Is a shavette/cut-throat razor really THAT much better than a safety razor?

[joel]

Straight razors can provide the best possible shave, with the least possible irritation once mastered. You can get a DE to shave as close, but due to the fixed angle of the DE, you can’t alter the angle. Altering angles on the fly (scoop like motion) and throughout a stroke is needed for more sensitive areas on your face. Straight razors also provide far more feedback, so you can “feel” when you need to change angles and pressure. The way you’ve asked the original question - leads me to believe you’re always going to have that nagging doubt, until you try it .

That said - I’m not a big fan of shavettes though, and would probably pass on that - it’s all the drawbacks of a straight razor, with only one benefit - the ability to change angles on the fly. The benefits of a traditional straight razor, is much higher quality steel, a more consistent edge (DE’s you’re generally not stropping, so the blade performance changes every time it’s used until it’s discarded), lots of feedback, evenly distributed heft to allow the blade to more naturally glide through the hair as it experiences resistance, a more forgiving edge, that allows you to cut closer - and apply pressure with minimal irritation, a more rigid edge, etc. With a straight - you really learn how to tune the blade to your desired application and liking, and you “learn” that particular razor/blade - and have a consistent experience every shave. If I ever feel a slight degradation in edge sharpness - I strop it 6-10 times on a pasted strop and I’m back to the same consistent edge. With a DE blade - you start with a blade that wants to take your face off along with your hair, and you throw it out before it pulls and skips, so you have a continual up/down cycle in sharpness, which is far less forgiving if your technique is off. On the flip side - there’s a learning curve with a straight, but once you get past it, it’s about as consistent and reliable as a hammer.

 

[JPO]

The problem as I see it with DE's is the blades. There is allot of different blades to chose from, but none of them come close to a well honed SR. I have now gone 6 months of daily shaving with SR's. I have less irritation then when i used DE razors. I was not able to do that with DE's. The SR does not give a closer shave, but you can tailor your edge to your preference. There is nothing you can do to affect the DE blades. The bottom line is that it is a mediocre blade on a stick. You can change the DE razor head to some extent, but the most important part is the blade and the edge.
I need to shave every second day if i use a DE. If i use my SE Vector i have no problems shaving every day. So what is the difference? It all comes down to the blades.
After a three pass DE shave it sometimes feels like i peeled off a layer of skin.
If you need to shave and have some irritation from the day before, you can just use a SR with a different edge. For me this means a coticule edge.

 

[JasonJT]

Straight razors can provide the best possible shave, with the least possible irritation once mastered. You can get a DE to shave as close, but due to the fixed angle of the DE, you can’t alter the angle. Altering angles on the fly (scoop like motion) and throughout a stroke is needed for more sensitive areas on your face. Straight razors also provide far more feedback, so you can “feel” when you need to change angles and pressure. The way you’ve asked the original question - leads me to believe you’re always going to have that nagging doubt, until you try it .

That said - I’m not a big fan of shavettes though, and would probably pass on that - it’s all the drawbacks of a straight razor, with only one benefit - the ability to change angles on the fly. The benefits of a traditional straight razor, is much higher quality steel, a more consistent edge (DE’s you’re generally not stropping, so the blade performance changes every time it’s used until it’s discarded), lots of feedback, evenly distributed heft to allow the blade to more naturally glide through the hair as it experiences resistance, a more forgiving edge, that allows you to cut closer - and apply pressure with minimal irritation, a more rigid edge, etc. With a straight - you really learn how to tune the blade to your desired application and liking, and you “learn” that particular razor/blade - and have a consistent experience every shave. If I ever feel a slight degradation in edge sharpness - I strop it 6-10 times on a pasted strop and I’m back to the same consistent edge. With a DE blade - you start with a blade that wants to take your face off along with your hair, and you throw it out before it pulls and skips, so you have a continual up/down cycle in sharpness, which is far less forgiving if your technique is off. On the flip side - there’s a learning curve with a straight, but once you get past it, it’s about as consistent and reliable as a hammer.

Thanks for that detailed reply. I’m still very happy with my DE for now so I’ll think I’ll carry on with that. Something I don’t quite understand in your reply though; isn’t using a fresh blade in a DE no different to daily stropping if you see what I mean?

Jason.

 

[Razorcan]

Νο.