I am seriously considering dipping my toes in the pool of straight razors, despite the possibility of reenacting scenes right out of Sweeney Todd in my own bathroom. Just to be clear up front; I’m not planning to give up on DE-razors – just pondering the possibility of expanding my horizon a bit. With that in mind I’m looking at shavettes, in particular the ‘butterfly’ ones from Parker (SR-series).

I raised the issue in a thread on my favorite shave forum, and it seems shavettes is the redheaded stepchild of the shaving world… double so the cheaper ones. It is hard to make up ones mind on the suitability and quality of a razor when no one talks about it – even if the few and far between reviews I’ve found online seems generally favorable towards the Parkers shavettes.

One suggestion – from a fellow shaver I respect quite a bit – was that I should go full out and head straight for, er, straights; complete with the honing, stropping and the whole nine yards.

Another suggestion – again from shavers I respect – was to invest in a Feather SS shavette; which looks good, has raving reviews and costs five to eight times more than the Parkers.

As much as I want to “embrace the colourful ritual” (which is nice turn of phrase by the way) it’s impractical for me; perhaps when I’m retired I can devote that time, but as things stand now I can’t. It’s a bit of a bummer to realise that, admittedly.

I really cant justify spending a hundred US or more on a proper straight and strop, since even the cheapest option at Whipped Dog runs to 80USD for a straight and a strop – plus shipping and VAT. Double so when I don’t know if I’ll like it or not… By the same logic, I can’t justify spending that amount on a Feather SS either – at least not until I know I can use and get a good shave out of a shavette.

I guess that for now I keep pondering.