A couple of things: First, your angle needs to change depending on where you are on your face. 30 degrees is a very aggressive angle. On sensitive skin (like on your neck) going against the grain the spine of my straight razor is almost resting on my skin-so maybe a 10 degree angle. Maybe 30 degrees on my cheeks with the grain. Second, there are very good "drugstore" brand saving soaps in America, e.g. Williams, VanDerHaugen, etc. That work just fine. Cheap foreign shave soaps include Arko, Cella etc. that work as well as soaps costing 3x as much. There must be something like that in Costa Rica. Strait razors might need to be "sharpened" every five years or more if you are careful in maintaining and not damaging the blade. You will need to strop it every shave and give it maybe a dozen laps on a touch up stone every few months with a few laps on the suede side of the strop. The straight razor is the cheapest way possible to shave. There are decent Chinese razors available which when properly honed shave great and will last a lifetime. If you are willing to go this route $100.00 - $200.00 can set you up for life.




Oh, and it will be a smoother shave than with your shavette.

thanks !!! I really appreciate all your input guys! This is a great welcome to a forum.

WOW !!! I didn't even know there were so many kinds of shavettes !!! I got a cheap one already https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GJWL5PK/?tag=thshde-20

What I'll be interested in the future is a mid-range straight razor, to try it out, and I was thinking it might be around $100 + accesories

I just got the Kai Kasho Captain Shavette (Kamisori style) from Amazon, with a leather case, for 80 bucks.

Unless you are a barber and have to change blades by law, I don't see the point of an expensive shavette. It seems to me that for the same $$or less you can get a perfectly acceptable SR and be set for life. Maybe somebody can enlighten me on this point? I ask this respectfully an not to denigrate anyone or their equipment choice.

I guess expensive is in the eye (& wallet) of the beholder. I’m no expert with these, but as with any razor, I am paying for construction, weight & ease of use. This one has a nice weight & balance. and it isn’t hard to put in or remove the blade.

You raise interesting points which I would like to add to. I agree that my SR does not and will not ever have an edge as sharp as a "fresh" Feather blade. I wonder if anything other than Obsidian is as sharp as a "fresh" Feather blade. I know this from experience because I use a Valet Auto Strop to do the back of my neck and clean up if I missed a spot, and a One Blade Core as my travel razor. Both take the Feather SE stainless blade (and the Feather carbon steel SE blade if I want to use the Auto Strop feature). Thus I have many years experience with Feather blades but here is the truth: I can not shave with a "fresh" Feather blade and not get a weeper somewhere. No problem after that. However, as with any disposable, the quality of the blade is always changing on each shave. Not an issue for a barber who has to change the blade for every customer by law. Now, if I am only using it to do the back of my neck no big deal. But, if I am using it as my regular shaver for every other day double or triple pass shaves the quality of the edge changes dramatically over 4-5 shaves. After the fifth shave it is pretty much unusable. Thus, I would constantly be changing my technique, both angle and pressure, and maybe even the number of passes. None of that happens with a SR if you maintain the edge. It shaves the same way every shave on each pass so your technique never has to change provided that you shave on a regular schedule. As a result, it is easy to get repeatable, comfortable shaves with a non-disposable razor.

I have some indirect evidence to support this. I am always reading about aftershave "sting" and "burn" in these forums but principally in the DE forums. I never hear comments like that in the SR forums. My AS almost never stings unless I nick myself and that is maybe a once a year thing when I try something stupid.

As for maintenance? Other than stropping before each shave about ten laps on a touch up stone every other month followed by a stopping on the suede side.

Anyway, that is what I have to add for whatever it is worth.

Let interject some facts into the old Machine blade sharpness vs SR sharpness

The Voerhaven paper actually measured the edges

The sharpest DE edge they found was at .31~microns vs the sharpest SR at .32~microns
that is pure measurements

What isn't measurable is Comfort, we know that stropping does something just like we know that the coatings on machine blades works also

We know that SR Honing and stropping are designed to create a CONVEX bevel this imparts strength and smoothness on the face
We know this has actually made companies like Feather to try and emulate that bevel by using Micro beveling on their blades..

These are things we know, what we don't know is what is going to work best for an individual on their face... Only the guy in the mirror knows that

I like the Feather AC and the CJB that @Keithmax sent me both work fast and are relatively smooth on my Hollywood Face
I also know how to hone and strop pretty darn good so my SR's are my goto shavers

…or the legs of lady in the shower.

Believe me, we always appreciate and respect having the legs of a lady with us in the shower.

I like having mine when I’m there too. Makes it a lot easier to stand up.

Here I am afraid we must agree to disagree.

Not the same thing-trust me.