Hello from la Belle Province

Hello everyone,
After my last haircut I realized I really liked how clean a shave I got when they did the back of my neck and sideburns with a striaght razor so I thought I`d give it a try myself.
Im from Montreal and am anxiously awaiting my first straight razor. I started of off looking for a razor on Amazon and quickly got confused by the plethora of offerings and mixed reviews. Much more googling was done and I found this site. After readinga lot on here over the last couple of weeks I bought a Dovo Best Quality 5/8 Full Hollow Blade. Hopefully I wont scalp myself. The begginer guide has been quite useful and I can only hope the article on the first striaght razor shave will keep me from doing to bad a job. I like how it is written and it`s suggestion that I not try and do my whole face at once, baby steps seems the sensible approach to me. Honestly I probably would have slit my throat if I hadnt found this forum.
I expect to recieve the razor next week and will gladly post my impressions. I do have a couple of questions I havent seen answered here yet but as they arent pressing and as I have mostly spent time reading the begginers stuff I will wait until I peruse more of the forum to avoid repeating already answered questions.

Hello and welcome Alan

Sounds like you were very sensible in your approach to getting into shaving with a SR. Nothing beats doing a lot of research before making your first purchase, congrats on that. Don't worry everyone is a bit nervous at the beginning, slow and easy does the trick there. Did you buy your Dovo from a vendor that supplies it shave ready?

There are a few members from PQ here and at least one from Montreal. I am sure they will be along shortly but would suggest you have a face to face meet up with them if possible. That is the best way to learn a bit more.

Bob

Welcome to the forum - this is the place to learn everything you need to know about straight razors as well as being a great and fun community to be a member of.

Read the Beginners sections, if you have a questions, usually the search box on the top right hand side will lead you on many hours of fascinating reading.

I'm in Toronto, feel free to message me if you need any help.:D

Welcome to the forum. There are quite a few Canadians here, a few from Montreal. There is also three pretty good shaving shops in Canada, which reduces shipping time more than anything. You never know how long CBS might decide to store your mail. There is a lot to learn. There are a lot of very sharing people here.

Hello Alan,

You came to the right place. Do not hesitate should you have any questions.

Welcome to SRP Alan. Where did you order your Dovo from and was it sold as "shave ready"? Factory edges are often sub par and having it professionally honed can make or brake the experience.

Welcome ! also from Northern California

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Originally Posted by BeJay

Welcome to SRP Alan. Where did you order your Dovo from and was it sold as "shave ready"? Factory edges are often sub par and having it professionally honed can make or brake the experience.

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I got my Dovo from The Classic Edge.
It was a set including, board strop, brush, soap and oil. They say that they hone the razors themselves and that they are shave ready. They also include a follow up honing.
So I got some time before I have to worry about learning to hone myself.
However this does bring me to 2 questions I was going to ask after more searching on the site.
Aside from being different is there any advantages/disadvantages to a board strop vs regular strop? I liked the idea of a board strop as I dotn really have anywhere to hand a regular stop from.
Also it seems that 5/8 and 6/8 are the more common sizes I went for the 5/8 because I thought go with what's common, because its common for a reason and pick the smaller of the 2 because I thought smaller would be easier to learn on. Was my reasoning sound and is there any actual difference aside from preference on size?

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Originally Posted by Phrank

Welcome to the forum - this is the place to learn everything you need to know about straight razors as well as being a great and fun community to be a member of.

Read the Beginners sections, if you have a questions, usually the search box on the top right hand side will lead you on many hours of fascinating reading.

I'm in Toronto, feel free to message me if you need any help.:D

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We don't need no help from Toronto here in Montreal ;)
Seriously though thanks for the offer. If I think of something I'll drop you a note.

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Originally Posted by AlanQ

I got my Dovo from The Classic Edge.
It was a set including, board strop, brush, soap and oil. They say that they hone the razors themselves and that they are shave ready. They also include a follow up honing.
So I got some time before I have to worry about learning to hone myself.
However this does bring me to 2 questions I was going to ask after more searching on the site.
Aside from being different is there any advantages/disadvantages to a board strop vs regular strop? I liked the idea of a board strop as I dotn really have anywhere to hand a regular stop from.
Also it seems that 5/8 and 6/8 are the more common sizes I went for the 5/8 because I thought go with what's common, because its common for a reason and pick the smaller of the 2 because I thought smaller would be easier to learn on. Was my reasoning sound and is there any actual difference aside from preference on size?

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Phil at the Classic Edge puts a very fine edge on a razor so you should be all set to go there. Do not strop it before the first shave. That lets you feel how a good edge feels and performs. Stopping poorly can degrade a blade instead of helping it especially at the beginner level. I think we have all done that at the start so it's not unusual for that to happen. Strop carefully before the second shave and if the second shave feels worse it is likely your stropping is off a bit.

Both board and hanging strop will do the job. A board strop might even be preferable at the beginning because you don't have to worry about getting the tension right on the strop as you would a hanging strop.

Nothing wrong with the common sizes they work just fine.

Again you seem to have done your research well, congrats,

Bob

Hi Alan & welcome to SRP. I do hope you ordered your first straight from Straight Razor Designs because Lynn personally hones & strops each straight razor shave ready before it goes to its new home. You will also get a free honing later for when it needs it. I hope you also ordered a strop because as you most likely read in the Beginners Guide, you will need a strop plus a brush, soap & mug. If you ordered it from Dovo, it will most likely need a pro honing which is why I do hope you made your purchase from SRD. You can also practice stropping with a butter knife until you feel comfortable doing so or you will take a chance of cutting a new strop & also compromising the sharp edge of a new straight. If by any chance you do cut your strop, no worries. You can either sand it out or glue it down with super glue or rubber cement. Any questions, just ask.
Good luck my friend.

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Originally Posted by AlanQ

I got my Dovo from The Classic Edge.
It was a set including, board strop, brush, soap and oil. They say that they hone the razors themselves and that they are shave ready. They also include a follow up honing.
So I got some time before I have to worry about learning to hone myself.
However this does bring me to 2 questions I was going to ask after more searching on the site.
Aside from being different is there any advantages/disadvantages to a board strop vs regular strop? I liked the idea of a board strop as I dotn really have anywhere to hand a regular stop from.
Also it seems that 5/8 and 6/8 are the more common sizes I went for the 5/8 because I thought go with what's common, because its common for a reason and pick the smaller of the 2 because I thought smaller would be easier to learn on. Was my reasoning sound and is there any actual difference aside from preference on size?

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Classic Edge is the best place in Canada to buy a straight razor. He puts a very nice shaving edge on them and has a decent supply of all the extras. Some people find a bench strop an easier way to learn to strop. It is another case of personal preference as far as I can see. There are quite a few videos on how to strop. This is a good one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYy3B3v8STo

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Originally Posted by RezDog

Classic Edge is the best place in Canada to buy a straight razor.

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I couldn't agree more.

Hi and welcome. Seems there is little you need to know but if you do have questions just ask. Cudos for all the research as well. Many end up here as not enough research was done and are now having problems(its how i came here )

Welcome to the Forum, as others have said, you are in the right place.

And the board/paddle strop is a great choice, especially when you are starting out.
My line is that learning to shave with a straight using the web is like learning how to tune and play a piano by correspondence course.
But if you take your time and take advantage of all the reference material it comes together surprising fast.
Please keep us posted and smooth shaving...

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Originally Posted by BobH

Phil at the Classic Edge puts a very fine edge on a razor so you should be all set to go there. Do not strop it before the first shave. That lets you feel how a good edge feels and performs. Stopping poorly can degrade a blade instead of helping it especially at the beginner level. I think we have all done that at the start so it's not unusual for that to happen. Strop carefully before the second shave and if the second shave feels worse it is likely your stropping is off a bit.

Both board and hanging strop will do the job. A board strop might even be preferable at the beginning because you don't have to worry about getting the tension right on the strop as you would a hanging strop.

Nothing wrong with the common sizes they work just fine.

Again you seem to have done your research well, congrats,

Bob

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Thanks that is very logical advice about stropping. I will definetley try doing it that way

Welcome to the forum.

Ok had my first "shave" today. I'll start with the good.
1. Not only didn't I slice off half my face I didn't even nick myself.
2. Shave was definitely closer than with my Gillette sensor excel. Compared directly both sides of face (I followed the advice and only did one side, sideburn-cheek)

Now for the bad.
1. I just couldn't get that good a line near my ear. I had to finish it off with the Gillette. Just couldn't get my hands to twist the right way or my glasses got in the way. Tried without my glasses on, but vision was way to crappy (Yeah I'm pretty blind). Next time I'll try with my other pair of glasses and see if that helps. Has anyone else had this problem of glasses getting in the way? Worse comes to worse I'll try with contacts on but I'm generally too lazy to put them on when I wake up so I want to be able to shave with my glasses on.
2. It's probably going to be a while before I am comfortable enough to try doing my whole face. I was expecting it to take me a week or 2 at the most now I'm thinking well over a month. But then you never know it is just my first impression.

You've done some research and made a good purchase. I still don't have my own brush, so you will be ahead of some in that aspect.
It looks like you gotten some good advice, so I will just say welcome to the forum from here in the U.S. Take care.

2nd save went similar to the first. I did manage to slightly nick myself but had a slightly easier time with my other glassses with smaller rims/thinner arms. They still got in the way.
Seriously does anyone else have this problem?

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Originally Posted by AlanQ

2nd save went similar to the first. I did manage to slightly nick myself but had a slightly easier time with my other glassses with smaller rims/thinner arms. They still got in the way.
Seriously does anyone else have this problem?

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Here's a suggestion:

Attachment 211042

Try going against the grain and up towards your sideburns for that small region you're having trouble with. Should give you better visibility and the spine wont hit your glasses because its below where you are shaving.

There are a few threads about shaving with glasses and having issues. Do a search and you will find some good suggestions I'm sure

#3 went better I seem to have figured out how to do my hairline near the ear. I also managed to do my neck on the right side, Then feeling confident I tried to do under my nose. Didnt go so well, small nick and total loss of confidence so I stopped there. I am in no rush to slice off my face :)
I will say I just love using the brush and soap. Way better than canned foam. Kinda pissed I didnt it sooner.

Well I seem to have figured out how to get the hairline near my ear finally! I no longer have to go over with my gillete to straighten it out.
seem to be progressing well on the right side neck as well. Still shying away from left hand side and the chin/upper lip area but I feel I'm making progress

I am up to doing about 2/3 of my face now. Just around the chin/upper lip I need to work on. I am not doing the greatest job on my neck though.
I did discover one of my problems, I was holding the blade too lightly which was causing it to jump and nick me. I read not to press to hard and I think I took it a little to the extreme. Bit of a stronger grip and everything went much smoother.

Welcome Alan,
Make sure you stretch the skin, a little alum on the fingers may help.
You may try using your less dominant hand on that side of the face.
Feels really awkward at first but may be the answer to being able to see what you are shaving.
Your progression is admirable, it takes many baby steps to get where you are going.

Hi Alan
Here is another interesting link you might want to check out if you haven't seen it yet:

http://straightrazorpalace.com/begin...icipation.html

Good luck my friend.

I read that one before my first attempt. I will admit that before I started reading up on this I was under the impression I would shave my whole face first time out. Of course even without the article I doubt I would have been so foolish once the razor was in my hands. It is very daunting to put a blade that sharp near your face first time out!

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I can't emphasize enough that if you feel uncomfortable at any time in the process, don't go any further.

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Aside from saying to start off with just a partial one sided shave that was the best advice I have read.

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Originally Posted by AlanQ

Aside from saying to start off with just a partial one sided shave that was the best advice I have read.

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Yeah but how many of us really heeded that advise and stopped there?????? :rofl2:

Just wanted to publicly thank Badgister, he is a class act. I met up with him yesterday and he was very helpful. I would have continued to mess things up and gotten more and more frustrated with everything as my shaving ability was going downhill. I dont think I was doing a single thing right before we met up. Hopefully things will start to go better now. Heck I can now do my chin so that is a huge improvement there.

Alan, it was my pleasure. Again, I cannot stress enough the importance of correct stropping technique. Improper stropping is the number one cause of edge failure when beginners acquire shave-ready razors.

Here's the video I spoke of as well as the beginners guide to buying shaving equipment.

Enjoy!

I have just finished my first full face shave, no touching up with the DE required :)
It isn't even a great shave but good enough not to require the DE
Ok my face is bleeding more than ever before but I managed to do my chin and under my nose so I'm pumped ATM. Took me about 20 mins total, really had to work for it and occasionally had to use my left hand to steady my right (I will never be a surgeon) but I did it!