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Taking a shavette vacation

I have been enjoying learning honing, and various methods, and I love my straights, don't get me wrong.

But recently I've been working on learning jnats. I love my convex ark. I like my coticule. I find film easy. I find diamond pasted balsa to be super sharp and effortless. But I wanted to learn the difficult world of jnats.

And sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

So I need a holiday. I am tired of dull shaves because my jnat honing technique isn't perfect yet. So a Feather in a shavette and bada bing bada bam, I have a close shave. Fugett a bout it.

So that's what I'm doing for a week or four. Man, I just crave a really close shave, you know?

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Slash McCoy

I freehand dog rockets
That works, too. Might I suggest a half of a Feather DE blade? Superb sharpness. A low shave angle (pretty much dragging the spine) and tightly stretched skin, and the shave is fairly comfortable. Single pass will get you very close to BBS, full BBS with practice and maybe a bit of buffing action. And the Feather DE blade is cheaper than long blades. And then you get to use the other half, next week. For the last couple of years before I retired, I took two cheap shavettes and a couple packs of Feathers to sea with me instead of straights, strops, etc and once I got over the "Ugh it's just a cheap shavette" thing, I decided that the shave was very nearly as nice as with a straight, with a lot less bother and no damaged strops. Now, I even use a shavette at home sometimes, just to be a bit of a shave rebel sometimes.
 

steveclarkus

Goose Poop Connoisseur
I finally put a shavette, Focus Al, in rotation a couple of months ago because they give really great shaves and great shaves are the bottom line for me. My blade of choice is a Derby half blade. They are cheap and I change blades every two shaves. Don’t fret, shavettes are truly straight shavers, just not traditional ones.
 

steveclarkus

Goose Poop Connoisseur
I finally put a shavette, Focus Al, in rotation a couple of months ago because they give really great shaves and great shaves are the bottom line for me. My blade of choice is a Derby half blade. They are cheap and I change blades every two shaves. Don’t fret, shavettes are truly straight shavers, just not traditional ones.
 
I use shavettes quite often! Once in a while I’ll get bored and put them out of rotation for a week, but I always end up circling back around. They’re just too fun to use!
 
Exactly. I had to overcome two things. At first, when trying to unlearn a lifetime of cartidge shaving, shavettes bit me all the time.

Once I had my technique down, that was fine, but gosh shavettes weren't cool.

And now I'm over that too.

A shavette with half a Feather DE in it is what I use. It lasts a week.

On my sink I have one real straight but also the 'vette for mornings when I want to cheat and be lazy.

And the 'vette is the bomb for travelling. I mailed a tuck of Feather DE blades to my relatives, and now I can do Carry On with an empty shavette.


aloha
 
@kohalajohn have you taken a shavette through airport security before...or is that a future plan? I ask because I read where others were not successful. Since even without a blade they look like knives or the tail is too pointy looking. (Nevermind that a ball point pen could be a more lethal weapon).

I once took a metal spoon in my carry on which triggered TSA to do a hand inspection looking for the matching fork or knife.
 
No, what I meant to say is I plan to try flying with a shavette. What I did last month was mail a straight razor ahead of me. But it was too much of a hassle. And then the person I was visiting had to mail it back to me. And I had to pack a strop back and forth.

It looks like folk had luck with an empty shavette and some didn't. I may try it and see.

I'd prefer bringing an empty shavette. I could mail a pack of DE blades ahead, or just buy some when there.

But I suspect TSA is going to end up forcing me to travel with a bic metal
 
@kohalajohn have you taken a shavette through airport security before...or is that a future plan? I ask because I read where others were not successful. Since even without a blade they look like knives or the tail is too pointy looking. (Nevermind that a ball point pen could be a more lethal weapon).

I once took a metal spoon in my carry on which triggered TSA to do a hand inspection looking for the matching fork or knife.

In the UK I've had no issues taking my AC Club in carry-on. I travel frequently for work and dislike taking hold baggage if I can avoid it. Of course I remove the blade, and I keep a stash of blades at work, however I've often put a couple of spare blades into a RR Hawk razor which itself never seems to be checked.

I've learned that presenting the shavette along with liquids and electronics, makes everything much easier. I just show it to the agent in its 2 pieces before the baggage tray goes through the scanner, and have had no issues over about 8 flights.
 
I have given up with carry on as much as possible. I pack a gold dollar in my checked baggage, a travel strop and a small coticule (in case of accidents) in my hand luggage.

If the checked baggage goes astray I won't miss the gold dollar and hotels will provide a single blade disposable in an emergency.
 
I use a Focus R21 shavette...I hated the first shave but after learning
how to use it, it certainly gives straights a run for their money...for very little
money I might add.
 
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