[Chimensch]

I started a hairdresser's course on Monday and now I'm starting to think about what razor to use to shave my (future!) customers. I could use an all-steel straight like a Wapienica sterilized in an autoclave but a disposable razor like a Feather is probably more practical. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find a source for the Feather razors and blades in Europe. Does anyone know of one?

[Bruno]

Buy them in America. They are much cheaper there than in Europe. Even if you have to pay shipping and possibly customs tax, they're still cheaper.

I know one shop in Antwerp which sells them too.
If you really would want to buy European (shipping will be just as expensive) send a mail to him.

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I don't know if he has a website already. the card I have is old.
If been there a couple of times and the owner is a very helpful guy.

never mind the characters on the right. that is just to throw off regex parsers from scanning the email address.

[Bruno]

Additionally, I would go for a stainless straight if I were you.
I have a feather for travelling purposes, but they give a pretty harsh shave, and always leave my skin covered with red dots where. I find real straight much easier on the skin than disposable blades, but that's just me.

Also your customers might find it much more interesting to be shaved with a real straight.

[Chimensch]

Originally Posted by Bruno

Additionally, I would go for a stainless straight if I were you.
I have a feather for travelling purposes, but they give a pretty harsh shave, and always leave my skin covered with red dots where. I find real straight much easier on the skin than disposable blades, but that's just me.

Also your customers might find it much more interesting to be shaved with a real straight.

Thank you for the information Bruno. I'm going to experiment with the real straight but I feel that I should know how to use the disposables just in case. The problem is that I may not always have access to the autoclave and I'm not sure how the razor will shave if it is stropped before it goes into the autoclave, because I'm sure that you wouldn't be allowed to strop it after the autoclave. In any case, I found the e-mail address of a distributor in France who answered me right away, so I am getting a quote. If the price difference is small, I will buy European just because of the irritation factor. Purchases from the US take forever to get through Italian customs and I never understand their thought process. In Italy, sometimes they hold the package in customs and send you a form to fill out before they will deliver it. In order for you to know what package it is, they send you a copy of the shipping document. Yesterday, I received a form and the shipping document said, "Book $45.00". The customs form asked, "What is it and how much does it cost?" I wanted to tear my hair out.

[Bruno]

Yes customs is very different between countries.
Here in Belgium it's always one of the following:

- They don't even bother to look at the package and I pay nothing.
- They look at the package, say 'whatever' and I pay the 10 euro fee which they charge for having looked at the box without bothering to figure out the real cost.

It's 50/50.

[zenshaver]

I use a feather ac and just had a real great shave last night. You need to use the super pro blades though. Also, I am fair skinned and have a light beard so YMMV.

[English]

I've tried the Feather straight and I found the blades to be too sharp. I would run a new blade across a match stick a couple of times to take the edge down a peg before use. Having had the initial experience of a few cuts to my cheeks and chin.

Interestingly, most places in the UK were you can get a straight razor shave only use disposable blades.
I think its because of the risk of a used blade passing on infection. In hospitals, they now use disposable plastic equipment for operations because the autoclave does not kill all bacteria. (I think). The concern is of course for AIDS.

Whatever, I don't believe the barbers are allowed to use non disposable straight razors anymore.

The owner of Our Barber Shop is a really nice man and I'm sure can tell you the legalities of these matters. Every time I have been to his shop to buy shaving soap or whatever, there is usually somebody receiving a wet shave.

[zenshaver]

I ran mine across a cork about ten times before using it. You definitely have to be careful but it gives you such a close shave. I shaved last might with no nicks or cuts.As for shaving someone else I don't know. it is very sharp.

[OLD_SCHOOL]

Originally Posted by zenshaver

You need to use the super pro blades though.

The barbers here use the guarded blades.

[CloseShave]

Have you considered a DOVE Shavette? They are readily available and take short and long blades. I bought mine for travelling.I use standard Merkur blades in it. It gives an extremely close shave. Of course, a standard staight is a more pleasant experience but for special needs the shavette works well.

[English]

I think the DOVO shavette is the razor I have seen he barbers using.

Interestingly, there is a new review of the razor that has just been posted on this forum.

[Chimensch]

Originally Posted by OLD_SCHOOL

The barbers here use the guarded blades.

Do you have any idea how the guarded blades shave? It's very common to read posts in the various forums from people who were disappointed in a barber's shave and I would like to give a shave that is comparable to what I am able to give myself with a straight.

Originally Posted by CloseShave

Have you considered a DOVE Shavette? They are readily available and take short and long blades. I bought mine for travelling.I use standard Merkur blades in it. It gives an extremely close shave. Of course, a standard staight is a more pleasant experience but for special needs the shavette works well.

That's an interesting point. Since the blade is the working part of a disposable razor, does it make any difference at all who makes the handle? Does anyone know if the Shavette takes Feather blades? If the Shavette takes long blades, who makes them? I don't recall ever seeing Dovo disposable blades.

Originally Posted by English

Interestingly, most places in the UK were you can get a straight razor shave only use disposable blades.
I think its because of the risk of a used blade passing on infection. In hospitals, they now use disposable plastic equipment for operations because the autoclave does not kill all bacteria. (I think). The concern is of course for AIDS.

Whatever, I don't believe the barbers are allowed to use non disposable straight razors anymore.

My barber here in Italy told me that you could use an autoclave but that it's just too much hassle for the (small) number of shaves he does. My gut feeling is that, if one where to specialize in wet shaves, it might become practical to use a real straight razor like a Wapienica or other all-steel razor. So, I'm going to experiment with both.

[OLD_SCHOOL]

Originally Posted by Chimensch

Do you have any idea how the guarded blades shave? It's very common to read posts in the various forums from people who were disappointed in a barber's shave and I would like to give a shave that is comparable to what I am able to give myself with a straight.

Yes, they don't shave well IMO, they don't get me BBS and my last one which was maybe just 2 weeks ago was the worst yet. The guy was shaving the same spot so many times that I started to bleed. That spot was BBS for 2 days. I am somewhat reluctant to return to that barber anymore, because the shaves have been deteriorating.

[zenshaver]

I have some pro blades and they just cut me up and nicked me bad. The super pros for some reason are so much better. Maybe because the blade sticks out more it is easier to shave with.

[OLD_SCHOOL]

I haven't tried the super pro's but the regular pro's are good. Yes they are fierce, I cannot do a 3 pass shave with them it would be too painful. 2 passes is fine though. I see the feather as kinda like a cartridge shaver, you know, you've ran out of time, you need a quick passable shave, so you whip out the feather, 1 pass and your equivalent to having shaved with a cartridge shaver, or maybe a little better.

Back to the OP's question about stropping after the autoclave, I don't see that as a problem, because in all theory, there should be no dangerous pathogens etc on the strop. You'd be using an autoclaved razor on what should be a clean strop, that has had no contact with shin or blood etc of your customers.

[CloseShave]

These two links should answer your questions about Dovo Shavettes and blades.

DOVO Straight Razors
Safety Razors & Blades

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by English

In hospitals, they now use disposable plastic equipment for operations because the autoclave does not kill all bacteria. (I think). The concern is of course for AIDS.

Oh, An autoclave will kill anything if used correctly.
But using an autoclave is also a pita compared to using disposables because

- autoclaving takes time to do properly
- autoclaves needs maintenance
- autoclaves need yearly validation and you need to have archiving procedures for the validation reports, just in case you need to prove during an audit that the autoclave works as expected.
- depending on the sector you are in, you need to store the run data for each time you used the autoclave, and track it to the equipment that was autoclaved.
- you need a lot of blades in order to always have a rotation going
- autoclaved blades need to be used within x hours in order to be still considered sterile. If they are stored longer than that period, they technically need to be autoclaved again.

And I am probably still forgetting some issues. Of course, for barbering the rules 'might' be more lax.
But considering that you can be hit with a lawsuit in case of infection, probably not by much if you want insurance against it, or if you need to comply with regulatory demands.

The alternative to autoclaving is using disposable equipment, which can be charged wholly to the customer, and which carries no overhead, other than tracking and recording lot numbers which is probably not necessary for barbering.

[zenshaver]

What about blood and such that can get onto the non-disposable parts?That is another thing to consider.

[OLD_SCHOOL]

Originally Posted by zenshaver

What about blood and such that can get onto the non-disposable parts?That is another thing to consider.

That would have to be some cut you give a customer, but yea, that may be an issue. Good question.

[zenshaver]

I know tha blade is not that far from the edge of my feather ac.