Thread: Feather AC razor and blades in Europe

Originally Posted by OLD_SCHOOL

The barbers here use the guarded blades.

Do you have any idea how the guarded blades shave? It's very common to read posts in the various forums from people who were disappointed in a barber's shave and I would like to give a shave that is comparable to what I am able to give myself with a straight.

Originally Posted by CloseShave

Have you considered a DOVE Shavette? They are readily available and take short and long blades. I bought mine for travelling.I use standard Merkur blades in it. It gives an extremely close shave. Of course, a standard staight is a more pleasant experience but for special needs the shavette works well.

That's an interesting point. Since the blade is the working part of a disposable razor, does it make any difference at all who makes the handle? Does anyone know if the Shavette takes Feather blades? If the Shavette takes long blades, who makes them? I don't recall ever seeing Dovo disposable blades.

Originally Posted by English

Interestingly, most places in the UK were you can get a straight razor shave only use disposable blades.
I think its because of the risk of a used blade passing on infection. In hospitals, they now use disposable plastic equipment for operations because the autoclave does not kill all bacteria. (I think). The concern is of course for AIDS.

Whatever, I don't believe the barbers are allowed to use non disposable straight razors anymore.

My barber here in Italy told me that you could use an autoclave but that it's just too much hassle for the (small) number of shaves he does. My gut feeling is that, if one where to specialize in wet shaves, it might become practical to use a real straight razor like a Wapienica or other all-steel razor. So, I'm going to experiment with both.

I have some pro blades and they just cut me up and nicked me bad. The super pros for some reason are so much better. Maybe because the blade sticks out more it is easier to shave with.

These two links should answer your questions about Dovo Shavettes and blades.

DOVO Straight Razors
Safety Razors & Blades

Originally Posted by English

In hospitals, they now use disposable plastic equipment for operations because the autoclave does not kill all bacteria. (I think). The concern is of course for AIDS.

Oh, An autoclave will kill anything if used correctly.
But using an autoclave is also a pita compared to using disposables because

- autoclaving takes time to do properly
- autoclaves needs maintenance
- autoclaves need yearly validation and you need to have archiving procedures for the validation reports, just in case you need to prove during an audit that the autoclave works as expected.
- depending on the sector you are in, you need to store the run data for each time you used the autoclave, and track it to the equipment that was autoclaved.
- you need a lot of blades in order to always have a rotation going
- autoclaved blades need to be used within x hours in order to be still considered sterile. If they are stored longer than that period, they technically need to be autoclaved again.

And I am probably still forgetting some issues. Of course, for barbering the rules 'might' be more lax.
But considering that you can be hit with a lawsuit in case of infection, probably not by much if you want insurance against it, or if you need to comply with regulatory demands.

The alternative to autoclaving is using disposable equipment, which can be charged wholly to the customer, and which carries no overhead, other than tracking and recording lot numbers which is probably not necessary for barbering.

What about blood and such that can get onto the non-disposable parts?That is another thing to consider.

I know tha blade is not that far from the edge of my feather ac.

Originally Posted by zenshaver

What about blood and such that can get onto the non-disposable parts?That is another thing to consider.

If there was blood on the holder it would, obviously, have to be disinfected somehow. I was looking at the law in Italy and the autoclave is not the only option. You can also soak the razors in the chemical disinfectant that you would use for all the other equipment, combs, shears, brushes, etc.

I am just thinking either way you would have to autoclave(or soak) your razors.

Feather razors are made to withstand an autoclave. They mention this specifically in the manual.

I personally would advise you to use a normal straight, simply because a Feather is incredibly sharp, and can easily give someone a very nasty cut (I posted a nice bloody picture of this over at B&B some time ago). I used to use one, and it became too much of a risk, so I stopped. You need a lot of concentration. I now prefer straights anyway (though I'm still learning, they seem smoother).