Yeah, I plan to avoid feathers. Haha. Looks like people are not as picky with their shavette blade for what ever reason. Just wanted to make sure before I bulk ordered 100 blades. Seems convenient to me to have them pre-halved. Is that one of the sanguine's? I'm pretty sure that's the one I purchased but with a plastic, more traditional looking scale. My plan was to get 2-3 shavettes and rotate them in and out of barbicide paired with fresh blades and towels. Still looking into the laws. From talking to another member, I think there is a loop hole if you work out of your own home. But I still would like to find that in writing somewhere.
You only need one shavette, as each customer will be getting a fresh blade. The longest they need to soak in barbicide is 5 min. If you are going to be shaving more than just the sideburns and the back of the neck, I really recommend using a Weck or a Feather artist, unless you are a real pro with a DE shavette.
I have the all stainless Parker Straight/Shavette. It is my daily razor and I have been using Derby half DE blades. I have no complaints about the blades and I love the shavette. The Parker did come with 5 Shark blades. I have only used 1 of those out of curiosity just to see if there was a difference in the blades' quality. I did not notice one. I have a cheap Magic Razor shavette from Sally's where there is a blade holder that slides out so you can put a half DE in it. I do not like the way the blade goes in and it does not sit straight in the holder. I also have a hair shaper that I use Persona blades in and it gives a good shave. I use it for traveling.
I have received both a Sanguine shavette that uses 1/2 DE blade and a vintage Weck that uses a hair shaper blade. Shaved with both yesterday. Used one on the left side of my face/neck and the other on the right side. Both gave a good shave but the DE blade one was a bit rougher feeling. Used 1/2 a Shark blade. Today I tried the sanguine again (on my whole face) with 1/2 a Lord blade. A bit rough still. Going to try an Astra in it then a Wilkie (my favorite blade). Just want to see if the blade makes as big a difference in a shavette as it does in a safety razor. The Personna shaper blade in the Weck gave my an excellent shave. I even stropped it afterwards just for kicks, figured it couldn't hurt. Thanks for the advice to pick one up, so far I think it is the better of the two shavettes, but the blades are a bit more expensive. Johnus and ajhracing both recommended the 1/2 Derby blades. Are these the same exact blade as the DE version but pre-halved? So if I broke a Derby in half I would get the same shave right? I didn't have good results using derby's in a safety razor, interested to see if it's any different in the shavette. Only one way to find out...
Is there really a razor called Sanguine? I would use great care when shaving with it I think. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sanguine
I found I get my best shavette shaves with my favorite DE blades....the DE blades I didn't like before in my safety razors, I still don't like in my shavette...I think very sharp is good...the shavettes are so light, the sharper the blade, the less likely it will be to tug and/or jump around....
I just found the new 2013 Parker Shavettes. You can see them here. They changed the loading system to the push in type. Like the Magic shavette. I think I might pic one up, I think the latch locking system is a pain in the butt on my sanguine. Takes me a while sometimes to get the blade to sit right. The only vendor I found right now that has them is shavenation.com I'm a big GeoFatBoy fan so I have no problem ordering from them. I'll let you guys know what I think about it.
I agree that the sanguine is nice. The push in loading looks like it may be an improvement. Won't know for sure until I try it.
Sanguine is bad enough in my book. Maybe it's just a translation problem. Like Chevy trying to sell the Nova in Mexico.
The Nova did fine in Latin America. Consumers there didn't take the name as "No Va" any more than English speakers would see carpet as "Car Pet." The number of people who actually understand Latin is growing smaller by the year, and I find the irony amusing, and so, I assume, did the British when they started the company.
I have a Parker shavette and I use the whole DE blade, not half. When one edge dulls, open the holder and flip to the unused edge. You can get cheap Weck shavette that use the Personna blades from Sally's that work great as well.
Try it, you'll like it. Every video, even GeoFatBoy's ones on YouTube all have the half DE blade being placed in the shavette. I don't know why. And you can buy the blades cut in half already as well. There is the perfect space for the whole blade in there and it feels safer to put in a whole versus a half and I would think a snugger fit, maybe.
I started with shavettes and now I kind of wish I hadn't. Of course hindsight is a wonderful thing, but when I was told they were less forgiving than a straight I hadn't appreciated how true that was. That all said, I've had the worst cuts on my hand from straights - and the worst cuts on my face from a shavette! I don't plan on ever using one again, although I'm not sure what to do with all the blades I rather rashly bought at the time!
That's actually an excellent idea - although I may try and see if I can get the shavette working as a blade holder to strop/hone SE wedges. I'm not sure it'll work and it may ruin the shavette in the process. Otherwise I could PIF that as well.
i tried a shavette years ago...i got complacent/over confident....paid the price in bloodshed. since then i use a double edge safety razor and no more vampire sinks for me.
