Experimenting with a shavette.

[Nxspam]

Hi guys,

I started shaving with a straight razor at the end of December. I haven't had enough practice as I should, and I threw myself into learning to hone, restoring vintage blades and trying to keep my dovo shave ready and stropping all at once. I think I bit off a bit more than I could chew.

I've only had about 12 shaves with my dovo, waiting until the weekend and DE shaving through the week. I never once actually enjoyed shaving with the dovo, only the excitement was appealing. The shaves were pretty bad except for the cheeks and later the upper lip got easier too. I was forever doubting my technique and the sharpness of the blade. I did get it honed by a pro, but still I felt it wasn't sharp enough, or smooth/sharp for a comfortable shave. I didn't want to start honing it in case my lack of skills really messed it up.

So, I thought to my self, how can I learn the technique and train my left hand without worrying about the sharpness?

well, I bought a cheep shavette off the bay and loaded a half Astra blade an gave it a try today. I got a couple weepers on my hot spot area, just between the lower lip and chin, and a small bloodless nick on the bottom of my chin but apart from that, it was a good shave. Not a DFS, but good anyway. If this was a real straight, this would be my eureka moment and the penny would have dropped. I don't need any touch ups with a DE and although I can feel a little burn on the neck, it and I did a pretty good job.

So in conclusion, I think my dovo is not shave ready at all. If I could get this good a shave from it I'd be over the moon. I guess I've got a long way to go with my honing skills. I recently got two 66's and spent 3 hours on Friday honing one until it took the hair off my leg without making a sound, but it wouldn't pass the hanging hair test. It was trying. It was skipping on the blade edge when I pulled it towards the root, but it just would catch and cut.

Anyway, just thought I'd share my thoughts and a couple of pics of the shavette. It cost about $3 delivered. I'm going to use it for more practice and try to improve my prep, lather and technique. In the mean time, I can hone away on the gold dollar without worrying about it.

 

[smalltank]

well priced!...good way to get on the SR train XD

 

[dpmtherrien]

You know, you can't beat the sharpness of the disposable, and there's nothing at all wrong with using it as your go to straight. Once you get the technique down it'll be some of the best shaves you can get with a straight.

 

[Nxspam]

You know, you can't beat the sharpness of the disposable, and there's nothing at all wrong with using it as your go to straight. Once you get the technique down it'll be some of the best shaves you can get with a straight.

Hi Paul, I wasn't sure about the sharpness of my proper straight and I didn't want to screw it up doing an amateur hone job on it, so I think this little experiment paid off. I now know that I need to get a lot better at honing or find a meister close by. Either way, I can now practice technique and keep shaving and worry about learning to hone better when I have more time and not just when I want/need to shave.

The shavette glides through the hair. All I need to do now is work on my angles, left hand, and figure out a strategy for going round the chin, without shorting the chin ;-)

 

[global_dev]

3 hours on th GD sounds like something is off. Is the shoulder still an issue? What are you using to hone with?

 

[drnarp]

Welcome to the shavette club , i also use a shavette, since we dont get straights here in India. And yeah, nothing can EVER beat the sharpness of a shavette, i hope you're using good blades though.

Best of luck

 

[Snuff-Belgium]

Could be that you somewhat dulled the blade by stropping it not correctly? Enjoy the shavette!

 

[Nxspam]

3 hours on th GD sounds like something is off. Is the shoulder still an issue? What are you using to hone with?

No, it's just me. Slow and steady forward. Yes the shoulder is still an issue on that one. I bought two. I've done the shoulder on second one to compare them both with a dovo. But, I'm new at GDs and still very much a learner when it comes to honing. I'm not sure if I've taken enough off the second GD yet, but I will hone it sometime this week.

 

[Nxspam]

Welcome to the shavette club , i also use a shavette, since we dont get straights here in India. And yeah, nothing can EVER beat the sharpness of a shavette, i hope you're using good blades though.

Best of luck

I'm using Atsras (same as I use for my DEs). I also have some feathers, but I'm not sure thats a good idea - just starting out with a shavette! What I'm really doing is using it as a stepping stone to shaving with a straight razor. Like I said above, my honing sklls need to be better before I can make the switch. I don't want the shaving technique to be all too dependent on my honing skills, so I figured I can do both by shaving with a shavette in the mean time.

But who knows, I may just continue and keep it in my rotation. After about 12 mediocure shaves with a straight, it was very rewarding shaving with a shavette!

No straights in India?? What about eBay? You can get a gold dollar for about 3.50 US dollars delivered. They need some work and good honing skills, but its great fun.

 

[Nxspam]

Could be that you somewhat dulled the blade by stropping it not correctly? Enjoy the shavette!

Yeah, could be. I have yet to get a HHT to pass. I got my dovo honed in december and it passed the HHT (just), but it's an expensive blade, so I want to learn on the gold dollars.

 

[Firewalker]

Yeah, could be. I have yet to get a HHT to pass. I got my dovo honed in december and it passed the HHT (just), but it's an expensive blade, so I want to learn on the gold dollars.

Keep on working on it, you will get better on the hone, it's only a gold dollar so you can glass the edge and set the bevel any amount of times you wish. I found the advice of Ladykate to be the single most important one I got while learning to hone: Make sure you get HHT (or at least shave arm hair) off the 1200 DMT before going on to film. That remarkably shortened my time honing.

The next thing that helped me out was balsa stropping. It brought me up to HHT2, still working on HHT3 and 4.

 

[Nxspam]

Keep on working on it, you will get better on the hone, it's only a gold dollar so you can glass the edge and set the bevel any amount of times you wish. I found the advice of Ladykate to be the single most important one I got while learning to hone: Make sure you get HHT (or at least shave arm hair) off the 1200 DMT before going on to film. That remarkably shortened my time honing.

The next thing that helped me out was balsa stropping. It brought me up to HHT2, still working on HHT3 and 4.

HHT2,3 & 4 ?????
i only know the one. Do tell.

 

[jdub7758]

I was chomping at the bit to go all in with the old fashioned straights too, but luckily I talked myself into starting with a shavette first to see if I even liked it. Turns out I do like using a straight, but I don't want the maintenance of one. I've since graduated from my Dovo Shavette to the Feather Artist Club Japanese style razor. Best razor I've had to date. Two WTG passes and pretty much completely smooth. I don't even need to do XTG or ATG.

Also, I can't imagine spending three hours honing one of those suckers. I've got better things to do with my time

 

[Nxspam]

I was chomping at the bit to go all in with the old fashioned straights too, but luckily I talked myself into starting with a shavette first to see if I even liked it. Turns out I do like using a straight, but I don't want the maintenance of one. I've since graduated from my Dovo Shavette to the Feather Artist Club Japanese style razor. Best razor I've had to date. Two WTG passes and pretty much completely smooth. I don't even need to do XTG or ATG.

Also, I can't imagine spending three hours honing one of those suckers. I've got better things to do with my time

Yeah, I like the look of the feathers. Very cool. But aren't the blades expensive?

 

[coolbus18]

Well best to ya' with the shavette.I use my Dovo less frequently now as DE shaving and I are enjoying each other without some of the penalties. with my arthritis the de is easier to hold, but my Dovo sure is purrrrrrty!

 

[Nxspam]

After shaving with the shavette a few times, I must say I'm mad at my self that I didn't try this sooner.

This has been something of a revelation for me. If you look at most of the newbie threads on straights, many of them are concerned with the blade's sharpness, smoothness and its general ability to cut hair. There aren't many straight razor shavers that are happy being dependent on a hone meister and want to learn themselves. But, as many have found out, honing is a skill that takes money, practice and patience. I only had the money

I had a great shave with the shavette again today. No cuts, 2 weepers, but an all over the face shave. Even the dreaded chin area too. I finished up the weeper hot spot with a DE, but apart from that, the shavette did a great job and my enthusiasm is returning and my technique is getting a lot better.

Newbies: do your selves a favor and pick up a $3 shavette and put a half DE blade in it. You can practice your straight shaving technique without the need for honing, stropping, sending it out, buying stones and all that stuff that gets in the way of learning to use the damn thing.

i know, I know, it's not exactly the same, but its very close. Your proper straight razor will probably be taller from bevel to spine and longer in the blade, so the technique will need some attention when you move from a shavette to a real straight. But its so much easier to learn when you don't have to worry about the blade being sharp enough, because it doesn't need honing or stropping before you can shave. And it's still very cheep. It just uses half a DE blade, so you can also choose yourself, should it be an ultra sharp feather or something milder.

I used to wait for the weekend to practice with my dovo, but the tugging got worse, along with the rash. The blade is no longer sharp enough. I have to get better at honing and stropping. In the meantime, I can still practice straight shaving even when my dovo is "resting".

i also have 2 gold dollar straights I can practice honing on. $7.50 including shipping!

The important thing for me is, I can practice straight shaving and not worry about the edge. That is a separate thing now.

 

[buca3152]

I used to use the shavette for 6 years. Using straights now. Best blade for combination of sharp and comfort was wilkinson sword. The worst for me were dorcos. As usual YMMV. Enjoy!

 

[dpmtherrien]

Nice to see that you're enjoying your shavette. As I said, you can't beat the sharpness of that disposable blade. If you're looking to move up to a better straight yet still have the convenience of that disposable blade, take a look at the Feather straights, any of them, or the Kai straights.

 

[Nxspam]

Nice to see that you're enjoying your shavette. As I said, you can't beat the sharpness of that disposable blade. If you're looking to move up to a better straight yet still have the convenience of that disposable blade, take a look at the Feather straights, any of them, or the Kai straights.

Thanks for the advice. I do like the look of the Jp. style feather. Kami-cool. But, the blades (especially feather's own) seem very expensive and that kinda rubs me the wrong way. The blades I've seen here cost about 3x more than the carts I ditched last year. So I'll pass on the feather.

 

[rockviper]

I've had a few shaves with my recently arrived Sanguine X-D20 and I have to say that I like it. Using it seems to have improved ysterday's shave with a kamisori as well.