Thread: First shavette shave

Well I finally did it. I finally purchased a shavette and gave myself a shave with it last night. I have been shaving with a DE safety razor for about 3.5 years and with a straight razor off and on for about a year and wanted to try a shavette just to see how it compares to a straight. I have to say that I enjoyed it quite a lot. I was able to do 3 passes on my cheeks and two on my neck before I decide it was good enough. My cheeks came out BBS and almost no irritation, but my neck, which is always tricky with a straighr razor came out good for two passes just not BBS without the third pass. I did get some irritation on my neck, but no worse than when using my straight sometimes.

It was a great experience overall. I really enjoyed it. I had no cuts or nicks of any kind just some redness on my neck, which I almost always get. I got a Parker SRB and used the Shark blade that came with it. I did rub the corners on the blade on a small hone to reduce the chance of nicking myself with them and also drug the blade gently through a piece of cork to see if it would help make a smooth shave. It seemed to work well enough. I'm very satisfied with my first shave with my new Parker shavette. Also it confirmed what I have been suspicious of for a while now. My stropping and honing skills are sub par. I have had some good shaves with my straights when I first got them, but after several uses I have noticed my shaves not as comfortable no matter what angle I use. I knew my stropping was probably the cause. After using a shavette now, I know how smooth my straight should feel when shaving with it. I will have to keep working on my honing and stropping skills. In the mean time I will keep using the shavette for building my muscle memory and hand skills.

You should either get a Kai Captain Standard DX folding shavette also FYI see link https://www.badgerandblade.com/forum...t-club.416811/

Originally Posted by SpeedyPC

You should either get a Kai Captain Standard DX folding shavette also FYI see link https://www.badgerandblade.com/forum...t-club.416811/

Thanks, Speedy. I will look into the Kai and Feather shavettes. They are very nice looking and from what I have read, give a great shave. I also like the Irving Barber Company All Chrome Razor shavette. It takes the longer blades as well as the standard de blades snaped in half. I will probably try and get one of the three in the near future. I really am enjoying the shavette so far. My second shave was pretty good as well. It's nice not worrying about stropping and honing, just going for it.

I use straights and shavette now. Feather Artist Club SS. Both are great but I cut myself a lot more with the shavette so IMHO good for getting a good technique.

So far I'm 5 shaves in with my Parker SRB shavette. The second shave I got a small nick and some irritation on my neck, I think from bad angle. The third went better than the second with also one small nick. The fourth was much better, I had no nicks and no irritation on my neck with two passes. I did my 5th shave with the Parker shavette last night and it was great. Put a new Wilkinson's Sword de half blade in and got a BBS on my cheeks and DFS on my neck with three passes this time. No irritation at all. It was great.

Have a new Irving Barber Company Shavette in the mail, should be at the house when I get home. If so I will try it out tonight. I'm pretty excited to try it. Hope it looks as nice in person as it does in the videos and pictures.

Originally Posted by ninjack

Have a new Irving Barber Company Shavette in the mail, should be at the house when I get home. If so I will try it out tonight. I'm pretty excited to try it. Hope it looks as nice in person as it does in the videos and pictures.

I had never tried a shavette before, so I picked up an Irving Barber Company shavette about a year ago. They look really cool, but I regret to report that I cut myself so much on the first few attempts that I never picked it up again. I tried both half-blades and Feather or Kai shavette blades, too. I decided to stick with my collection of SR's and my Muhle R41 instead. It was almost "too sharp", if there is such a thing. Even my straights didn't ever cut me that much. YMMV, of course. Be careful!

I know what you mean, they are very easy to nick or cut yourself with. I have to go very slow and deliberate when using a shavette to keep from slicing myself. My IBC nickle handle shavette came in the mail yesterday and was waiting in the mailbox for me when I got home. Got to use it last night and have to say I love it. It is very well made and looks even better in person than in pictures. I like the weight of it also, it's heavier than the Parker I have been using. Had a great shave with it. No bleeding, but almost got myself under my chin because of carelessness. I'm already looking forward to tonights shave. Here are a couple of pictures I took of it last night.

The IBC is great, if you use half a DE. Did you try a long blade, like a Feather? I have bladeholder issues with mine. You can read my post in this forum. Maybe they've taken care of that in the meantime and made the pegs of the blade holder longer.

Originally Posted by OldSalt

The IBC is great, if you use half a DE. Did you try a long blade, like a Feather? I have bladeholder issues with mine. You can read my post in this forum. Maybe they've taken care of that in the meantime and made the pegs of the blade holder longer.

I tried both, but to no avail. I just couldn't get the hang of it.

Had my first full shavette shave today, and I'm pretty happy. I followed the advice in the Library to do sections at a time before you put it all together and it worked well. No blood and no redness. Not BBS everywhere, but close enough for now. Work in progress...