Thread: First shave with a straight/Shavette review

Hello,
Today I shaved myself with a straight razor (Dovo Shavette) for the first time. I must say that it went much better than expected, though at 30 minutes a little long IMO. I'm sure it will quicken with practice. How long does it take you? I may have been a little ambitous as I did 2 WTG passes, 1 XTG pass, and 1 ATG pass.

The good:
1. ABSOLUTELY THE BEST SHAVE OF MY LIFE!!! My face is amazingly smooth with no shadow all day.
2. Very nostalgic feeling and definitely got my heart rate elavated.
3. No blood!

The bad:
1. The first negative I had was not being able to see my sideburn line while holding the razor. The line is at my eye level. Any suggestions?
2. The razor seemed to keep getting stuck on the sensitive area right under my chin and did not shave this area clean. I had to follow-up with a DE. (I guess I need practice)
3. I had some razor burn that lasted for about 1 hour and then went away. Is this normal?
4. Some shaved hair got between the blade and the blade holder forcing me to take the razor apart and clean the blade mid shave.

Products used:
Truefitt and Hill Pre-Shave
GFT Rose Soap
Truefitt and Hill AS Balm

Way to go!

It takes me about 25 minutes from stropping to wiping down the sink (WTG, ATG and touch-up). My two cents for your problems:

1 - Try a different grip.

2 - It'll come with time, don't worry about going back to a DE until you get the hang of it. The chin still gets me, too.

3 - Maybe you used too much pressure? I've noticed that my razor burn has decreased as I've gotten more shaves under my belt and I've gotten a better "touch."

(I'm burning out this smiley)

With a shavette?

About 5-7 minutes.

One WTG one XTG pass and I'm clean. Thats with a shave stick and a brush, I lather up do both passes without re-lathering and I'm done.

The razor burn was probably a combination of you not being used to the razor and taking soo many passes. If I took four passes I would be razor burned for sure.

1. I too noticed when I started that seeing my sideburn was kind of tricky. Play around with holding your head at different angles, looking up or down, and holding the blade differently. I eventually found a grip and a head angle that worked good for me.

2. The chin is almost always the hardest part of the shave for most people. It'll take a little while to get comfortable with it. In the meantime...as was said..there is no shame in using a DE for trouble spots until you get comfortable with your technique.

3. The burn could be from several things. Too much pressure, wrong angle, too many passes, or just the blade in general. I've not used a shavette so I'm not sure how prone they are to burn. My dovo only gave me issues if I use the wrong angle or pressure and I solved that early on by working on my technique.

4. pick up a real straight and you wont have any mid shave disassemble and cleaning to do

With my shavette - 12 minutes to shave.

When I first started shaving it easily took 35 minutes because I was learning. In one year, I sure came a long way in straight shaving. Keep with it and you will get better.

Pabster

I'm having the same problem seeing the sideburns etc. My main problem is my glasses. Man does it suck str8 shaving with glasses (did I mention bi-focals??) Try moving your eyes left or right to see with these things on. Oh, pulling up the skin to stretch?? Guess what happens to the glasses. Did I mention "No Mans land"? That's the foot of so zone that neither prescription covers (too close or too far away). That's what Tri-focals were made for (you thought it was just to look cool in didn't you. Don't lie now). So far I haven't shaved one of the lenses yet but I've come close a few times lmao.