Thread: spoiled by a shavette.

when i started straight shaving about 2 months ago i had a shavette with derby blades. every shave was perfectally sharp. now i have my first dovo and ive had it sharpened to 5 microns, stroped on newspaper and the strop but i notice it does not come close to the buttery glide of the shavette. now, Im not willing to give up if i know there is a light at the end of the tunnel and it is possible to get that buttery glide out of a straight, but if it wont come close, even with experience ill swich to DE shaving. Thoughts? (btw if getting that super sharp edge means hundreds $ in stones id go for it but only if it was possible)

You've got to do what's most comfortable and will make you happy in the long run. Personally, I get much smoother shaves from a straight than I did from a DE or Shavette.

It's a combination between the well honed razor and your "well honed" technique.

You're talking 3 different systems here. No DE will shave as close as a proper straight. The disposable of course comes proper sharp. The straight needs your assistance in that department. In the end once you get it the way it needs to be I don't think you will want to go back to the disposable

IME, especially when I'm in a hurry, I get a quick and smooth shave from a DE, but I have stubble towards the end of the work day. When I use my straights, I may not get the buttery smooth glide you describe all the time, but the shaves with a straight are much closer and last a lot longer. Although the straight shaves are not always buttery smooth, I prefer the end results thereof and therefore think straight razors are worth the time and effort, just my 0.02 cents.

tyguy. i did the same as you. and it is difficult to get that smooth glide from a straight, until you get the angles down, and your straight is properly sharp. de is not the same field as either of the other 2. it does take ALOT of patience and practice to get this down. i do know one day it all goes well, next day or two it is all wrong. i really try to do all the same routine so that i can try to determine exactly where i mussed up. and usually it is with the angles, this is the hard part for me. when all is done properly though, it is better than the shavette.

If you want to know what a real straight can do for you get a quality straight professionally honed. I recommend you only start investing in hones after you have decided you want to go the straight way.

I've been using a shavette for about 7 years, and when I finally acquired my first real straight, I felt just the same way you felt. I was wondering if the real straight can ever achieve the results my shavette does. Well I kept at it, and lo and behold I have achieved the BBS (baby butt smooth) results my shavette gave me. The difference though was something I never understood until somehow explained it to me. Which is this. The real straight razor will not be as sharp as the shavettes, but the shavettes will never get as polished as the real straight razors. Do you know what that means? It means that you can get excellent shaves with a more forgiving blade with the straight razor. Because its will sort of be a littleblunt compared to the DE's. I now experience more comfortable shaves with less nicks with the straight rather than with the DEs. Not to mention less razor burns. I love that with the real straight, it won't get your face raw like e DE does. I still use the DE in the form of the feather artist club, and nothing gets sharper than that I believe, but somehow I sort of gravitate to the real straight razors because of its overall shave experience (forgiving, comfortable, and gives BBS RESULTS). Keep at it, and you will discover why a lot of people like the people here still love using the traditional straight razors.

Thankyou for your helpfull answer. A lot of people give a lot of flack for using a shavette here so its nice to get an answer from someone without a biased opnion on the matter. Since putting this thread out I've bought somw honning stones and am learning more all the time. Recentally I had a pretty good shave with a straight but I dropped the blade and blunted it in one spot so it was back to the stones and with a little patience I had it poping hairs off my arm while hovering and moving along so todaays the day to try that out. Will let ya know the results.

You mention that your razor was honed to 5 microns. That is far short of what is possible. Good finishing stones will be finer than that and you can use lapping film or pastes all the way to .1 micron. Your razor can be as sharp or nearly as sharp as a shavette all the time. After the first shave with the shavette or DE your straight should be sharper til you change blades.

This is interesting. I've been shaving with a Filarmonica shavette and thinking that while the sharpness of a fresh DE blade is an advantage, I wish it were larger, more polished, and carried more weight. I do feel like I could get smoother and closer passes with more mass and the polished edge of a stropped blade. I'm definitely going to invest in a proper straight after reading this thread.

As a relative newbie, I don't regret taking the time to learn the various aspects of wet shaving over the past year, and developing skills ... but I've had the same experience as other guys who opt for the shavette before "full straight" - some nicks and discomfort in the early stages.