Thread: Shavette

I am interested in acquiring my first shavette. What model should I buy?

Feather Artist Club Shavette.
The blades are nice and come in a few options. Stay away from the low cost half DE blade ones you see from China as they don't hold the blades solid enough IMO.

I'm curious. Why a shavette.?! I'm assuming you already shave with a straight.

Originally Posted by outback

I'm curious. Why a shavette.?! I'm assuming you already shave with a straight.

I only shave with a safety razor.

Originally Posted by Alex7

I only shave with a safety razor.

Hmm. A straight is typically more forgiving than a shavette, from my understanding.

Have u thought about using a straight.?
Don't want to mess with maintenance that goes with them.

Originally Posted by Alex7

I am interested in acquiring my first shavette. What model should I buy?

A Feather AC is a high quality option. I don't like it because of the premium price on blades that do not last any longer than a half DE blade. Nevertheless I must admit it is a very effective shaving system and comes very close to duplicating the shave of a sharp straight razor.

So, obviously my personal preference, FWIW, is for the half DE type shavette. I buy Feather Hi-Stainless blades by the 100, online, and they cost chimp change ordered like that if you shop around. Extremely sharp blades, though they do not stay that sharp for more than a handful of shaves. Still, I get a good 5 to 7 shaves from a half blade. They actually last longer for me in a shavette than in a DE razor.

The first shavettes I used successfully were the slide-in type like they sell at Sally's, and they are only so-so at holding the blade securely, and are very fussy, easy to get the blade in not exactly right. I found the swing-back style to be much easier to change blades and much more secure. One type has teardrop shaped cutouts and is sold by a lot of sellers but they probably all come from the same factory. MUCH better than the slide-in style. But I was intrigued when I first saw knockoffs of the Feather AC style and I tried a couple of different brands. Some are made to use the Kai or Feather AC style long blades, the premium ones that I am too cheap to buy. Most makers or sellers also have one that uses half DE blades. The potential with this type of closure to have a high failure rate is very real, but I have bought a few over the years and no mishap yet. Read that as you will. My current travel razor is this one. If you get it, just toss the blades. They are pretty much garbage. If you decide you like it or if you also use a DE razor, I highly recommend shopping on fleabay for a 100 lot of Feather Hi-Stainless. Excellent blade in this razor or most DE razors though I give them a fail in the Merkur razors. It just isn't a winning combination and I use Gillette 7 Oclock green or Israeli Personnas in a Merkur, if I have one, which I no longer do. Anyway in most other razors particularly the various adjustable Gillette models, they are IMHO as good as it gets, as long as you can get them cheap. Anyway, for my current expendable shavette, here is the current suspect:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08J9MVBWL

Proceed with caution on your first shave in case your shavette is a lemon. If you go top shelf with a Feather AC, SS or DX, you are unlikely to get a bad one. Their QC will be pretty good. The thing is, you are stuck buying the premium style shavette blades. Maybe you don't mind, and that would make a Feather or maybe Kai Captain your best bet. Anyway a shavette can definitely draw blood if you are not very careful. As a shavette newbie, you should have your styptic pencil on high alert status. Once you get the hang of it and get your concentration focused, you can get a pretty good shave out of any decent shavette if you are also careful in loading the blade. Stretch your skin quite tightly and keep the shave angle very low, almost dragging the spine on your skin, for best results. Loose flappy skin invites cuts.

I have been shaving with a shavette almost exclusively since 2017. And while I do not have a lot of experience with differing types of shavettes, I find that the Parkers do a great job. 99% of the time I use either my Parker SRX or Parker SRRW. Since you use a safety now, if you want something more like a straight, you may want to try a feather as suggested above. I have never tried the Feathers - if I'm going to spend that type of money, I'm going to get a straight. Plus with the Parkers you can use any DE blade you want and aren't stuck with a limited selection.

I got my first straight a couple of years ago and the two things that surprised me the most when I used it was the weight and the length. From what I've read about the Feathers, they are similar to a straight in those regards. That being said, the SRRW is very light (website says 1.6 oz) and can give you an experience unlike what you can get with a straight - not necessarily better or worse, just different.

Let us know what you go with and what you think of it.

Originally Posted by CrescentCityRazors

The first shavettes I used successfully were the slide-in type like they sell at Sally's, and they are only so-so at holding the blade securely, and are very fussy, easy to get the blade in not exactly right.

Not if you get a vintage Weck as they were surgical prep razors. If you can find the Weck prep blades too those are the shite. Fromm also makes a good prep type razor although they call it a hair shaper. The personna surgical blades are also nearly as good as the Weck blades. I have shaved with both and they are much more like a very narrow straight than those flip open kind. Also, because the "spine" is thick and rounded like a straight you can actually strop them. It's a trick but I have done it.