WAYFARING GEAR: Shavent - Swords Of A Thousand Shaves
Shavent Compact Travel Razor (Image: Damien Wilkinson)
Shavent: A Father-Daughter duo
Promoting a sustainable alternative to plastic razors, Shavent is a family-owned German startup. It attracted investment from Judith Williams and F1 champion Nico Rosberg, after appearing on the German version of ‘Dragon’s Den’ in 2021.
The company, run by father-daughter duo, Armin Lutz Seidel and Romy Lindenberg, base production in Germany with a product bridging the gap between the safety razor and modern pivot headed equivalents.
Furthermore, unlike its competitors Shavent doesn’t manufacture blades, instead promoting cost effective universal blades from companies such as Derby, Astra and American Razor Blades.
Having been attracted by the unique offering I took a gamble on the Shavent Compact Travel Razor.
Cutting the Mustard
So, does it, erm cut the mustard, so to speak?
Orders are shipped from Germany, which proved relatively quick and I received a well packaged razor complete with the Derby blades that I selected as part of the order (ie sourced by Shavent and included in the shipment).
The razor, pleasingly constructed of metal (chrome and zinc) feels weighty, well balanced and built to last.
The pivoting head works well but Shavent are at pains to flag this may take some time to master achieving the desirable angle of attack. The shaver is also encouraged to let the weight of the razor do the work rather than press down on the skin.
Loading the ammunition, or rather blades, requires a little effort. Basically, the head can be loosened with two screws to expose a plate where three standard half-blades (single-edge blades) and two spacers can be inserted.
This slight inconvenience has the benefit of permitting a re-load with an unrestricted market of cheaper blades. You know, the ones that come packaged in cardboard, contain 100 blades and cost £7 or £8 for a couple of boxes.
For me the three blades set-up lasts around a week, so a box will provide over 30 weeks of shave-age (or around 15p a week!). After use pop them in a little metal ‘sharps’ tin to safely dispose of when full.
Derby Professional Single Edge Blades (Image: Damien Wilkinson)
Other Watch-Outs
A couple of other things to note.
As with any use of safety razor, non modern style razors, there are no lubrication strips. Meaning the use of a decent shaving cream (not foam) is essential. Worth researching this further but I find the men:u (www.men-u.com) shave cream to be excellent - non-clogging and long lasting.
Secondly, the shape of the razor head isn’t overly helpful in shaving directly underneath the nostrils!
This is addressed within some of the first class customer service provided by Shavent, which includes useful email video guides curated and sent to you by Romy, but it does take some mastering (and I do often top up with a quick application from an alternative basic razor, which I know kind of defeats the point!).
Have I cut myself yet? Well, yes, the odd nick, and nothing too serious, which I’m putting down to operator error.
Pounds, Shillings and Pence
The cost of a travel razor was £63 with the original 1.0 Flex Head Razor, version 2.0 and various permutations of razors with stands, blades and other bits of kit, being north of £120.
Shavent Compact (Image: Damien Wilkinson)
Overall
Overall a quality product from a great company with a nice sustainability cutting edge!
