Thread: My nicest shave yet.

Ok. So today I used my newly arrived Dovo Shavette for the first time. Previously I shaved three times with a cheap blade holder from Sally. Once with some cheap Walgreens blades, twice with Feather blades(which are awesome). So this was my fourth shave.

I made a mistake though. See the Shavette came with a single Dovo branded DE blade. I said, "Why not?" I did a HHT on it and it gripped my thumb, so it seemed sharp enough. But once I took it to the face, the truth came through. It kept pulling and caused to get a couple of small nicks on my neck. And overall it was a big difference to the smooth, cutting through butter feel of the Feather blades. It's left my skin a little irritated too because of the pulling. Overall less than decent experience, I threw it away as soon as I finished along with its other half.

However. This has been my closest shave yet. I did a WTG pass and then an XTG pass on the cheeks followed by a second WTG pass on my neck, chin and mustache. Thought of doing a third one with the Feather blades but my skin was a little irritated at this point so I decided against it. I was very methodical with my blade angle this time though, previously I found out I was using to low an angle, around 15 degrees. I tried to maintain a 30 degree and it definitely made a difference. I can now say that I got as close a shave as I ever got with my Mach 3, with which I used to do multiple passes in basically every direction. So I'm happy about that. Still not BBS, but close.

Next time I'm definitely using my Feather blades. And I may attempt an ATG pass on my neck. Maybe. Oh, and I got my best lather yet. Combining my COLC soap and lowly Derby cream I was able to get my best lather yet, felt awesome. Can't wait till I order my CF sampler and see how that feels. I want to find out a way to keep my lather warm though, my sink isn't big enough to leave the bowl on the water. Hmm...

Anyway, I'll stop now :P

cool beans

I started with a Dovo Shavette too and found it very helpful in refining my technique. I grew fond of the Shark Chrome blades.

"I did a HHT on it and it gripped my thumb."

I'm curious how your thumb got involved in the HHT.

Originally Posted by ace

I started with a Dovo Shavette too and found it very helpful in refining my technique. I grew fond of the Shark Chrome blades.

"I did a HHT on it and it gripped my thumb."

I'm curious how your thumb got involved in the HHT.

Oh, sorry for not elaborating. I did an HHT, then I felt the edge with my thumb(perpendicular movement across the edge) to see how well it would 'catch' my skin.

Just don't do a Hanging THUMB Test. That would be painful.

Originally Posted by SpicyJem

Just don't do a Hanging THUMB Test. That would be painful.

Haha indeed. It's been more than 16 hours and my face still feels nice and smooth. That has never happened before. Can't wait to shave again, I've never said that before

You may have invented SAS: Shaving Addiction Syndrome, but I doubt it. Good job!

Originally Posted by ace

You may have invented SAS: Shaving Addiction Syndrome, but I doubt it. Good job!

Haha I'm surprised it hasn't been used before.

I love my shavette. I use the cheap blades from Sally, some unbranded version of the afore mentioned Chrome blades. Stick to two passes with it and you won't have much irritation. I do one pass WTG on my face and it stays smooth for a bit over 24 hours. Even when the stubble starts to come back it's another day before I feel the need to shave again. In contrast, I shave daily, or at least itch if I don't with anything else I shave with.
For my neck I do one pass WTG, relather, then do one kind of XTG at a 45ish degree angle. After that I do some touch ups around my beard and Adam's apple and the spots that grow at odd angles.
The Shavette will easily slice through a week's worth of my beard growth when I'm in the mood to be a scrumbum. It's amazing.

One of these days I'm going to get my old Sheffield wedge to get me as smooth but my stropping technique still leaves a little something to be desired...

Just on my first pass I was starting to feel irritation with the Dovo blades. My neck are is very sensitive though, especially my right side where the hair grows in basically three different directions. That's one of the reasons I got into straight razor shaving, I always nicked myself on that are and it stayed red and irritated for a while afterwards. The XTG pass I did on the cheeks was about a 45 degree angle. As far as I understand it it doesn't have to be a fully horizontal movement in order to be effective. 45 degrees worked fine for me.