Hello, and well wishes to you all! I am very new to traditional wet shaving, having just started DE shaving. @rbscebu brought up consideration of SR/shavette shaving in response to a post I made for troubleshooting some DE difficulties (thank you!).
Bottom line question:
What might I be missing in my understanding of shavette shaving that could address safety concerns for someone with tremors / neuromuscular symptoms?
Details (if it could be helpful):
Intro
When I first started considering transitioning away from disposables, I discounted SRs and shavettes as starters because *usual reasons*, though planned to revisit it after an extended time DE shaving, per another's recommendation. However, looking at the shavette methods, it seems it could be more comfortable for me, if it can be done 'safely' (relatively, of course, haha) I know that YMMV but am hopeful that the community's expertise and experience could help me evaluate this from a more informed perspective.
Note about traditional SRs
Though traditional SRs are touted as safer than shavettes, they are definitely not an option for my own foreseeable future. The maintenance involves more steps than I have capacity for and/or more overhead than I'm able to commit to.
Safety advantages and disadvantages
As a baseline, I can see how shavettes can be considered just as safe/dangerous as DE razors. My questions, though, involve the safety nets for confounding factors.
The safety of any shaving tool is qualified with "as long as you do xyz," or "executing the technique correctly." I can learn/do those, but the tremors and other neuromuscular obstacles may not always allow me to comply with the 'proper' way to do things. That can get me into trouble without additional measures. For reference, I don't even use kitchen knives without a great deal more attentiveness and deliberation than the standard level of caution, so I'm not applying double standards about sharp edge dangers.
With a safety razor, from what I've read, and so far personally experienced, there have been, for me, a few impactful safety advantages with the DE design (there might be some others that I'm just not thinking of right now):
There is a trade-off as well, with less bulk of a shavette meaning less tricky coordination in several areas for scalp and body...except that same DE bulk provides different safety measures. Similar trade-off regarding angles -- more customization can offer safer shaves as well as more angles to cut myself.
Specific questions
Searches for these situtations didn't show as many results for shavettes as for DEs/SEs, but there were some very helpful posts, thank you all!
Structurally, I wonder if there are designs with any sort of guard in the razor itself? And, I haven't yet figured out from descriptions the full potential advantages of guarded AC blades.
Additionally, are there heavy-weight shavettes?
Technique-wise, I see so much about what not to do with the blade, that I can't tell if there are significant equivalent mitigation and defensive maneuvers possible with the shavette design that there are with the DE design. Though, I did see a post from @Scarry Knight providing some encouraging information on this, thank you! It seems like there might be, but I'm not yet grasping some aspects of how that would work.
Those are my current thoughts and questions as someone dealing with physical limitations who is considering trying out a shavette. It would be after I pass through my initial DE learning curve (want to keep variables controlled). I'd be very interested in the community's feedback.
Thank you so much! Best regards your way
Bottom line question:
What might I be missing in my understanding of shavette shaving that could address safety concerns for someone with tremors / neuromuscular symptoms?
Details (if it could be helpful):
Intro
When I first started considering transitioning away from disposables, I discounted SRs and shavettes as starters because *usual reasons*, though planned to revisit it after an extended time DE shaving, per another's recommendation. However, looking at the shavette methods, it seems it could be more comfortable for me, if it can be done 'safely' (relatively, of course, haha) I know that YMMV but am hopeful that the community's expertise and experience could help me evaluate this from a more informed perspective.
Note about traditional SRs
Though traditional SRs are touted as safer than shavettes, they are definitely not an option for my own foreseeable future. The maintenance involves more steps than I have capacity for and/or more overhead than I'm able to commit to.
Safety advantages and disadvantages
As a baseline, I can see how shavettes can be considered just as safe/dangerous as DE razors. My questions, though, involve the safety nets for confounding factors.
The safety of any shaving tool is qualified with "as long as you do xyz," or "executing the technique correctly." I can learn/do those, but the tremors and other neuromuscular obstacles may not always allow me to comply with the 'proper' way to do things. That can get me into trouble without additional measures. For reference, I don't even use kitchen knives without a great deal more attentiveness and deliberation than the standard level of caution, so I'm not applying double standards about sharp edge dangers.
With a safety razor, from what I've read, and so far personally experienced, there have been, for me, a few impactful safety advantages with the DE design (there might be some others that I'm just not thinking of right now):
- Readily accessible, relatively safer 'blade-free' contact positions to train resting and reaction reflexes into (made possible by the cap and guard)
- Limiting positions of blade contact that could cut the skin (also made possible by the cap and guard)
- Spatially predictable symmetrical grip that blocks the holding hand from the blade (how the handle is fixed centrally perpendicular to the head and blade)
- End game razor(s) to be heavier weight, which for most things notably improves my coordination and control. The Henson “AL13 Medium” is my starter because I wanted to get a less compensated sense of my technique, to learn it more precisely. I figured its reputation for user-friendliness would help mitigate the light weight. It will then serve its turn as a travel razor, or for the one-off situations when I do need something lighter.
There is a trade-off as well, with less bulk of a shavette meaning less tricky coordination in several areas for scalp and body...except that same DE bulk provides different safety measures. Similar trade-off regarding angles -- more customization can offer safer shaves as well as more angles to cut myself.
Specific questions
Searches for these situtations didn't show as many results for shavettes as for DEs/SEs, but there were some very helpful posts, thank you all!
Structurally, I wonder if there are designs with any sort of guard in the razor itself? And, I haven't yet figured out from descriptions the full potential advantages of guarded AC blades.
Additionally, are there heavy-weight shavettes?
Technique-wise, I see so much about what not to do with the blade, that I can't tell if there are significant equivalent mitigation and defensive maneuvers possible with the shavette design that there are with the DE design. Though, I did see a post from @Scarry Knight providing some encouraging information on this, thank you! It seems like there might be, but I'm not yet grasping some aspects of how that would work.
Those are my current thoughts and questions as someone dealing with physical limitations who is considering trying out a shavette. It would be after I pass through my initial DE learning curve (want to keep variables controlled). I'd be very interested in the community's feedback.
Thank you so much! Best regards your way