another one of them newbies

hi all,

I'm Jos from the Netherlands and I'm 21 years 'old'. my fascination for straight razors is still quite fresh, but I've been a knifeboy for some time now. a while ago i bought myself a nice looking SR from ebay. damast, buffalo horn and camel bone handle filings on the back and all. it looked great and the noobie as i was i bought it only to find out it came with a edge about as round as your average butter knife. i tried to re profile it a bit, but my god what a rough shave it is.

I'm here in Norway for my last week of internship, and i decided to bring my trusty philishave with me instead of the razor. having had a goatee for a few years i decided to back to a clean shave, and it feels pretty good i must add. however this was the last act of my old friend philishave, it died on me not a minute after the goatee came of.

so now I'm here at the SRP. and what better time to look for a good SR then then after the dead of an old machine.

now i've been looking into straight razors for some time and i quite like the DOVO Ebony & Silver Steel 5/8 razor. because lets face it, I'm a student and i can't really afford any of the high end razors. so i need something that doesn't break the bank but is a decent razor nonetheless. is this razor a good choice?

furthermore i've been looking into some stone the go along with the razor and found out something about Coticule stones, Ardennes Coticule - Producer of the Coticule whetstone!. are they any good for straights?

finally a last question. i have this skin decease Eczema, Eczema - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. basically i have a dry, flaky skin that is easily irritated. now i use this special soap made of Olives that my skin can bear. I've used it for shaving this morning using a Gillette fusion and it went fine. so what i want the know is: do i need lather to shave with a straight, or will this soap do too.

well, this is some introduction and i applaud he who made it through. i hope you can answer some of these questions.

cheers,
Jos

Welcome Jos. I wish I could answer some of your questions, but my first razor is in the mail on its way to me.
I'm sure some of the others will give you sound advice.
Scott

Welcome here....I've only been on this site about a month or so, but I've picked up a few bits of advice worth sharing. First, I'd suggest purchasing a straight razor through the Classifieds on this site. Most sellers accept PayPal and will ship internationally. You can find a reasonably priced one (I got mine for $50 US) that will arrive in shave ready condition. Give it a good stropping and you're ready to go. While I'm on the topic of strops, you will need to purchase one of these as well. You strop your straight razor before each use. Because the edge of your razor is so delicate, it can easly develop imperfections. Stropping corrects these.

As for a good soap or cream that won't aggravate your eczema, I'd suggest reviewing the sub forum dealing with soaps and creams. There are good reviews of several products there. I'm fairly certain you'll find something there that will work for you. Common wisdom seems to say that a cream or soap is necessary for straight razor shaving, as it provides a cushion between the blade and your face.

Again, welcome to the site and to your new obsession

Welcome to SRP Jos

A Dovo razor is just about the cheapest good razor you can get if you buy new.
The Straight Razors - Straight Razor Place Classifieds has good things to offer for less.

Yep a Coticule is a werry good stone for razors 125x30 or slightly bigger(lenght up to 175 if you want ideal size)
just comment in the box at purchase that it is for razor sharpening so they know to not give you an unsuitable stone

Standard grade will do you well as the grading is by looks not by qualety

Welcome...Dovo is a fine razor, I'm sure you'll like it. As far as Shave soaps go, You may try Mitchells Wool Fat. It's loaded with Lanolin, so it's very moisturising. Musgo real is a shave cream, also Lanolin based.

Coticules are fine whet stones running about 8-10k. They vary quite a bit from stone to stone. We have quite a bit of information in our WIKI on them. There is a learning curve when it comes to Coticules, but I'm sure you'd be happy with one.

Let us know if you have any questions. We'll be glad to help...

Rich

thanks for the quick replies all. they've been helpfull.

i'm asking about this particular dovo because i may have found a second hand one for about 60 bucks.

so thanks again all, for the nice welcome!

If you purchase a used razor make sure that it is recently honed.
Use the strop just before each and every shave for 30-60 roundtrip laps.

Welcome to the SRP!:)