Thread: First month of shaving with a straight.

Hi guys and gals, just completed my first month of straight shaving after having a break from using a shavette for about 35 years, haven't had too much drama with shaving or honing. Only sliced my face twice so far, not from actual shaving but by not concentrating on where the razor blade was, having poor closeup eyesight in my old age doesn't help. It did remind me on how sharp those razors are though. Once on my nose when I was moving the blade into position and was distracted by something and I moved my head, and the blade bumped my nose, and the second was positioning the blade near my cheek and due to wet hands, I repositioned my fingers on the blade to get a better grip which again bumped my cheek. It's amazing how we all take little bumps for granted and not worry about them, which is something you can't do when you hold a razor in your hand close to your face!

I have now collected 5 razors (one of which is still to arrive). 3 cheap crappy ones ie; 2 Gold Dollars and 1 cheap stainless, a new Dovo 4580 silver steel with a ebony handle and an old Finedge Ostiso Xtrafine, I practiced sharpening on the Gold Dollars and the stainless one before I had a go at the Dovo just to make sure I was doing it right, I have been able to sharpen them and shave with them but I would not say that they are a good blade compared to the Dovo which is nice and gives a consistently good shave and am now waiting for the Ostiso to arrive.

Still hoping to pick up two more vintage razors in the next week or so, and that will have to be my lot. I will have to draw the line before I develop a RAD and but much more importantly.... before the missus uses one of them to trace a line on my neck.

My collection of sharpening stones and gear now consists of, a Norton 4/8K, 2 slates, a big 300mm x 80mm one I got from AJ_1001 on ebay and the other, a much finer one of almost the same size locally, an Ozuku Asagi Koppa, two balsa paddle boards which I use a 50K and the other a 100K diamond spray on them, a cheap Davinci shaving brush and finally a thick leather strop I made for myself. I am making myself a little razor stand at the moment for the bathroom, which I hope will help to keep them all tidy and not spread out all over the bathroom bench.

That should complete my shaving gear kit which is just as well as I am getting broke very quickly.

Cheers

Ed.

Sounds like a nice setup. 35 years with a shavette is interesting too.

I wouldn't keep the razor in the bathroom.

Michael

Hi mjsorkin, I think you misread my post, I stopped using the shavette 35 years ago and have been using the cartridge style and electric razors in that period till now. Incidentally it doesn't take long for rust to set in, I notice a small drop drop of water on the Dovo one morning and didn't think much of it as I assumed incorrectly that it would dry out quickly, came back in to the bathroom that night and there was a rust spot already on the blade. I have never seen rust form so quickly, must be because it is a high carbon steel, so now, I just give the blade a quick strop after shaving to have it ready for the next shave and then give it a wipe with a small cloth with mineral oil on it. When I want to shave next, I just rinse the blade in hot water and the oil washes off, in the meantime the oil protects it from any humidity in the bathroom.

Ed.

I sure did misread that!

Michael