Thread: Shavette

I have been using one often - if I am doing the morning shave. When I have time on my side I usually use my Dunnes or Torrey, which were my first two straights.

...with the green insert and long blades!

yeah i use the shavette, black holder with derby. i love it!!! i get a very close shave and its great when you really dont have time for maintaining a traditional straight razor, you travel a lot or you are just learning. for me this is only my frist year shaving with straight razors and im just about to get my first traditional straight razor. im glad i went with the shavette my first year so i could focus more on lathering and shaving techniques and now that im confident and never nick myself i feel like im ready to start learning how to strop. but i still have much love for my shavette!!

oh, also the shavette came with another holder that holds a short blade about half the size. i found it harder to shave with and got the black holder instead.

I have been a shavette user for around 6 years and then my shavette's handle/scale broke so I decided to give the straight razor a try. First, I heard from the guys that the shavette feels sharper than the straight razor but it's not. I got my razor a couple days ago and had a couple of shaves so far and I can tell you the following.

The guys were right, a shavette feels sharper than a straight but it is not because you need more pressure with a shavette. You think you need to keep pushing with the straight razor which is what you get used to with a shavette and it is hard at first to let it slide cause you're senses mislead you. You feel that it won't cut unless you push and you wrong. The second thing I noticed so far is that the angle on a shavette is more forgiving, I needed to learn to slope my blade at an almost 1 to 1.5 spines which I wasn't used to. Straight razor on the other hand needs more care, it requires a bit of time to keep it in shape.

Differences of the shave, I'm not an expert with the straight or the shavette either and I don't claim to be BUT the straight razor feels better. My skin feels like it is ready to be shaved right after a shave, I didn't used to have this with a shavette. I've tried ATG with the shavette and let's say it wasn't pretty in every way. I tried the ATG with the straight razor just as an experiment and I can say it feels good.

This is only my experience with both so far and it is not claimed to be the truth or an expert advice, I just hope it helps someone.

Originally Posted by Armageddon

I have been a shavette user for around 6 years and then my shavette's handle/scale broke so I decided to give the straight razor a try. First, I heard from the guys that the shavette feels sharper than the straight razor but it's not. I got my razor a couple days ago and had a couple of shaves so far and I can tell you the following.

The guys were right, a shavette feels sharper than a straight but it is not because you need more pressure with a shavette. You think you need to keep pushing with the straight razor which is what you get used to with a shavette and it is hard at first to let it slide cause you're senses mislead you. You feel that it won't cut unless you push and you wrong. The second thing I noticed so far is that the angle on a shavette is more forgiving, I needed to learn to slope my blade at an almost 1 to 1.5 spines which I wasn't used to. Straight razor on the other hand needs more care, it requires a bit of time to keep it in shape.

Differences of the shave, I'm not an expert with the straight or the shavette either and I don't claim to be BUT the straight razor feels better. My skin feels like it is ready to be shaved right after a shave, I didn't used to have this with a shavette. I've tried ATG with the shavette and let's say it wasn't pretty in every way. I tried the ATG with the straight razor just as an experiment and I can say it feels good.

This is only my experience with both so far and it is not claimed to be the truth or an expert advice, I just hope it helps someone.

I had more trouble learning the shavette than a straight razor until I got a Parker shavette earlier this year. Now I can do either one with equal facility. I agree with you when you say shaving with a straight feels better.

When I started two years ago, straight shaving was discouraged by a lot of people because the blade is less forgiving but given the money involved purchasing a strop and honing equipment, I would recommend starting off with a shavette for economic reasons. Make sure you have a passion for straight shaving before investing in the accessories required to maintain a true straight.