Lesson 1
Pay a little more and get a better razor.

In September I went to the Art of Shaving store after reading and watching many videos on this sight to purchase a razor. I bought their low end made by Dovo with the plastic scale. About three weeks ago the scale cracked at the pivot pin and eventually broke off. So my only razor was down and out. On a whim I emailed someone named Anne at Dovo and surprisingly to me she answered in about 3 days and asked for a picture. I sent her one and the next day she sent me a return form to send in back for a repair. She said it had a two year warranty and she would take care of it for me. I decided that I didn't want a replacement and have it break in another 6 months so I took it back to the store and they graciously let me upgrade to a Thiers Issard model with a stainless steel scale. Wow, what a difference in quality. The blade is a much better quality and the scale also. I also realized now that my starter Dovo was not really shave ready and the technique that I used on the Dovo was much harder than needed. I thought that I wasn't using much pressure at all, but with the new razor I used the same technique and ended up with 5 or 6 nicks and my face lit on fire. My advice to anyone new like me out there who did not know what "shave ready" is or is trying to save a few bucks is to pay extra and stay away from the plastic scales. I was very careful with my Dovo and dryed it and oiled it after each use and it still broke. I'm not saying all Dovo's are bad, because they make many higher end models, but the TI has really changed my view of a quality razor.