Thread: First Straight Shave - interesting indeed

I finally took the plunge and ordered a Dovo Tortoise 5/8 from SRD and a Tony Miller strop this week. Wooo!

I got the razor today and was drooling over it for a while. I took a hair from the wife's hairbrush and tried to cut it. Didn't do it as easy as I thought it would. Like a dummy, I tried to "slice" the hair by moving the razor across the hair. I had much more resistance than I thought I would and it took about a half inch before it cut the hair. I then realized that the edge was much more delicate than I anticipated. I was nervous that I messed up the hone it, but am hopeful I didnt?

Figure I would give this baby a go, so I put a hot towel on my face for a couple of minutes. Built a soap lather, applied, and whoa, what a shave experience! Definitely something that requires practice for me! Also, didn't strop the razor before hand for two reasons: 1) Read that from SRD I didn't need to, and 2) my Tony Miller strop didn't come in yet and I was waaaay to eager to try the Dovo out to wait.

My first step was to angle the mirror just right to see up close what I was doing. My counter is a bit deep, so I had to open the mirror cabinet door some to get it closer to my face. The next challenge was stretching the skin and getting my hand coordinated enough to not hit my eyeglasses screwing up the line of sight to the mirror. With the skin tight, I made my first swipe with the grain under my sideburn. It was a great feeling! BBS!

And thats when all hell broke loose.

I then tried out the other side under the sideburn. Went equally as good though I felt like an uncoordinated bafoon trying to hold the razor in a secure and comfortable way. The wife laughing at my quizzical looks trying to figure this out didn't help the situation. On to the neck, I felt the presence of the razor much more. I stopped and re-evaluated my razor angle, refreshed shaving cream application, and continued on. I managed to get the neck done, but it was a bit rough feeling with a bunch of missed spots. At that point I figured it might be a good idea to strop the razor, because of the rought feeling, so I stopped using the straight and finished off with my DE.

All in all, I had an absolute blast! I can't wait for the strop to come in so I can give this another go. I am extraordinarily grateful for this community as I have learned such an incredible amount from the folks of SRP so far.

very nice - enjoy!

Where is the movie!!!

Good luck on your shaves!

Welcome to the straight path Miloh,

Other than that my wife didn't laugh it sounds very familiar... sounds you did a great job!

Maarten

That is a really great razor you've got there.If you where drooling over the dovo, wait until you get your TM strop!
It only gets better from here!(And far far more expencive...)

Kristoffer

How did you concentrate with your wife there?! I still have to shut mine out. On the rare occasions she's there it takes all my concentration. Maybe i'm easily distracted?
I'm glad you enjoyed it. That's what it's all about!

Great razor. I have the same as my daily shaver. Your going to love your Tony miller. There's allot of videos on you tube about straight shaving you might check out to get some ideas on holding the razor. It took me about two months before I found angels & holding the razor right for me. Hang in there. Your going to love it.

Congrats on your first shave. I also learned all I know, well almost all, about straights. Its full of great people with great advice.

You may want to shave only your side burns and cheeks for a short while until you get used to holding the blade and the feel of the straight. I didn't but I also got a bunch of nicks. If you don't mind the nicks you'll get one heck of an adrenalin rush going for the works.

Originally Posted by KristofferBodvin

That is a really great razor you've got there.If you where drooling over the dovo, wait until you get your TM strop!
It only gets better from here!(And far far more expencive...)

Kristoffer

I finally received the TM strop yesterday. Took 2 whole days which seemed like an eternity! And you good sir, were right! Talk about impressive.

We had some family friends over so all our kids could play together. While the kids were occupied downstairs, I showed my buddy my new toys. He was already cursing me up and down for getting him into DE shaving. When he saw the straight and then the strop, he started cursing me again.

Congrats on taking a bold step into a brave new world. It only gets better.

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