Thread: Dovo Shavette / Feather blade - first shave

Well I just had my first shave with a Dovo Shavette (thanks bpatton ), and for my first shave I decided to use half of a Feather DE blade.

Everything I'd heard before is true. The Feather blade is insanely sharp, and redefines the word 'unforgiving'. Having said that, things didn't go too badly.

I managed two passes, basically using the same stroke pattern/direction that I use with a normal straight. I used much less pressure than normal, it was pretty hard to judge as the razor was either off my skin completely or pressing too hard - it was very tricky to get it just right. Also I think I was using more blade angle then I should have been, I feel with the sharpness of the blade you need a much less agressive angle of attack - and the blade will still cut just fine.

I did 2 passes (1 less than usual) and I was BBS, it gave me a really close shave. However I had quite a bit of razor burn on my neck, and managed to open up quite a few weepers all over. The weepers mostly stopped after a cold water splash, and I got the last few with a pass using the alum block.

I felt it wasn't a bad result, I'm going to keep using it in my rotation but I think it's going to need a markedly different technique to using traditional straights. I also think the lather requirements are going to be different. With a traditional straight I use a thicker drier lather, but with the Shavette I feel a thinner slicker lather is probably going to work better.

I'm looking forward to trying out the Feather Artist Club when it arrives, I think it'll need similar technique to the Shavette.