Thread: Howzit, from Nelspruit, South Africa

Greetings

I recently received a Dovo Best Quality from my Beloved, finally ending a quest for straight razor shaving that had me haunting antique- and 2nd hand stores with no luck.

I've been shaving my head for some time now and have always fancied doing it with a straight razor rather than a Shick Xtreme 3. That is now about to happen. I'm still learning everything I can before putting blade to scalp and this place seems like a treasure trove of information.

Having changed between a VanDyck and a goatee over the past many years, I finally started growing a full beard about 4 months ago, so I'm not going to have the luxury of getting used to using the blade on my face before going for the head.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

In the meantime, thanx for having me.

Dave

Welcome to SRP!
Hold on a minute! before trusting your scalp to your new razor please make sure it is truly shave ready. razors really do not come shave ready from the manufacturer. they need a little time on honing stones preferably by somebody skilled in honing. there are several member here who shave their heads and will be able to assist you in that (my hair is slowly greying and i can live with it)

enjoy,
jim

Originally Posted by syslight

Welcome to SRP!
razors really do not come shave ready from the manufacturer. they need a little time on honing stones preferably by somebody skilled in honing. there are several member here who shave their heads and will be able to assist you in that

enjoy,
jim

Gunk.

My retailer suggested that it came "shave-ready" from the manufacturing process.

I am also stuck a couple of thousand miles from most of the people likely to be able to help me hone this blade.

How do I check?

And I guess I"m just going to get stuck in and get it done myself.

#WelcomeToTheThirdWorld

Originally Posted by GILD

My retailer suggested that it came "shave-ready" from the manufacturing process.

How do I check?

And I guess I"m just going to get stuck in and get it done myself.

Umm...
Unlikely to be shave ready from the manufacturer. They don't tend to spend the time to get the edge as good as it should be.
Only way to check easily is to shave with it.

If you've never used a straight I would suggest learning on your face before your head. Even if you just do your cheeks and neck and leave a goatee. There is a steep learning process in handling a straight and getting your angles right.
I am quite comfortable now with shaving my face (and have the muscle memory to know how I should be holding the blade) but still have difficulty with my head once I get over the top and have to rely on feel, rather than what I can see. In fact have just purchased a DE for head shaving.

Most wisdom here tends to be away from honing yourself until you have some experience with shaving as the honing touch is about a light as the shaving one. Plus you need the right sort of stones and.... (there's lots of threads on learning to hone.)

All the best with your journey.
Check out the member listings and maybe you can find someone "local" to you to help with the honing. There's straight folk in the strangest places

Thanx for taking the time to reply.

I'm going to shave my head in the morning, with my trusty old Xtreme 3 (because I'm beginning to look like a long-hair of sorts) and spend more time reading, researching and not bleeding.

I'll find a honer (that's not some brand of harmonica around here, is it?) and move towards "the shave" slowly.

here are a few site links to point you in the right direction....
http://straightrazorpalace.com/shavi...ave-video.html
http://straightrazorpalace.com/shavi...ht-razors.html
http://straightrazorpalace.com/shavi...d-shaving.html

A honer or honemiester is a person who is skilled at properly sharpening (honing) a razor. there are very very registered uses in south africa so yes you might need to be more self-reliant. but Australia and New Zealand are at least in the southern hemisphere and there are some folks skilled with stones over that way... even a headshaver or 2.

enjoy,
jim

Had a go at the head this morning.

I pretty much managed to stick to the video example someone linked to.
No nicks or cuts, I'm sure they'll come, but it was nice to start without them.

The blade can definitely be sharper, I'm going to try a decent stropping tonight and have another go.
If that still doesn't work, I'll (finally) shut up and listen to everybody's advice and figure a way to get it honed.

Me? Stubborn?

Never.

Welcome to the forum and congrats on your first go with no blood letting. If stropping fails to do it maybe you could hunt up an older barber in your area that has some knowledge of straights who might be able to hone it for you. There is a forum member and vendor MichaelC who lives in Kwa-Zulu Natal that may be able to help you out in locating somebody to hone your blade if you contact him by PM. You will find postings by him here http://straightrazorpalace.com/hones...n-hones-2.html on page 2.

Nelspruit may be a tad isolated but you sure have some nice landscape there for compensation.

Bob

Apologies, been stupidly busy and haven't had a gap to pop in and update you.
Been working with the guy I bought it from, a knifemaker and all-round blade-maniac, on getting a shave edge on this machine.
We're getting there. It seems fine for the face, but still not 100% for the head.

Is that consistent with what other people have found?