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Best Shavette

I was thinking about taking to plunge and try to learn to use a straight razor and I thought a shavette would be the best way to go without dropping a over a hundred bucks on a razor and strop and a hone. What would you consider the best shavette under 60 dollars?
 
Parker makes some good ones. They use half a DE blade. I got one for my brother from shavenation.com last year. If you want something that is closer to te size of a real straight, I'd say the Dovo shavette. It has inserts that take longer blades.


Honesty, I'd skip the shavette and go to http://whippeddog.com/
Larry has some awesome deals. His site is dedicated to beginner straight users. He makes the poor mans strip kit so you don't have to spend lots of money on gear. He's not in it to make money. I wish I had checked out his site before I wasted money on a shavette.
 
Yeah, I think you can get a whole straight razor kit from whippeddog for about 50 bucks which falls under your limit.
 

Kentos

B&B's Dr. Doolittle.
Staff member
Whatever you end up getting, the longer you work at it the better the shaves will be. I like my Parker, never tried a Dovo. The Parker is around 20.00.
 
Best is subjective. Most guys around here will agree that both Parker and Dovo make good shavettes. I myself started with a Parker and I thought it was a good start.
 
First understand, despite what some may tell you, that there is nothing at all wrong with a shavette style straight.

I've found the Parker straights to be the best of them, and the price is for sure right. You can get a Parker, IMHO the SRW is the best of the Parker's, with a good supply of Shark blades for something in the neighborhood of 20 bucks. The blade holder on the Parker is good solid stainless steel. The Dovo shavette is not worth the time, nor the big bucks it costs. The holder is very poor designed plastic.

Of course the best of this style straight is either the Feather or the Kai, but now your up into the big bucks straights.
 
I have a Feather Artist Club. Really nice, but as most will agree, way different from a real straight. The blades are so bloody sharp.
 
I use a non-folding Shavette type from Japan. For people interested in eventually using a kamisori, this could be a way to get used to the shave. The photo shows a split DE blade but I use the KAI Titan Mild in it. It's a bit crude but it has worked for me.


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I have a Feather Artist Club. Really nice, but as most will agree, way different from a real straight. The blades are so bloody sharp.

Try the KAI Captain Titan Mild.
 
I have used both a Parker and a Monsieur Charles shavette which uses an injector type blade. They are both around the same price. I have found the MC superior, and I use it when travelling but, as stated above, they are so sharp that they aren't very forgiving and it's much easier to cut yourself that with a regular straight. I vote for a used razor from Whipped Dog.
 
I started with a Dovo Shavette and used it for probably 5-7 shaves before i went and got a proper straight! i didn't mind the shavette but it just didn't feel proper to me with out the strop and stuff. that being said i probably should have gone with the whipped dog set but i do use the shavette for travel since it requires less packing and care when on the road! i als loaned the shavette to a buddy of mine who was wanting to make the plunge and now he just got a proper straight after about a month and a half of using the dovo. i will also agree it is MUCH easier to cut yourself with the shavette........i have had 1 or 2 nicks from the straights and really did a number on my face with the shavette
 
I had a Parker, a Sanguine and two Feather AC's. The Feathers were hands down the best of the bunch. They are, however, a little pricier than the rest too. If you DE shave you might as well pick up a Parker that way you can utilize the blades you already have.


@Telly - What does one of those run and are they made to accept feather/kai blades?
 
I bought a Dovo Shavette two weeks ago and have used it a half dozen times. I’m better at it now. The changing of the blade is fiddly but I like the handle. Am looking forward to using only a straight but wanted to see first if this is even for me before spending even more money. Good news is it is for me so here we go!
 
I've tried a sanguine shavette, which took me a week to get smooth, cut-free shaves. Then changed to Parker SR1, which took about the same, and is noticeably heavier than the sanguine, then moved on to the non-folding Artist Club SS. When you get used to them, they can all give fantastic shaves, but the Feather is miles ahead of the others in terms of quality (imo).
 
The only shavette i've ever used were the e-bay ones that cost practically nothing, and it served me very well. The blade is the important part.
 
Parker makes some good ones. They use half a DE blade. I got one for my brother from shavenation.com last year. If you want something that is closer to te size of a real straight, I'd say the Dovo shavette. It has inserts that take longer blades.


Honesty, I'd skip the shavette and go to http://whippeddog.com/
Larry has some awesome deals. His site is dedicated to beginner straight users. He makes the poor mans strip kit so you don't have to spend lots of money on gear. He's not in it to make money. I wish I had checked out his site before I wasted money on a shavette.

DAMN YOU!!!! Now you have made my addiction worse. Now I have no excuse to not get one. First the shavette, and now this.....


*Smiles excitedly while looking at site*
 
I had a Parker, a Sanguine and two Feather AC's. The Feathers were hands down the best of the bunch. They are, however, a little pricier than the rest too. If you DE shave you might as well pick up a Parker that way you can utilize the blades you already have.


@Telly - What does one of those run and are they made to accept feather/kai blades?

I bought years ago for $22. With the current exchange rates, it's probably closer to $28.

I bought a Dovo Shavette two weeks ago and have used it a half dozen times. I’m better at it now. The changing of the blade is fiddly but I like the handle. Am looking forward to using only a straight but wanted to see first if this is even for me before spending even more money. Good news is it is for me so here we go!

Changing the blade is the issue with these razors. They aren't the best examples of engineering in that regard.
 
I've used the Dovo shavette (stainless) regularly for over a year and a half now, and have had no issues with the DE blade holder or changing blades. At first appearance, the plastic holder does look chintzy, and I used to wonder if the insert would hold the blade securely, but its worked quite well for me. One side of the red DE holder has two nubs inside which serve as guides to place the blade in, and this provides the correct amount of overhang for the blade to extend out of the holder. You then close the holder shut and insert it into the razor, and you're done. The hinge for the red connector does look flimsy, but again, I have not found it to be an issue in practice. Using a half-DE blade is definitely convenient.

For a newbie, the benefits of using a shavette are - you don't have to learn how to strop properly up front, and when the shave isn't good, you won't be wondering if the razor is still sharp.
 
Most of them are too light for my taste. I just used the Sextoblade and it is pretty nice. I wished i could find a heavier razor though.

Al raz.
 
I've been trying to arrive at a decent edge on the hones with a tricky polished straight and ran into a snag. After two passes of not cutting much with it, I decided to head for my Parker stainless steel shavette and put a Lord half-blade in it rather than strop another straight. Hadn't used the Parker since April or May, but boy has my technique improved since then! Mowed down everything in one pass without any blood. Always had at least one cut when I used that thing before. In any case, it's the technique (read: pulling skin taught and proper blade angle) that's going to be the thing; IMO, you'll probably lose less blood from the start with a straight. But on the other hand, stropping is a lesson in itself. 'tis true that a Parker will only set you out about $20. No right or wrong here--the learning curve awaits in any case.
 
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