Disposable Straight Razor

misterfakename · Post by **misterfakename** » Sun Oct 28, 2007 7:57 pm

I have recently seen a handle that works like a straight razor, but uses disposable blades.
You basically fold a blade over while still in the warpper and it will break it in half, then insert the half blade into the handle to use like a straight razor. I am wondering if anyone has seen or used these and have any thoughts.
I want to start using a straight razor, but at this stage don't want to commit to a high priced straight razor and can't be bothered with the strop and maintainance.
Let me know if anyone else has seen this product, or used one. Maybe even a link to purchase online? I have only seen in one store in Australia so far.

Chris Richards · Post by **Chris Richards** » Sun Oct 28, 2007 8:16 pm

Do a search on "Shavette" and you will find what you are looking for.

bernards66 · Post by **bernards66** » Sun Oct 28, 2007 8:49 pm

Welcome to SMF. Yes, definately do a search in our archives; plenty of threads there on this subject. Briefly, just so you know, those numbers, Shavettes and the like, are quite different from traditional straights in some respects.
Regards,
Gordon

notthesharpest · Post by **notthesharpest** » Sun Oct 28, 2007 9:49 pm

If you want to try "the straight razor experience", one of these will not do. You won't get an idea of what it's like to use a straight razor, in the same way that you can't learn ice skating by trying roller skates. It's so different that the apparent similarities don't matter much.

You can get a good used straight razor that's already fixed up and ready to shave. Buy from one of the well-known and experienced straight-razor men - I don't know them, so I can't recommend one over another.

If you really want to continue using a disposable straight, because it's what you wanted all along (like me), then by all means get one. But as a stepping stone, it gets you nowhere.

misterfakename · Post by **misterfakename** » Sun Oct 28, 2007 10:06 pm

Thanks for the fast responses. Shavette has definately narrowed down the Google results.

http://www.shaveblog.com/2005/05/dovo-shavette.html
This was a funny read.

I think i will get one for the fun of it, but it looks like (as with so much I have now learnt with wet shaving) its always just a fun game of trial and error to work the whole thing out.

I love using Astra Superior platinums in a safety razor and i hope to get a closer shave using it in a Shavette handle.

Thanks again.

mparker762 · Post by **mparker762** » Sun Oct 28, 2007 10:07 pm

The only two razors I can think of that handle anything like a real straight are the Feather and the Monsieur Charles. The Feather takes special blades (that are readily available on the internet) and the Monsieur Charles takes bog-standard injector blades. With both of these you need to cork the blades before using them in order to get the lubricating coating off, or else they will cut your skin as easily as they cut the whiskers.

The stropping and maintenance is quite easy and quick as long as you avoid the enthusiast's obsessiveness.

Edit: I notice Corey seems to have forgotten in that post that his T&H shave left him razor-burned for days...

bernards66 · Post by **bernards66** » Sun Oct 28, 2007 10:21 pm

mparker, ( chuckle ) Yeah, he did. He mentioned it in several other places though. I've only had one barber who managed to give me a really superlative shave with almost no irritation with one of those things. He was an older Italian or Sicilian gent in a NYC shop that is no longer there. Interestingly, the first shave I got there, he used a real straight.. But even with the Shavette, or whatever, he was damn good. I've had a few other very close shaves with them, but always accompanied by razor burn ( like Corey at the T&H shop ). I honestly think that shaving barbers who absolutely refuse to use a real straight, should choose a DE or injector, instead of those vicious Shavette thingys; like the chap in that Vienna shop has.
Regards,
Gordon

fritz · Post by **fritz** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 10:01 am

mparker762 wrote:The only two razors I can think of that handle anything like a real straight are the Feather and the Monsieur Charles. The Feather takes special blades (that are readily available on the internet) and the Monsieur Charles takes bog-standard injector blades.

The Dovo Shavette will also take two other kinds of blades besides a regular DE snapped in half. With a Fromm blade (also made by Personna) you use a green holder. This blade is built like a GEM SE with a folded metal ridge on the top, and is about 2.2 inches long. Ted Pella has a picture here. (Product 121-10). Classicshaving.com has the blades and the green holder.
This blade is long enough and rigid enough to make the Shavette into something more like a str8.

mparker762 · Post by **mparker762** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 3:45 pm

fritz wrote:This blade is long enough and rigid enough to make the Shavette into something more like a str8.

It's not a rigidity or even a blade length problem. The shavette is simply too light, the holder is too narrow, and the shank is too short to shave anything like a straight. The Monsieur Charles, like the Feather, has the dimensions, mass, and balance to feel and act like a straight.

Racso_MS · Post by **Racso_MS** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 5:45 pm

Here ya go:

http://www.classicshaving.com/catalog/i ... 286134.htm

They sell various size blades for this model.

Hope it helps...

Enjoy your shave...

fritz · Post by **fritz** » Thu Nov 01, 2007 9:12 am

mparker762 wrote:
fritz wrote:This blade is long enough and rigid enough to make the Shavette into something more like a str8.
It's not a rigidity or even a blade length problem. The shavette is simply too light, the holder is too narrow, and the shank is too short to shave anything like a straight. The Monsieur Charles, like the Feather, has the dimensions, mass, and balance to feel and act like a straight.

Well, I did say "something more like" not "an exact substitute for" a str8.
My point was, if you had a Shavette and didn't think the red holder and half a DE blade worked very well, you'd probably be correct. And to point out that the other blade alternatives, especially the Fromm blades, are much better.
This link talks about the best uses for the various blades.

No, none of these will turn it into a str8. But it will make it more useful for shaving. I've heard str8 users who say that a Feather AC is not really like a str8, either, Chris Moss among them (he thinks it shaves better than a str8). See this posting for the details.