Bluebeards Revenge Cut-Throat Shavette Review – A Close Shave with a Pirate
Bluebeards Revenge Cut-Throat Shavette
The Bluebeard’s Revenge Cut-Throat is a fan style shavette made to look and be used like a straight razor.
Pros
Works just like a Straight Razor
Accepts Blades Easily
Easy to Clean
Tight and Sleek Profile
Very Inexpensive
Cons
Feels Flimsy
Limited Shipping
As the prices of shaving gear get more and more expensive, it’s good to know there are new and emerging companies willing to take up the slack with more affordable products for everyday guys.
This is especially true as more and more guys are ditching the electric razors and jumping with both feet into wet shaving with a gusto. Guys (and Gals) are discovering that a good clean shave is one of the best simple luxuries and treats you can give yourself. Though the cost of admission is slowly getting more and more arduous.
Enter the Shavette.
I have shared a few articles on shavettes before, and I am quickly becoming a fan of these less expensive alternatives to straight razors. So when Jason, my editor, asked me to take a look at the Bluebeard’s Revenge Cut-Throat shavette, I jumped on it.
It took some time to get here, and international shipping from England is not the fastest option. Unfortunately, it is the only option right now. I can say though, that the wait was pretty worth it.
Brand/Company:
Bluebeard’s Revenge is a UK based shaving company that, funnily enough, was apparently started on a bet over a night of rum drinking. The bet being whether or not it was possible to create an affordable line of shaving products that could withstand and take care of the “roughest of stubble.”
Today, Bluebeard’s Revenge is a “small company” in name mostly. They are a premiere maker and supplier of shaving products to the UK, including soaps, pre-shave, post-shave, razors, and brushes. They pride themselves on environmental sustainability and customer approachability, so they are definitely a company worth keeping an eye on.
Bluebeard’s Revenge Cut-Throat Shavette Features
- Stainless Steel Blade Housing – Easy to Clean and easy to open.
- Fan style Blade Housing – The Housing opens into three parts to easily secure the blade into place. Blade doesn’t move or rattle at all.
- Replaceable Blade – Like other Shavettes, Replaceable Disposable Razor blades help you keep the razor sharp without having to constantly sharpen.
- Slim Profile – The Whole product folds very neatly and cleanly into a very small profile. Blade is completely concealed inside the handle.
- Plastic Handle – While it feels a little flimsy, the handle is hard plastic and not likely to warp.
- Bluebeard’s Revenge Logo – Cool Pirate Logo just looks good on the handle and blade.
- Dimensions: Closed: 6 inches by 1 inch, Fully Open: 9 inches by 1 inch.
- Additional: Made in the UK, Cruelty-Free with Recyclable materials.
How does it Look?
From a visual perspective, the Cut-Throat Shavette looks like a micro or slimmed-down straight razor. It has the profile of a straight razor and feels like one too. Everything about this razor feels like a traditional cut-throat style razor, down to the tang at the back. It’s just a bit smaller than you would think overall.
The place where you really start to see the difference is in weight and feeling. This razor is very light. You almost cannot feel it in your hand if you were just judging it on the heft alone. The plastic handle makes it almost feel breakable at times like it is a toy. Though in the week I have had it, nothing like that has happened.
The blade itself fans out, and it’s actually kind of difficult to open at first. That is a good thing because you want to make sure your blade is nice and secure. It is just as difficult to get it closed again after loading it with a blade. Again, that is a good thing because it means your blade is secure, but there is a small chance you might forget there is a blade there and accidentally place a finger where you shouldn’t.
I didn’t do this myself, but I almost did and caught myself before I applied any pressure. I’m not interested in needing stitches anytime soon.
Where it does have one interesting downside or issue is that the pivot point is not very tight. The blade swings in and out quite easily. Just turning the thing over would cause it to open to at least a 45 degree angle. This could be a problem if you were planning to travel with it, as that exposed blade could catch in something and cause cuts or tears.
If you do plan on traveling with this, don’t keep it loaded with a blade. If you HAVE to, get something like a leather pouch to put it in.
How does it Perform?
For the purposes of my review, I shaved with this razor 4 times, leaving a day between each shave to let my skin recover and grow some good stubble. I used a Muhle Brand Disposable razor, broken in half in the blade. Each shave was three passes, once with the grain, once across the grain, and once against the grain. Each pass was preceded by use of a pre-shave oil or proraso pre-shave cream.
Overall, the razor performs VERY well. It gave me a nice and clean shave without a majority of issues. I will say that I had some problems with the neckline, though.
My beard and skin are very unique in that I have a bunch of acne scars from my teen years. This leaves me with quite a few uneven and bumpy parts of my cheeks and my neck. The grain of my beard also does a 90-degree turn when it gets past my jaw, making shaving against or across the grain rather difficult when not using a safety razor.
The Shavette performed rather well with these curveballs thrown at it, but the sharpness of the blade is very unforgiving when it comes to bumps on the skin. The key here is to move very very slowly, or else you are going to get all kinds of bite on the skin.
It doesn’t like facial contours, though. Any place the skin isn’t flat is an invite for the corners of the razor to bite into the skin and draw a bit of blood. This leaves my three chins and me in a bit of a pickle, and I found it easier to go back with a safety razor of my Goodfellas’ Smile Shibumi Kamisori to clean up some small trouble spots.
It gave me a really smooth overall shave, but there was no way I could get away at any point without at least one knick.
Which leads me into…
How Easy is it to Use?
This razor is NOT an easy-use, pick-up-and-go kind of tool. If you are new to straight razors in general, you are going to have a hard time getting used to this one. Even if you have the skills for straight razors, you might still have issues because the cutting area is always smaller than you think it is.
I’m not completely new to straight razors, and I even had to go back and refresh my memory again and again of the skill set for this one. Tutorials and videos are your friends with this one.
Take it easy and take it slow and you will get a nice, good, and clean shave. Don’t expect to just get going with this like you would a safety razor though. When disposable blades bite, they REALLY bite. The edges of the disposable razor do stick out from the side, and if you aren’t careful, they can get into the skin and cause scratches.
After my first time using this blade, I looked like I had gotten into a fight with my cat and lost. Left my face with a great deal of small scratches and cuts.
Also, don’t get discouraged if you try this one once or twice and come away with a few cuts and knicks. It happens. This is a skill set you are going to slowly get better at with practice. My first shave with this razor almost bled my face dry, but after the fourth go I was moving slow but doing much better.
If you want something more “user friendly” I would go for something like the Razorine rather than this one. While the Razorine can still cut you if you aren’t careful, the double-edged blade guards can be more forgiving when learning how to use it best.
Though if you are prepared to learn a new skill, or just really want to start practicing for a really straight razor, I would say go for this one. The price point is way too good to pass up.
Consumer Complaints, Issues, and Overall Reviews
I do have my own complaint that doesn’t really fit in with the above categories, and that is the shipping issues. I could not get this from the Bluebeard’s Revenge company itself, and I had to go through a third party to do so. I believe they don’t like shipping internationally themselves, and while that is totally understandable (I worked in shipping for 10 years, and international is a bear, let me tell ya), it was pretty inconvenient.
I had to look for the razor at places like Shavenation, but they were almost completely sold out at the time. So it was somewhat difficult to track down. Even then when I found it, I had to wait several weeks for it to arrive from the UK. Don’t expect fast shipping on this one. The price was really good though at only $13 USD plus shipping and handling.
When looking at other complaints or issues, there seems to be a variety of issues with construction. While I didn’t have any problems with any of the machining of the metal (other than the loose hinge), others have had issues with metal burs on the blade and uneven grinding. This can probably come from these razors being assembled quickly to meet demand. As I said before, they are frequently sold out. Which is a good thing I suppose.
Make sure when you are ordering yours (if you decide to order) you get some blades with it. Depending on where you order from, you might not get any disposable blades or you might be provided with a sample pack. Apparently half the bad reviews on Amazon are from people who didn’t know the Cut-Throat needs its own separate blades, or thought some blades would come with it.
Overall, most of my sentiments are echoed in other reviews. Take your time, and don’t be in a hurry. Make sure to move slowly, and if you feel the blade bite at all, immediately start backing out of the pass before you do more damage. That may seem elementary for most straight razor users, but that is really a skill point that guys moving from safety razors need to keep in mind.
Final Thoughts – Who is the Bluebeard’s Revenge Cut-Throat Shavette for?
Overall, I really want to recommend this razor and this company to everyone. The vibe from Bluebeard’s Revenge and the quality of the product is really great. The price is awesome too for what you are getting.
It has some drawbacks though that really keeps me from giving this a perfect score. Like with the Razorine, this shaver is going to take some serious getting used to and time investment if you are not already pretty skilled with a straight razor.
If you are looking to upgrade your shaving game, and don’t want to spend a bunch of money AND you have some time to “Git Gud” at shaving, then I would recommend this one. If not, I would go with something else a little more forgiving.
Just make sure you also invest in some really good pre-shave, post-shave, and shaving soap for this one, because you are going to need it when it comes to fighting the razor burn.
