get the same results with a straight. A sharper edge is a distinct advantage and the same stroke is tricker using a straight. IMHO.

Thanks guys for all the feedback. I'm not giving up on traditional straights, but I realize it is a long journey before you can master them.

But you got me thinking about my stropping technique which may be dulling the blade instead of straightening it... I'll need to experiment. Also, I think I'll have to acquire various blade styles (wedge, half hollow, etc).