Phoenix shavette

anyone have one of these?  What are your thoughts?  I'm placing an order with Phoneix for some aftershaves and was thinking of adding one of these to it.  After a few years of DE shaving I'm looking for a new facet to the den.... I don't know if I will ever want to take on the required matinence a straight requires, so a shavette seems logical.  Opine please!

I was thinking the same thing. How does it compare. Is it a good one? Great?

I was thinking the same thing.  How does it compare.  Is it a good one?  Great?

For the price I can't complain with the quality looks good and is built well, doesn't feel or look cheap.  I shaved this morning with it, only my cheeks since it was my first time using anything other than a DE.  I'm pleased with the purchase as my proficiency increases I can see me using it regularly.  If you are ordering and need something to push you to free shipping I'd grab one and the 100 shark blades for 6.00. I'm not having any regret in picking it up.

Yes, and if you can actually do an entire shave with one you will have NO problem with an actual straight. They really are more forgiving. Required maintenance of an actual straight is something to consider like you said, but so is COST. Yes you can get into straights cheaply, but the equipment for honing is not cheap. Which is why I tried straights, but never stuck with them.

Looks just like this one: http://www.shaving-shack.com/shaving-sha...vette.html

I do like some of the shavettes, but only those meant to use SE blades like the Artist Club or the Personna Monsieur Charles which uses it's own small SE blade. The ones (like the asked about one) which use 1/2 DE blades can be a bit more harsh on your skin as getting the angle even a bit wrong can lead to a good weeper.

Shavettes are interesting...

My experience was with the Dovo Shavette and overall a bad experience.  It was a harsh shave for no good reason.  So here is kinda the rub, straights which I include the upkeep (strops, stones and at least two straights alternating daily if you choose to do It) can be between $500-$800.  

A Shavette is $30 and not a great option in my opinion.  If I ran with the experience that I had with the Shavette, I would never have gone to straights.  A DE blade arranged in a Shavette will never provide the forgiveness you will need to perfect your technique.  $100 feather professional, although not a conventional straight will give you the closest experience to a straight without investing in straights.  They are zero maintenance (rinse and go) and when the blade starts to tug, toss it.  No honing, no touch ups, no stropping.  All the technique required with very little cost to you.  Lastly, they make blades that are forgiving of bad technique, and therefore the cost of perfection can be achieved without a weekly blood transfusion.

So....if you don't hone, don't strop, don't touch up, are you really straight razor shaving since this is all part of the experience?  Only you can decide that.

Shavettes are interesting...

My experience was with the Dovo Shavette and overall a bad experience.  It was a harsh shave for no good reason.  So here is kinda the rub, straights which I include the upkeep (strops, stones and at least two straights alternating daily if you choose to do It) can be between $500-$800.  

A Shavette is $30 and not a great option in my opinion.  If I ran with the experience that I had with the Shavette, I would never have gone to straights.  A DE blade arranged in a Shavette will never provide the forgiveness you will need to perfect your technique.  $100 feather professional, although not a conventional straight will give you the closest experience to a straight without investing in straights.  They are zero maintenance (rinse and go) and when the blade starts to tug, toss it.  No honing, no touch ups, no stropping.  All the technique required with very little cost to you.  Lastly, they make blades that are forgiving of bad technique, and therefore the cost of perfection can be achieved without a weekly blood transfusion.

So....if you don't hone, don't strop, don't touch up, are you really straight razor shaving since this is all part of the experience?  Only you can decide that.

You make some really good points here.  Truthfully, after using this a few times I'm not sure you aren't correct.  Side note....... how often should a straight razor be honed?  And what's the cost to have someone do it for me since honing a straight is a skill that I don't have.  Part of me wants to expand into straight razors the other part of me says DE shaving is amazing, I'm proficient in it and perhaps I should be content and leave this notion of straights alone.

Excellent question and starts to move into that subjective area.  Some people have suggested that if you baby your blades, and have enough of them, they can go several years without a honing once the bevels are set properly.  In which case some will get a really fine stone and do a couple of strokes to freshen the blade (15,000 or 30,000) and that's all you may need.

Other use diamond paste on a cotton strop to essentially do the same thing.  

Honing generally costs about $20 per blade.  Some vendors will sell you a razor "shave ready" and a certificate for a honing or touch up for later.  

What can I say about straights.  I loved the experience, got good at it, loved using them and then I had my son and priorities shift.  I still have 3 and a feather professional.  It makes you a better shaver because you truly get an appreciation for blade angles, pressure and facial contours.  Do I use them now, no but I miss using them.  Maybe when things slow down and I'm better at managing my time I may get back in, but for now my DEs provide excellent shaves.  If your curious about straights, I always encourage people to try them and get it out of your system.  It can get expensive quickly, but there is a certain pride to mastering the blade and having that connection to the past.

anyone have one of these?  What are your thoughts?  I'm placing an order with Phoneix for some aftershaves and was thinking of adding one of these to it.  After a few years of DE shaving I'm looking for a new facet to the den.... I don't know if I will ever want to take on the required matinence a straight requires, so a shavette seems logical.  Opine please!

I haven't seen that one. I know that a lot of barbers at the Art of Shaving use a Dovo shavette with half a razor blade. Never experienced one. Paul H uses one with the long blade in videos and he likes it. My daily shaver is usually a Feather AC or a Kai Captain Standard, usually with a Kai Mild or a Feather Pro or Pro Guard. I thought the Feather would help me with straight razors. But I prefer the closeness of the shave with the Feather, and I find stopping a chore. Since I have no interest in honing I have pretty much abandoned straight razors. They're fun and they look great and they make that wonderful sound when they cut the whiskers, but I get everything I need, except the great sound, from the Feather. Also, I tend to get RAD and straights get expensive. Had I stayed with them I know I would have wanted a half hollow, a full hollow, a Japanese straight, a German straight, a French straight, new and vintage straights, etc. Nothing beats the romance of shaving with a straight but I'm grateful it's not for me.

I've never tried a shavers, but since this seems to be a conversation on entering the straight razor territory I'll throw in my two cents:

When I was looking to begin SR shaving, I looked at shavettes. At the time, I primarily browsed another forum (DFS hadn't returned yet). The sentiment over there was that shavettes aren't something a beginner should necessarily look at. Many reasons were cited; thin blades flex easier and don't have as much torsional support as a DE or SE head; versus a Straight a Shavette does require more maintenance in terms of exchanging blades (discounting stroping, as I find I can normally go two shaves decently without stroping); and don't tend to last as long as a straight.

Whether any of the above reasons are true or valid is not to be told by myself, never having tried the Shavette. I will say that I picked up a shave ready Gold Dollar for around $50, and a 3" strop for around $30. All in all my shaving setup is about $80 for straights. I've had the razor honed once since owning at a cost of $10, and I got about three months of shaving off of that. I could probably get longer, but I'm still new and my technique on stroping probably killed the edge faster than normal.

With Gold Dollars its important to ensure that a reputable craftsman has finished them, as they leave the factory in China as what I would call an "unfinished blank." They still need an edge put on them, and not every Gold Dollar can be made into a shave able razor, so reputation is key. WetShaveProducts sells them, and I've always had good luck dealing with him.