As a nearly 2-year convert to the art of the wet-shave, I have come to immensely enjoy the once-distasteful task of keeping my face (and top of my balding head...) free of stubble. In this all-about-me indulgence that I now enjoy every day or two, part of the enjoyment is the experimentation with razors, blades, products, and techniques to try to reach the "Holy Grail" shaving experience... In this, I have not only done a lot of experimentation, but also a fair measure of research in this and other forums, and weighed out the findings and opinions of other like-minded shavers, separating the wheat from the chaff. The conclusion that I have come to is this--opinions, rather much like belly buttons; everyone seems to have one; and like belly buttons, some "innies", some "outies" and some on the "tweenies"--no two seem to be alike. The more impassioned a person is on a topic, the more strong, and diverse, the opinions are, and few seem to walk in lock-step in their views, especially in this wonderful topic of the rites of face-scraping... Those familiar with my monicker in this forum know that I have talked a good story about wanting to "go straight"--I would confess that the idea is appealing for many reasons; the actual move is a bit intimidating... I found myself in San Francisco last week, and was able to make "The Art of Shaving" store in the Westfield Mall one of my stops. I popped for a new mid-grade badger brush, and just before leaving, I saw a Dovo Shavette in the display case. I have read about them on the forums; back to the opinion thing--the reviews and opinions seem to cover a spectrum of thought, from love to loathing, and all points in between, one site even referring to it as the "training wheels" for straight shaving... Okay, it looked nice, it felt good in my hand, was light-weight, and the price reasonable, only slightly higher than I have seen mail-order. Bang--I pulled the trigger, and brought it home... I split a new Feather in its wrapper, and loaded the razor with it, in its "red" liner, and did my usual after-shower face-prep, with a hot-towel soak and a glycerine-based pre-shave product. I lathered up with my new brush, using C. O. Bigelow green (Proraso), creating a wetter-than-usual lather; a deep breath, let it out slow, let's DO this... I'll forego the stroke-for-stroke replay on the shave; suffice to say that I used a lot of time, caution, concentration, and attention to technique, and kind of became "one-with-the-razor" in this endeavor. A three-pass WTG/XTG/ATG shave was accomplished; the ATG gave me some trepidation, and one small weeper, but all told, certainly a DFS. A repeat performance a couple of days later, one small nick when a distraction broke my concentration, but I have to say that, it was probably the closest shave I have ever experienced. And on both shaves, NO burn or irritation afterwards. If this what str8 shaving is about, with a lower-end tool of the craft, I can't wait to get the "real deal" in a higher quality/performance razor! A few observations... The shavette gave me a lot of feedback, from an audible and tactile perspective, and immediately let me know if I was heading into a "danger zone" with my technique. I can now see where a razor's weight, or "heft" would smooth out the shave. I was able to do a much better job of "spot-shaving" some of my usual trouble spots, like the angle of the jaw, and the areas beneath the ear, and alongside the Adam's Apple. I like the replaceable blade concept--I like to keep my home knives in very keen condition, but I'm not sure I want to go through all the ceremony of maintaining a traditional straight. On that note, as I see often here, "YMMV"--if I can get twice the mileage from a split blade, I don't mind changing more often to get that new-like sharpness from each shave, rather than knowing that a blade has had X-number of shaves on it already, do I really want to change it yet... Damn, this thing's fun! I know that this will not be my go-to razor, but it is certainly a good tool with which to learn this craft of straight shaving. It's all you, cowboy, this razor will not help you or forgive you if you err in your technique, and you will pay with sangre--good incentive to do it right... I will give this razor a definite two-thumbs up, for what it is--a well-built and affordable little gem that will train me well for my next outlay of precious $Green$, likely to be a Feather Artist of some flavor; and a great "keeper" as a spare or traveler. I'm sold...
Good work on getting into the magical world of disposable blade straight razors! I have used DEs and straight razors in addition to disposable blade straight razors (DBSRs) and I have to say that DBSRs are, by far, my favorite shaving tools. Although they are similar to straights, they are their own creatures with their own sets of advantages and drawbacks. Sadly, the information and advocates of these razors are few and far between, but with more folks like you I am confident that we can spread the goodness and indoctrinate others into the fold. Enjoy the Dovo, and I look forward to hearing more about your progress and experiences with your DBSR. If you're interested in trying out some other half DE blade DBSRs, here are some links: Parker: (Use the coupon code: shavingstuff to get a 5% discount) http://www.razorsdirect.com/straightrazors.html Sanguine: http://stores.ebay.com/SANGUINE-SCI...3&_sticky=1&_trksid=p4634.c0.m14&_sop=2&_sc=1
I don't think of disposible straights as "Straights with training wheels"....Straights are much easier to get an irritation free shave from..as long as the edge is sharp. Congratulations on taking the leap...It took me a while, and after I did, it took me maybe 6 weeks to where I was relaxed and totally enjoying the whole 'Shavette' experience... Then I realized I got a closer shave than with any of my other razors and I was kind of a drag...I had no choice but to use the Shavette...Then Hoosier Trooper sent me some SE razors...The Gem or Ever Ready 1912's are about as close to a Straight with training wheels as I can think of...YMMV... You get the singing sound of a "hollow-ground" and the "Feed-back" of the shavette, but it handles with the gentile manners of an injector...If you dig the straight but are looking for a safety razor that can still give you that type of experience you owe it to yourself to try one...
