Thread: Shavettes, the whole truth.

Originally Posted by RMarsh

Great points, the other side of the coin is that if you start with a straight you add in all the other variables first, versus starting with a shavette and getting the technique down but at the cost of blood... Tough call, I'm rethinking my earlier post...

I'm with you on your original post - they are different beasts - if you want to use a straight, get a straight, two different learning curves IMO, and I agree entirely that for me at least, I found the Parker shavette much less forgiving, got a lot of irritation from the blade, and if I was travelling, I'd take a DE.

Now that was a Parker shavette, from what I've read about the Feathers, they sound again, like a completely different beast....

Originally Posted by RMarsh

Great points, the other side of the coin is that if you start with a straight you add in all the other variables first, versus starting with a shavette and getting the technique down but at the cost of blood... Tough call, I'm rethinking my earlier post...

Also fair. I do love the shavette and its simplicity. Insert blade, whip up soap, shave. I also find it to seemingly be a better travel companion as it doesn't require all of the other hardware needed for a classic straight. I think with the now three blades I have in my arsenal I have a pretty good selection for the time being and something for just about any scenerio. Shavette for quick and close, vintage square point in 5/8 for detail work, and a TI from TAOS for a good sturdy and luxurious feel. All good things all around, and I can safely say I enjoy each of them for their individual virtues!

Originally Posted by Phrank

I'm with you on your original post - they are different beasts - if you want to use a straight, get a straight, two different learning curves IMO, and I agree entirely that for me at least, I found the Parker shavette much less forgiving, got a lot of irritation from the blade, and if I was travelling, I'd take a DE.

Now that was a Parker shavette, from what I've read about the Feathers, they sound again, like a completely different beast....

Different beasts indeed... I have some vintage Sheffields that aren't really suitable for a BBS work shave, but I love them just the same, and my Kai shavette with a feather blade gives the closest, smoothest shave I have ever had. Ever. That said, I know you're like me Phrank, I would never give up the straights...

For some the question may come down to are you more worries about losing some blood with with shavette while you learn or losing some money with straights with rehoning while you learn.

I've just started my shaving journey, I used the old cartridge until now. I'm 31 and have always loved the idea, my simple reason to start with a shavette was simply that I did not want to fork out so much for a straight and decide that I did not like it. Also in perfered to take this slowly and work on one thing at a time, hence shaving technique and then look at moving onto a straight. Maybe hint at it for my birthday.

Shavettes to look into at low cost:
CJB
Sam Seong
Both Korean built as the same exact Feather.
A Feather "Pro Guard Blade" is the easiest to begin with.
About $50 does it.

I shave with most anything including a carefully broke piece of Obsidian. (Don't!!)
The Shavettes are a like straight and the better ones can take the feather long blade and the Kai. even though some are hair styling razors.
A wide and thin blade head is a plus as for making a good angle to your face. some of the skinny ones are hard to control

~Richard

Never shaved with a shavette, but I recently mentored a fellow who used to shave with one, and his first reaction when he put the straight to his face was how much smoother and gentler the blade felt on his face. He mentioned how the shavette was not very forgiving compared to the straight.

To be very honnest i didn't have major difficulty using my shavette. The 2 first shaves i had just minor nicks and little irritation but after that every thing went just fine for me. I'm in my 15 shave whit my Bluebeards Revenge and so far so good i even do my 3 pass shave whit no cuts or irritation. For me anyway it's way better then the real straight shaving, i have hard time to learn the stropping technic so when i use my straight i got really bad irritation, i guest it's part of the learning curves. So right now i'm completely satysfy whit my shavette, my shaving technic must be good cause the results are there to proof it. Has for the straight shaving i will keep going on until a learn to stroppe properly. Gino

Awesome informational post. Thanks for the advice.

I always wet shaved since my first shave when I was 16.
It was the 1991 when I was organizing my first shave. In the time, I didn’t know anybody using brush and soap/cream to make lather, neither anybody shaving with straight razor or safety razor. My father was using an electrical shaver and most people used cans and cartridges to shave. However, I wanted to shave myself as people did in older times. I did my research as a teenager, no internet available then, and I found a shaving brush in a supermarket and a shaving cream which must have been “kolynos” if I am not wrong. With searching I managed to find something that looked like a straight razor to me, it was a shavette. It was cheap and I bought it. I was in heaven. In the time I had whispers only in my cheeks and I did manage to shave them with the shavette. I used it for some time and then I abandoned the shavette to buy a modern Gillette razor with cartridges. I shaved with them for many years.

After many years I wanted to try again. I bought another shavette and I started to shave. It was horrible. That instrument seemed absolutely inadequate for shaving. I insisted a lot and I improved my technique after a couple of months. At that time I was embarrassed to go to work in the mornings because everybody was seeing my slaughtered-from-the-shavette face.
But these days internet was an option. I started to search about shaving in the old times and I found an ocean of information between them many forums and e shops. I realized that real straight razors do still exist and I found a shop that was selling here in my city. I was very surprised to see hundreds of brushes and soaps and creams and aftershaves. I went to the shop and I bought my first real straight razor, a Dovo Bismark. The term “shave-ready” was unknown to me. I got back home and I shaved immediately with this. It was the most comfort and effective shave of my life until then!
From that moment I never turned back. No learning curve was needed, I knew the technique from the shavette. All I had to do was to explore this new-old world that had opened to me. Many-many straight razors available, many soaps and creams, many aftershave balsams. And new toys called hones and strops, kamisories and custom razors.

Because of this experience, I became one of them who consider shavettes tools inadequate for shaving. I am happy to see that other men enjoy the shavettes. For me, they didn’t work at all, and I tried hard.