Shavette Advice

The husband of a friend of my wife called me over the weekend and asked for some advice. I've never met this fellow in person but his wife has been over our house (when we lived in FL) a number of times. She knows I am a member - as she calls it - of a "shaving club." Hence, his call.

He said he has been DE shaving for about five years. His only DE razor is a Merkur slant in which he uses a Feather blade. He currently uses creams which he buys from AoS. He said that he got a nice shave at an AoS store and, therefore, his interest in trying a shavette.

He says he has an average beard and he shaves almost every day. He wants to buy a shavette and the necessary gear that goes with it. He has no interest in a regular straight because he doesn't want to "be bothered" with honing or stropping. He plans to use the shavette in rotation along his one DE, Merkur slant and if he likes the shavette he will stick with that.

Since what I know about straights or shavettes could be summarized in the words "they look cool" I said I would post his questions and get back to him.

His questions:

1. What brand of shavette would you recommend for a person new to shavettes? As I said, his only other razor is a Merkur slant and he said he uses Feather blades in it. I asked him whether he wants a folding razor and his reply was that at this stage whatever if easier to learn with. He said he has average size hands, if that is significant.
2. What blades do you recommend?
3. Is there a ranking of blades from mild to sharper?
4. Does it matter if he uses creams or soaps with a shavette?

He also said that he is branching out and will be using some soaps be bought at AoS.

Thanks for any input.

What's his budget. The Feather Artisan Club is the top of the line shavette with a single edge blade. Sells for around eight five to one hundred dollars. Cheaper alternatives are available.

I'd go for a model that uses DE blades. Parker makes a nice shavette for a good price. I wouldn't worry too much about which blades. Much like DE, it's personal. A shavette is unforgiving, so maybe hold off on the feathers for now.

Creams or soaps will work. He may want to play with the lather for ultimate slickness as opposed to beautiful and fluffy.

No sense in buying a Feather AC unless he knows he will stick with it. Sally's Beauty sells shavettes for a couple bucks.

feltspanky said:

What's his budget. The Feather Artisan Club is the top of the line shavette with a single edge blade. Sells for around eight five to one hundred dollars. Cheaper alternatives are available.

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He said he saw one at AoS that sells for $55 but he is willing to spend $100+ for a decent one.

From what I heard from his wife, he does well financially and likes high quality items. So, for him money does not seem to be an issue.

If the budget is one hundred dollars. I would search for the best price available for the Feather Artisan Club SS or DX Razor and a Cartridge of Feather Artisan Professional Blades. This combination makes a fantastic travel razor also. The Artisan club razor delivers fantastic BBS shaves once you perfect your folding blade shaving technique.

Parkers are a good choice regardless of price point from what I see on this forum but I only have the Feather Artist Club SS and a super cheap shavette that uses half of a DE blade( it was $11). The Feather AC is a Cadillac razor for sure. The main advantage the Parker has is that they will accept any DE blade as long as you cut them in half. I use heavy duty scissors to cut mine because snapping them in half by hand kind of curls the broken edges. Hope this helps.

I'd skip anything that takes a de blade or a salon style blade myself.

I'd look for something that takes the Feather Pro Style blades. The Feather Artist Club razors are a great choice but for a less expensive alternative maybe pick up a CJB razor on EBay that takes the same blades. The Feather is a bit higher quality at a higher price but the CJB razors are built quite well and after all the blades are what's cutting. So for about $35 you can pick up a CJB to see if you like it then follow up with the more expensive Feather version once you're sure it's for you.

I'd start out with a pack of Feather Pro Guard blades or the Kai guarded blades. The guarded blades have some additional wires attached to make it harder to cut yourself. It's still very possible to cut yourself but the modification does help to limit the damage you cause.

As far as sharpness with these blades the Kia Mild and Dorko blades are less sharp than the Feather Pro blades.

With creams or soaps just pick a high quality one that's plenty slick and use a little more water with it than you would with a safety razor. The idea is that the shavette isn't sticking to your face.

I consider myself a noobie for shavette shaving but after my 12 shavette shaves, i use the Bluebeards revenge and i'm really impress whit the quality of the shavette. It'relatively cheap and it takes 1/2 DE blades, the shavette is also hefty and have a good weight not as much as a real straight. To my opinion i would strart whit that and if he likes it he can still upgrade to a feather.

The problem I have with the feather shavettes are that you have to use the feather special blades (or the same style) which significantly limits your choice. I would recommend one that uses half double edge blades for the variety of blades.

I use my shavette every day for shaving my upper lip and the bladed make a huge difference. I would hate to limit my choices for a nice handle that doesn't do any of the cutting.

InNae

I think like most things YMMV and IMO. Now you have read basically the full spectrum, from cheapo Sally (or Sedef in my case) to the cream of the cream Feather Artist Club (which some say is the only one that rivals a full straight). The rest is to look into the link below, that will give you more information (impartial maybe?) on the disposable straight.

http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/shavette?highlight=shavette

Hope this helps

Most Feather Artisan Club shavers get between five to ten shaves with a single blade. There's twenty blades in a cartridge pack.

I'd like to suggest Universal Shavettes either in half blade or whole blade. They're Italian made and widely used by Italian barbers.
Well balanced, well built and they are really affordable.
I have both and I can't stop talking good of them.

About blades if someone had not a thick beard and/or wants relaxed shave I suggest some milder one . Like Derby or Personnas or Gillette yellow that are my to go blade for DE and Shavettes.

IF someone has a really thick beard can probably want more sharp edges like Astra, Polsilver or even Feathers. In this case the whiskers are effortlessly gone.

A good preparation with plenty of water and good lathering is mandatory indeed.

And in the end.,, YMMV!

Ciao!

Ps: and if someone wants to use Universal shavette and dont find close, pm me and I will help you from Italy happily!

I'm liking my Vanta. Unlike a lot of other shavettes, the tips of the DE blade are not exposed, cutting down a great deal on accidental fish-gilling.

I'm young in the shavette users club but here's my take as an engineering type.


I bought into the Artist's Club DX handle. Here's why.
- I don't find I care for the 1/2 a DE blade things as they can be easier to incorrectly assemble; you have to break a razor blade in half to make it work; and you have the sharp ends of the blade span itself as additional opportunities to create/cause injury.

-The DX is a folder, so it gives smaller overall size, yet can be used with the scales in any position the person using it needs to accommodate their grip and angles required. Japanese style may be wonderful, but I think the option of sheathing the blade is a huge design plus.

The blade on the DX, in comparison to the SS configuration, is more as like a straight razor.
Feather indicates the SS configuration of holder to blade can make for easier "safer" learning curve for the novice to the use of the instrument. This is due to a leading edge which backs the blade off the skin a bit - if the instrument is used as intended. However, this is at the expense of a physically smooth transition from the spine of the holder through the edge of the surgically sharp blade. Anything which could add to create the potential for a dig and/or gouge while drawing blade over skin is an anathema in my book. Check up on why so many straight users (and well versed safety users) stretch their face to shave.

If the goal is to use the device as like a straight razor, the skill set is transferable and easily understood if one has previous experience with a straight, or intends at some point in the future to try one. I personally don't care for learning a very different method for two tools which on gross appearance should use the same eye hand motor skills and muscle memory.

- The blades for the Feather/KAI shavettes are purpose made and have the benefit of manufacturers development - testing. I know the objectives of each profile the manufacturer offers and why they offer them.

I also have it from hear-say evidence that these blades when used with proper pre-shave routines last for a good number of uses. The cost / reward equation - if you find the experience of use enjoyable or better than what you've experienced with a DE - is entirely reasonable. If you believe half of what people discovered in 2008 regards the KAI mild blade product, it's more than reasonable.

The worst outcome is one doesn't care for the experience and wants to expunge the equipment they've acquired and forget the whole experience. My posit is a well cared for and gently used DX, (or SS if you go that route) is far more value for the dollar than all the other adapter handles and likely to return a fair percentage on investment.

Happily, I don't see that happening to me any time soon. As a multi-day beard weed wacker, I couldn't be more pleased. As a daily driver; I'm developing those skills and do find they're just a (tongue in cheek) cut above the skills set learned with a safety razor. Again, I think the experience is worth it for the rewards I find at the end of the shave, and at the end of the day.

Last, these skills might even transfer benefits if I ever do pick up a traditional straight... at least I shan't cut my throat the first pass because I just blithely picked up the tool and thought I'd have a go.

(oh, and: I thought I hated bump cuts with a safety razor... I -really- hate bump cuts with a shavette! )
As always, "Your ~~~"

You might also have him consider an Equinox shavette. It's a whole blade universal that takes entire DE blades, but only costs about $15 on Amazon. I really struggled with shavettes and straights but compared to my cheap shavette which takes half blades I got better results with the Equinox.

I just ordered a Parker SR-1. It should be here I would guess next week.

I have a number of shavettes (parker sr1, weck sextoblade, universal) and find the full blade universal shavette the easiest to use. I shave almost exclusively with this shavette and find it to be comfortable and intuitive to use.

I've used a variety of blades and don't see a whole lot of difference between them. I will use an edge for two shaves, flip it get two more shaves then bin it. Works very well.