Thread: Here's my introduction and plan.....................

My name is Evan and I've been wet shaving all my life. I started shaving in the 60's with a DE, and recently (July) was bitten by the return to DE's and collecting. I've jumped in with both feet and have a nice sized collection of DE razors. The soaps, creams, brushes have all come along with it as well.
While spending countless hours on B&B, eBay, and on all the vendor sites, straights have been calling me. I find them elegant and beautiful. I have a suspicion that all this is sounding very familiar to you.
I would like to give straights a try. I have been reading since 8AM this morning and joined this forum today. What I am thinking of doing is this. Order a new middle to low line Dovo from classicshaving .com and have them hone it for me. Try the razor to see if I like it and master it. If it works out, then I can move forward with the upkeep associated with this hobby. Strops, hones, etc. Does this sound like the proper way to start? If not please point me in the right direction. Currently I can achieve a BBS with any DE. I'm even confused about the quality of the shaves I'd be getting. Would they be that much closer than say a Merkur slant/feather combo?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.......
Thanks in advance,
Evan.

Welcome aboard!
Make sure you get a strop, at least, when you order your Dovo as you will be using it every time you shave!

Welcome aboard the straight train, may you have a smooth long ride!!!!
+1 on the strop that ya gotta have ASAP.... Most here would reccomend Tony Miller's strops.....
I had never used a DE but I can tell ya even with my sensitive skin I can shave every day with no irritation, which is one of the reasons I came back to straights again.... As to BBS ??? yes you can get there, but I believe that the learning curve is slightly steeper, then other shaving systems, when you start with a straight razor.....

welcome aboard. sounds like a good plan. I hear the tortoise dovo special is pretty nice, and yes get a strop as well - I'd probably get Tony Miller's beginner/travel.
And yes to the above - don't try for BBS, accept that it'll take you weeks to get your basic technique down, but it gets better all the time. You'll get there eventually. Certainly straights are much more fun than cartridge or DE and very addictive. Take it slowly and enjoy the trip.

Looking at the classicshaving.com site, can anyone suggest the size that I should start with. Are they referring to the blade width? In addition, some razors are offered in stainless steel. Wouldn't this cut back on maintenance? Thanks again and can you direct me to Tony's for the strop? Thanks again for all the help.
Evan

I would go with a 5/8s or 6/8s as my first razor and if you can find a 1/4 hollow as opposed to a full hollow I think that would be the way to go! Stainless is an option I wouldn't choose as a beginner, especially if you are going to learn to hone!

As far as shave quality goes I'm only just now starting to get shaves which equal (and occasionally exceed) the quality of shave I can get from a DE. I've been using straights for around three months and for most of that time I've had inferior shaves. Judging by other members comments I seem to have made slower than average progress but nevertheless I think (unless you're very exceptional) there will be a significant learning period you just have to put up with and work through.

Originally Posted by trewornan

As far as shave quality goes I'm only just now starting to get shaves which equal (and occasionally exceed) the quality of shave I can get from a DE. I've been using straights for around three months and for most of that time I've had inferior shaves. Judging by other members comments I seem to have made slower than average progress but nevertheless I think (unless you're very exceptional) there will be a significant learning period you just have to put up with and work through.

My learning curve just to get a decent shave was something close to a year, so you are doing good!

Hello and welcome to SRP.

honestly, i am not sure that i would buy a new dovo. you can get a great str8 on the BST threads for much, much less money. that way if you don't like it and go back to the DE, you can probably resell it for what you bought it for. just my thoughts.

btw, welcome to SRP!!!

vgod