Thread: newbie from wi

Welcome to SRP. Your Dovo is fine...it's most likely you...lol. It's probably your technique...just make sure your angle is around 30 degrees. It'll take some time but it'll come and you'll be glad you put in the time. My first razor was a Dovo and it's still in my rotation.

Does it need to be sharp enough that if I take a strand of hair and rest it on the blade ,that it will cut the hair?It won't do that ,but if I hold the hair on both ends and bring it to the blade,it cuts with little effort

Originally Posted by straightrazorrandy

Does it need to be sharp enough that if I take a strand of hair and rest it on the blade ,that it will cut the hair?It won't do that ,but if I hold the hair on both ends and bring it to the blade,it cuts with little effort

Don't worring about the Hanging hair test (HHT) If you read in the forums here you'll hear alot of people say its useless unless it's calibrated to your hair..lol..everyones hair is different and some just wont pass the test. For example my hair is very fine and I have razors that won't pass the HHT yet will cut my finger off in the blink of an eye if I don't pay attention and yet I have other razors that will pass. The most important test is the shave test...experiment with your angles and it'll come.

Welcome to srp. The dovo should be fine. Watch some of the getting started videos and the next shave should be better.

Your Dovo is just fine. What you need to do is read the SRP Wiki section on stropping. Then, just before each and every shave, perform 30-50 roundtrip laps on the plain leather strop. Be careful when you strop, it is very easy to round the edge of the razor. Keep the spine of the razor flat on the strop, never lift the spine. There are some good videos around, be sure to check out those by AFDavis.

Where in Wisconsin are you? I am in St. Paul, MN and can provide some help if your close enough.

2nd go at the dovo this morning and thats going to have to be it for a few days.Lots of nicks,,blood,and raw skin.I tried carefully to get the angle but didn't seem to remove the hair any better no matter what angle I came at it with.
I think I may have actually have got a little better and less painful shave with that cheap Kriegar blade.I don't know how thats possible but I am hacking up my face with this Dovo so far.
Some one mentioned videos on here for getting started.I wasn't able to find them.Can anyone direct me to them?I have a few days while my face is recovering from todays masacre to do some more studying on this before my 3rd attempt.

What are you doing to prepare your beard for the shave?

Are you looking for videos on shaving, stropping or honing?

Go to Youtube and search for Mantic59. He has some very good videos on shaving.

Your razor should be fine coming from straightrazordeisgns.

Understand that getting a good shave with a straight takes far more than simply a sharp razor.

You need to strop the razor before and after each shave, and strop with proper technique so that you do not damage the delicate edge of the razor.

You need adequate beard prep using proper shaving soap and a shaving brush. This goes a long way toward getting a good shave, and is easily overlooked by beginners.

And most importantly, you need good technique. No begging has good technique, and if you ignore it you will only develop bad habits that take a long time to break.

First off you need to stretch your skin well in a direction that lifts the hairs up off your face.

When you use the razor, it should be with the lightest touch possible. With a straight, more pressure does not equal a closer shave, but rather more irritation.

Make sure the razor 30 degrees or less of your face, or about 2 spine widths.

Look at your growth patterns of your beard, make sure you aren't accidentally shaving XTG or ATG when you should be shaving WTG.

Furthermore, the face needs time to adjust to the straight, so just stick with WTG for awhile until your face gets used to it and your technique develops more. Try not to do more than 2 passes either.

Feel free to use your old razor to finish off what you couldn't do with the straight. As your technique develops, you will be able to do more and more with the straight, and pick up your old razor less and less.

Here is a link to a page with the stropping video by our AFDavis.

Razor stropping - Straight Razor Place Wiki

Here is another link by one of our members

YouTube - straight razor stropping