New to the Board....

[lcaldwell3rd]

.... and almost ready to purchase my first straight razor. I have used a beauty store "disposable" straight razor for about a year now and at this point I have not relieved the blood pressure in any of the main arteries in my neck.

I have used a number of disposable razors over the years, as well as a couple different electric razors and have been largely unsatisfied. For the first time in my life last year, I went to the barber and got a shave. Closest shave I had ever had. And more importantly, I didnt break out in shave bumps after the hairs started growing back in.

Fast forward to now... gonna buy a real straight razor next month. I see Royal Shave . com has a beginners kit for about 200 bucks. Its a hollow Dovo and measures 5/8 I believe. Comes with a strop, shave soap, and a brush. I looked through the classifieds here and see alot of good deals, but I am thinking that getting this kit would not be a bad way to start and gives me everything I need.

SImple question that I think I know the answer to already.... Dovo makes good stuff... right? Been reading up on this for a bit and this is one of the names that has been mentioned as being a good razor.

Any input would be grand.

[pcdad]

Dovo makes very good facial shaving gear ;-)
If you want something more fancy instead of a new model though..try the "Classifieds" section..good guys here and regardless of what you buy we will all be here to help!

pcdad

[lcaldwell3rd]

.... and the beauty store blade came with replacement inserts.... not using the same actual blade for a year!

Figured I should clarify that.

[lcaldwell3rd]

Yeah I checked the classifieds.... good stuff there indeed.

Is the brush and strop absolutely necessary? The strop is right? To decrease any light pitting that may occur?

[AxelH]

Wikis and stickies and FAQs, oh my!

Ummm.. blade maintenance is a necessity, buddy. This ain't another kind of disposable your getting. Brushes aren't necessary, if you're going to be using a brushless (non-lathering) shave cream. I have the peppermint shave cream from "Avalon Organics" (they retardedly call it "cream shave") and it doesn't lather, it's not designed to. It's not a bad product at all, works quite well. It is a 3-in-1 product in that it moisturizes and leaves the skin in a supported, healing state. I honestly don't have to use any aftershave or balm or skin tonic when I use that product. It can't be applied with a brush, there's no benefit to that and cleaning the brush would be a hassle if I tried. But you're definitely going to need a strop. Plan on getting more than one strop, or a double-sided strop, one side/strop is going to have an abrasive paste. This is to renew/refresh the edge of the blade beyond stropping. You're going to need a good strop(s) and abrasive paste and good shaving cream or soap. If soap then you'll need a brush. I suggest going straight for a badger. I have a Tweezerman, a small, modest badger and it's great.

Any attempt to leave out a necessary product will be an act of self-sabotage. You'll pay... one way or another.

[paydepst]

Welcome to the board!

[lcaldwell3rd]

Yeah I only use disposables on my head now. I started using a shavette a year ago and have not gone back since. Ready to graduate up to the real thing.

The shave is way better than I ever knew. Had I known I would have switched twenty years ago. Woulda saved me some of these shaving scars I have now. Not bad ones at all, but I woulda been a straight razor master by now.

Might be a dumb question, but once I get a real razor, how often should it be honed? I am figuring that I will end up getting a few razors as if I have to send them away to get honed, I would be without it for a few days at least.

Seems like honing is not something that a novice should do....

[jeffegg2]

You will really love the real straight razors after using a shavette. Much smoother against the skin! Just make sure you get a shave ready one to start!

[onimaru55]

Might be a dumb question, but once I get a real razor, how often should it be honed? I am figuring that I will end up getting a few razors as if I have to send them away to get honed, I would be without it for a few days at least.

Seems like honing is not something that a novice should do....

Might be a dumb answer but, get it honed when stropping no longer keeps the edge ideal for you.
The time frame you're after will be variable depending on your shaving & stropping skills.

Honing is something a novice should practice on a razor that is not valuable or not in use but touching up with say 5 strokes on a barber hone should not be too challenging as long as you have a solid grounding in the principles of what you are doing..