Which shavette do you recommend?

[marshmellow]

Amazon.com: Straight razor shavette stainless steel for barber shaving smoothly with sharp blades: Beauty

Amazon.com: Straight razor shavette stainless steel for barber shaving smoothly with sharp blades: Beauty

www.amazon.com

Amazon.com: Shavette Disposable Blade Straight Razor Blade Vintage Wood Handle - Kingsland Shaving Co. - Professional Barber Approved Cut Throat Straight Edge Blade Shaving Kit: Beauty

Amazon.com: Shavette Disposable Blade Straight Razor Blade Vintage Wood Handle - Kingsland Shaving Co. - Professional Barber Approved Cut Throat Straight Edge Blade Shaving Kit: Beauty

www.amazon.com

These have 4 holes instead of 2 for holding razor blades. This might be better for safety.

 

[aussie]

If you want to dabble very cheaply, Amazon has the Shears Direct Feather Artist Club format razor. It is basically a copy of the Kai, except that instead of stainless steel, it is chrome plated and a non folder.

For nineteen dollars you get the razor, a Feather brand case (which alone is about twelve bucks) *AND* ten blades. I haven't tied the blades yet so I can't comment upon them.

 

[Slash McCoy]

@Slash McCoy So, they are the same product. Some amazon customers complained about receiving used products. Some customers also complained that the blade moved in the shavette while shaving.
I might choose a safer physical design.

Never happened to me. And failures... how many do you think might be attributable to operator error?

One reason I am loathe to sell razors online is all the ignoramuses who say they are experienced straight shavers and want to send a treetopping razor back because "It won't shave, it only cuts me". The most simple thing, like loading a shavette with a half DE blade, believe it or not, can be done wrong by some folks, usually the ones who insist that they know exactly what they are doing.

Yes there are lemons to be found. When you get one, LEAVE APPROPRIATE FEEDBACK!!! And look at the sellers rating and track record. I have bought bad shavettes. Most of them were in the under $2 category. One would almost expect that, right? But when all indications are that the product is good, maybe it is. Would you like me to send you mine, so you can see for yourself? I do not think you will find it wanting, compared to the Dovo or Parker. Of course you can probably order it with free shipping for less than it costs me to mail it to you. Then again, if you don't believe a cheaper shavette could possibly be any good, what difference should that make to me? So I will just shut up about it and you can have the last word. Come on, give it your best shot. Don't worry if it isn't backed up by empirical evidence. Your wild supposition and unfounded declarations are enough to win this argument.

 

[StillShaving]

I think one can adjust to almost any shavette if they stick with it. But my most recommended shavettes, especially to a beginner would be:

#1 Feather DX - great build quality. Artist club blades last for many shaves so they are not a big expense. Overall a good shave experience.

#2 Focus Slim Al - I like the lightweight design and how the points of the half DE blade are covered.

#3 AliExpress - HRICO Razors, these half DE blade razors have a nice head profile and easy blade loading mechanism. I don't really want to promote their online store given how many knockoffs they sale, but the razor is a great value.

US $4.99 |1 X Coloured Plastic Handle Straight Edge Razor Barber Folding Zinc Alloy Shaving Hair Tool Box Packing|Razor| - AliExpress

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com

www.aliexpress.com

Kai, CJB, and many others are perfectly good as well.

 

[marshmellow]

@StillShaving One item from aliexpress.com arrived my home country, and the local delivery company lost the package. Aliexpress.com refuses to refund until 60 days pass since the purchasing date. One aliexpress.com store sent me a flawed USB DAC and refused to refund, so aliexpress.com offered a partial refund which I accepted because I knew I could get back the rest by selling it at a cheap price. I expected a full refund for the flawed product.

Aliexpress.com is somewhat unreliable. I haven't tried ebay, yet. I haven't had a problem with amazon sellers, yet.

Currently, I'm considering the cheap shavette that @Slash McCoy recommended and a parker shavette. Parker shavettes look durable.

 

[marshmellow]

Never happened to me.

I have bought bad shavettes. Most of them were in the under $2 category. One would almost expect that, right? But when all indications are that the product is good, maybe it is.

At least, you haven't had a problem.

 

[Slash McCoy]

I rate Amazon a bit higher than Ebay. Ebay still usually not bad if you watch the ratings closely and check the shipping time if that is important. Aliexpress, you are rolling the dice a little, it seems. I have only ever used aliexpress a couple of times and no grief, but obviously the potential is there and I have heard more horror stories about them than fleabay or amazon. Amazon Prime isn't what it used to be, though. Hardly anything delivered the next day anymore. I am thinking about dropping Prime.

 

[steveclarkus]

I have a Focus Al which was quite expensive and a cheap Parker knock off. I really like the Focus blade holding system but the cheap one shaves just as well. My vote would be for the Parker knock off.

 

[Badgerstate36]

Ive been using Feather and Parker shavettes for most of the past year. Lately, Id been using Parkers because I like that I can use any blade I want in them (as compared to the Feather that requires AC style blades).
The Parkers have worked well and Ive enjoyed them. Recently, I picked up an Equinox because it gets great reviews on Amazon and comes with 100 blades for $8.
I originally bought the stainless version and liked the weight and feel of it, so I bought the black finish and gunmetal finish too. The black one probably looks the best because it covers up all them machining marks. The gunmetal looks cool but it shows every little machining mark and fingerprints. Theyre all great shavettes though and will give a great shave if you know what youre doing. By no means am I an expert with a shavette but Im OK and they give me an awesome shave and the heavier feel of them just feels good in the hand to me.
I would say that my only real gripe with them is that the bumps the hold the blade are smaller than the posts that Parker uses, so its more difficult to get the blade aligned properly and there isnt as much of a positive snapping in of the 2 halves of the shank but the razor seems to work fine, you just have to take a bit more care when loading in a new blade.
I would say too that the build quality and fit 'n finish of the Parkers is probably a bit better. Of the 3 Equinox shavettes that I have, 2 of them are perfect but the stainless one has a bit of play between the posts and how the 2 halves of the shank lock together, so sometimes they arent exactly even. I dont think it really matters though and its something you fix if you lock it together and then kind of push the 2 halves until they are even. That same issues doesnt exist on the gunmetal or black razors that I have. On the gunmetal one, like I said, the only knock is that the finish shows the machining marks because its basically a dark clearcoat finish.
At $8 for the Equinox with 100 blades though, you cant go wrong. Its almost like they are selling you the razor for about $3 (because 100 Derby half blades cost about $5). I guess that I just cant see where the Parkers are so much better that they are worth paying 2x to 3x more for and I especially cant see where the Dovo is worth paying 8x more for.
Before I got the Equinox, I was skeptical of how good an $8 shavette could really be but it has over 2,900 ratings and a 4.5 star rating as of right now. Usually when something has that may good reviews on Amazon, I trust it and Ive already got a pair of Equinox barber scissors that I use for beard trimming which are great, so I wasnt too worried about it.

 

[RigelDust]

Parker, Feather, Timeless, Dovo, Boker and many others al make great shavette. Some use DE blades, other specific vendor blade both short and long. Its down price and preference. I use a Dovo in Olivewood scales. Price and wood was my requirements and it takes long and DE blades.

Sharp blades will cut well hydrated hairs effortlessly the rest is just a means to comfortably hold the blade.

View attachment 1051253

Boker makes a shavette?

 

[Alum of Potash]

Another vote here for the Focus R21 with plastic insert (takes dedicated half-blades) from TSS. Smoothest shavette shaves I've ever had.

 

[StillShaving]

@StillShaving One item from aliexpress.com arrived my home country, and the local delivery company lost the package. Aliexpress.com refuses to refund until 60 days pass since the purchasing date. One aliexpress.com store sent me a flawed USB DAC and refused to refund, so aliexpress.com offered a partial refund which I accepted because I knew I could get back the rest by selling it at a cheap price. I expected a full refund for the flawed product.

Aliexpress.com is somewhat unreliable. I haven't tried ebay, yet. I haven't had a problem with amazon sellers, yet.

Currently, I'm considering the cheap shavette that @Slash McCoy recommended and a parker shavette. Parker shavettes look durable.

Those are not very good experiences. I have probably 20 orders from AliExpress (including 4 shavettes of various types) with no problems. Occasionally an order will take a long time to arrive (over a month) but most of my recent orders have arrived in about 3 weeks.

I imagine AliExpress doesn't want to refund because some orders (some sellers??) take there time to arrive. I have heard stories of people getting a refund, then the original item arriving later. I think some orders must be literally be on a slow boat from China.

 

[johnmrson]

I'm not a fan of the shavettes that take half DE blades. For me it'd either be a Feather or a Kai.

 

[Badgerstate36]

Those are not very good experiences. I have probably 20 orders from AliExpress (including 4 shavettes of various types) with no problems. Occasionally an order will take a long time to arrive (over a month) but most of my recent orders have arrived in about 3 weeks.

I imagine AliExpress doesn't want to refund because some orders (some sellers??) take there time to arrive. I have heard stories of people getting a refund, then the original item arriving later. I think some orders must be literally be on a slow boat from China.

Thats why I stopped buying from AliExpress. It used to take 4-6 weeks for items to arrive. I love AliExpress because you can get shaving gear for super cheap but the wait time is a bummer.

 

[Badgerstate36]

I'm not a fan of the shavettes that take half DE blades. For me it'd either be a Feather or a Kai.

My only beef with the Feather/Kai is that they take proprietary blades that are kind of expensive. I can get 400 Shark half blades for what 20 Feather AC blades cost. Not to mention the razor itself costs 10x what a cheap shavette that uses DE blades costs.

 

[Badgerstate36]

Another shavette that comes to mind is the Facon. I tried one and its a well-made, inexpensive shavette but I didnt like the curve to the shank. Ive come to realize that I prefer my straight razors to have a shank that is pretty straight. I found with the Facon that I would often drag my fingertips in the lather on my face, which wasnt a huge deal but was kind of annoying.

 

[Earcutter]

Feather

 

[stone and strop]

I am a big fan of the Universal shavette as they are full size with regards to length. Most are not!
They have a great blade holding system. How well they hold the blade is a huge factor, the size(for me) is the next factor. Most being shorter than a straight do not go well with my hands and do not mimic a straight because of that.
The slide in ones are the right size but they do not hold the blade well at all and should be avoided.

 

[Biglo13]

Feather

View attachment 1052117

I have a feather ss kamisori. And love it. The kamisori however takes a bit of learning after shaving with folding razor.

 

[karacha]

I am not a fan of Feather. At that point, I prefer to shave with a straight razor. But I do love Parker clip-style shavettes with wood scales that take half DE blades. They are beautiful, cheap, work great and you can use many different blades with them.