Thread: Upgrading Quality of Shaves

Damn nice post. As far as I'm concerned you should just focus on helping others. every man should have two razors and I can promise that the lessons learned the first time will not go unnoticed. I suggest a full hollow, 5 or 6 8ths.

MHV,
Not only did you post a great certitude, but it is also a great mantra.
Great post.
Patrick

Originally Posted by MHV

Gentlemen,

After a full year
...snip...
I have stuck to my DOVO Best Quality 6/8 half-hollow for a year, and it's close to second nature in my hands.
....snip...
Where do I go to get an ever sharper AND smoother AND closer shave? Do I go on learning how to hone?
Do I buy another, better razor? Do I just keep on working on my stroke technique?
...snip...

Yep... you are on a good roll.

If it was me... I would dust off the
paddle strop. Your 1 micron and
0.5 micron CrOx two sided paddle
is a good choice.

I would also recommend a second razor...
perhaps a well selected blade from the classified.
Nothing fancy, good steel, sound scales.

A second razor lets you compare and contrast
experiments. It also lets you try things knowing
that you have a second razor to fall back on.

A good finishing hone can go on your Christmas list.
I happen to like the Naniwa Super Stone 12K for
refreshing an edge that is just whisker dulled.
If the holiday time is feeling flush a Chosera 10K is
deluxe as are Shapton Glass Stones at
about the same grit....

Have fun...

I'm in the same spot as the OP as well. I recently realised that I've been straight-shaving for just under a year, I guess. I started out with a scrappy Tommyco that you cut safety-razor blades in half for. for 'foam,' I used to just beat my brush around on the top of a cake of Crabtree & Evelyn shave soap until it was kinda foamy, then start scraping.

Now that I'm on this site, I have my first proper str8, and my foam prep is so much better. I'm still trying out different shave soaps and creams, though I think that a green tube of Proraso's pretty much going to be a permanent part of the mix. I've also discovered that the C&E soap lathers *way* better than I'd thought, so long as I'm using good technique to whip it up.

I agree that two straights is likely the way to go. For my second razor, I'm hoping to land one from the fetish list in my sig. Especially the Walker & Hall, because I just missed buying it due to a slight hesitation on my part. Turns out I couldn't have had it anyway, as the site doesn't ship to non-US addresses. Grumblegrumblegrumble...

Learning to do the left side of my face with my left hand is proving to be... difficult, but I'm so much better at it after just a couple of weeks, that I'm not stressing it.

I shave every morning. Always with a straight.

EDIT: Whups, Signatures are disabled these days. What I meant to say was that, for my second str8, I'd like it to be one of the following:

Hart Steel 6/8 Polished, Round Point Straight Razor, Bocote with File Jimps
Jonathan Crookes Hollow Ground (heart and pistol)
Walker & Hall The Flag Razor Very Hollow
Joseph Rodgers & Sons Full Hollow

Just taking a second to thank all the kind words that were said on my post, and wanted to add that I think the core of my reflection is that I'm wondering if, excluding crappy manufacturing, there's really such a thing as a "better" razor. Or is there only a better honing?

If you look at most of the leading brands, I don't think one would say that a DOVO, TI, Böker, Henckels, etc is crappy in and out of itself. But are we misled by the talent of honers to believe that brand X will be better than brand Y because a given razor of brand X was better honed than a razor of brand Y?

Or have some of you figured out an absolute way of confirming that brand X, no matter what you do, will never be as good as brand Y ?

Niftyshaving's reply points me towards the direction of honing as a skill to embiggen the quality of the smallest shaver...

Originally Posted by niftyshaving

Yep... you are on a good roll.

If it was me... I would dust off the
paddle strop. Your 1 micron and
0.5 micron CrOx two sided paddle
is a good choice.

I would also recommend a second razor...
perhaps a well selected blade from the classified.
Nothing fancy, good steel, sound scales.

A second razor lets you compare and contrast
experiments. It also lets you try things knowing
that you have a second razor to fall back on.

A good finishing hone can go on your Christmas list.
I happen to like the Naniwa Super Stone 12K for
refreshing an edge that is just whisker dulled.
If the holiday time is feeling flush a Chosera 10K is
deluxe as are Shapton Glass Stones at
about the same grit....

Have fun...

To join AFDavis1 and Niftyshaving I suggest another razor. Perhaps something other than a Dovo, simply because you already have one.