Last night I finally decided to take the plunge and try a Dovo Shavette that had been sitting on my counter for a few weeks. I had gotten it in a trade to try and learn the basics of straight razor shaving before I make the financial plunge into a real straight. Loaded it up with a Astra Super platinum snapped in half, whipped up some Gada shaving cream and applied some Art of Shaving preshave oil. I did 2 passes both WTG I only knicked myself once near the bottom of my neck way on the right side. It was very small and nothing special. I get the same type of nick with 3 day old feathers in my Tech. Didnt really have any problems with any areas and the shave was surprisingly smooth for a first time with a shavette. A couple of times I felt the blade start skipping which I guess was from an extreme blade angle.. but over all very pleasant experience.
There is a new shop in downtown Washignton, DC that sells just shaving products and has three old time barber shop chairs where they do shaves and haircuts. Can't seem to remember the name of the store, but I ventured into the shop last week and they told me that they would teach me the art of the straight shave as soon as their barber reported for duty. They will probably be steamed to learn that the tools were not purchased at their store. One was given to me by a kind shave den member and the other sold to me by the Knife Center of College Park, Md.
I use to shave with a shavette a good bit,,, before I started using a SE that is..... VIVA LA REVOLUTION.
humm... I wonder why that is? The razor actually felt natural in my hand even though I had never used one before.
Well today I nicked myself pretty good... on the lip when I was trying to shave under the nose before Church. It hurt.. and would not stop bleeding for a long time. I have a bloody scab on my lip and I have an interview for a management position with JB Hunt tomorrow morning. ARGHHH!!!!!!
3rd time with Dovo Shavette this morning. Astra Superior Blade (new) Irish Moos Shaving Cream AOS Lemon Preshave Oil 2 passes WTG and did not have a nick or any irritation. Followed it up with some TSD Aftershave Milk in Iced Lime and went on my day... I was real careful under the nose as to not nick my lip again. I also had a little trouble under the bottom lip where I have some real thick patch of hair. the blade kept skipping and I was really scared I was going to take off some skin but it never happened. I also had a little trouble with angles right around my adams apple. I have a very pronounced adams apple and it makes it hard to get all the hairs around it.
humm didnt think of trying that.. wheres the best place to get the full length blades and the holder?
Mine came from classicshaving. I still have my shavette but have not used it in forever. always thought the full length blades felt better.
Did you use the Dovo blades or another brand? To confess I do not know of the long DE blades. I just saw on classicshaving the Dovo ones...
It is possible to load a Feather AC blade into the Dovo. I think I used the green (FFrom) holder. It is a bit tricky since the blade rest nibs aren't in exactly the right place. That was before I got a Feather AC razor, which works much better.
I had been told that it could not be done. Dunno never tried it as the Dovo long blades did a great job for me.
What's up, DJ! Glad you're making use of that Shavette finally Try skipping the oil and see if you get better results. You may find the open blade to glide more smoothly across your whiskers; oil, in my estimation, obstructs when it comes to straight-shaving more so than it does elsewhere. Secondly +1 on getting the black holder - I used to own one with it, traded it away. Long blades will give you a truer str8 shave experience, but you'll absolutely have to be more careful. I'd stick to the red sleeve coupled with snapped-in-half DEs till you're more comfortable w/ the razor...
I received the package in the mail along with my TABAC! I actually got 2 10 packs of the Dovo blades but I only ordered 1!!! Awesome!! Well I have shaved 2 times with them and both times have cut myself. First cut was pretty bad on my neck. Took about 30 minutes to stop bleeding and left a big bloody scab on my neck. Second cut on the second shave was very tiny below my lip on my chin and stopped right after I used cold water and a stypic pen. These blades are definitely less forgiving than DE blades snapped in half! I still am having trouble getting the hairs on my neck around my adams apple. I starting using a Tech with a feather blade to clean up my neck. Still have yet to use the Tabac, I will be trying it for the first time tomorrow morning. First impressions smell wise was spicy, some floral, and soapy smell... I do like the bowl it came in!
