DOVOStraight Razor, Buffalo Horn, 6/8

Many years ago I got into shaving with straight razors. Back then I bought a few vintages and some gold dollars that I could practice honing myself. No matter how I honed them, which would pass the hanging hair test and tree topping arm hair test, when I shaved with them it felt like it was always pulling and a lot of resistance which lead me to pushing down too hard and felt like I was fighting it and just didn't feel right. My first conclusion was I'm a crap honemeister. So then I bought a brand new Dovo special and had it honed to shave ready and stropped by a well known accomplished honemeister. I was excited when I received the razor and didn't do anything to the edge. Didn't strop or anything because I wanted to know what a baseline shave ready razor honed by a pro felt like and then when I went to shave... Same thing, same pulling and resistance. I still kept up shaving with straights thinking I had bad form. But no matter what I did or how much practice, all kinds of different pre-shave routines it just didn't feel good using a straight so I figured it just wasn't for me because of my beard. I have a super dense thick beard that are like wires and took me a lot of experimenting just to get comfortable shaves with a Double edge blade and I have to use feathers, all the other DE blades are the same tugging feeling. So I gave up and had a beard for years. Browsing on here I saw this razor and it was gorgeous. I almost didn't buy it because I know my history with straights but thought even if it don't work for me it'll look great as a show piece. I read that these are ground extra hollow by Dovos top grinders and being 6/8 it might work a little better for me so I took the plunge. I received it, opened it to admire its beauty, didn't strop or prepare it in any way. I prepared myself for disappointment and then... It cut through my beard like butter. Felt like I was using a shavette. I had the best, smoothest shave with a straight I ever had and gave me hope for straights! Used it about 5 times now and every shave has been smooth. It must be the extra hollow grind because the edge is so thin it's hard to see the bevel with bare eyes. And this razor is super light. At first I thought it's lightness was a con but after using it grew on me and now consider it a pro. I also bought the ebony version which shaves just as good. Don't be fooled by the picture for this razor thinking you'll get a blonde horn color. It's horn, a natural product, so It can be many colors. It could be pitch black. Although it seems the odds of getting lighter colors is more than the darker ones.

The razor looks absolutely beautiful as it should for the price but the blade wasn’t particularly sharp. I could just about pop hairs but not well, pretty unacceptable that they can’t have them professionally honed before they leave the factory.

The razor wasn’t shave rdy but still very sharp.looked great the scales where top notch

This is a beautiful razor. Unfortunately, even though I have been carefully cleaning and drying after each use, the razor developed rust spots in two places. Surprisingly, one of the places was the 24k golden handle.

My fiance loves this razor! It is the best of the best. Was extremely satisfied with the color of the handle, it was exactly what was shown in the picture. The major reason we chose the 6/8 because it's the only one with the white horn handle. It's very beautifully made and was extremely sharp. He shaved with it right away and in his words, "it effortlessly shaved off all his facial hair." I gave this 4 stars only because in the last picture shown, you can see on the gold there is a knick it in and you can feel it if you rub your finger over it. It also had a scratch on it as well, very small, but still quite disappointing when you spend almost $400.00 it should be shiney and new with no knicks or scratches. I would return it for one with no blemishes, but my man is sentimental and wants to keep it, as it was his birthday gift. All in all without the knick it's a perfect razor.