Thread: What is WRONG with You Guys????

Shaving with a straight is just something different. It's nice engaging in something that has tradition and craftsmanship behind it. Not to mention once you get the hang of it gives you an amazing shave

For me,initially it was the visual appeal, self sufficiency (stropping), the process of lathering with soap instead of canned shaving cream. I admit that the straight razor itself was a major attraction. I'm a machinist, and enjoy using high quality tools. There is some appeal in using the straight razor itself, being another type of tool.
Now it has become the learning the new skills required to shave and achieve a quality shave.
The visual appeal of the straight razor itself gets stronger the more I shave.
There is a coolness factor, and a traditional masculine appeal.

Regards,
Mitch

For me it was the idea of an older way of doing things. I couldn't stand paying all that money for disposable blades, although I now pay more for all my straight stuff.

I also didn't like the idea of canned shaving cream, but I guess I could have done that without the straights.

Mostly it is just the idea that I have razors that are over 100 years old and should continue providing good shaves for another 100 years. I just love that. It goes back to how people thought before we became disposable junkies and land fillers.

I've come to learn that every aspect of shaving with a straight razor is truly amazing. I've always been fascinated by straight razors all my life from seeing it in films and TV shows.

There is something truly romantic and fulfilling when you use a straight razor, you also get an even better confidence boost when your shave is so much more smoother and knowing that it took some skill and concentration to achieve such a shave.

Plus there's the fact that nobody else you know can do it and your manhood is secure in that sense!

I originally started shaving with a DE razor as a means to LESSEN THE COST of my shaving.

The other benefit to getting away from a cartridge razor was that in my family of four (myself, my wife and my two teenage daughters), I was no longer having my blades dulled or borrowed for use on armpits and legs (or whatever).

A DE just scared the hell out of the women in my family.

Then while rooting around in SRP's sister website Badger and Blade, I was trolling in the straight razor section and thought to myself, why not?

Str8's are beautiful tools, plus the "old-school-ness" (is that even a word?) attracted me to SRP and the idea of shaving with a straight.

Well my family thought I was nuts, but I found some old razors at a local antique place and became a member here at SRP. I sent my razors to Ken (KenRup) who cleaned them up and honed them for me and that got me hooked.

Before I started I had no idea what an AD was, now I've got just about every kind of AD you can get and there's no cure.

I am a month into str8 shaving and every shave is better than the previous and all are enjoyable (even if there is a little bloodletting.)

For some time I've been trying to go "analogue" where applicable. Be it interior decorations, personal trinkets (my day to day watch is an IWC from the start of the 1900's) or habits and behaviour. A sort of modern interpretation of sixteenth century decorum for men.

Also, don't forget how absolutely cool it is to shave with a straight. Only thing that could match it in cool/manliness factor would be to shave with a chainsaw.

I'm very drawn to quality things and performing things well, and I feel that our culture has largely abandoned valuing quality in place of money and convenience.

I write with a fountain pen, I dread signing my signature at stores when I don't have my pen with me, it feels entirely wrong. I have an antique inkwell to keep my ink in.

I drink whole milk that comes in a glass jug. I'm sure I derive more joy from the taste of a single glass of milk than people who drink skim milk do from their self-righteous health kick that somehow makes them better. Food tastes better when all it's taste hasn't been refined out of it so that you don't gain a single extra ounce of weight, because God forbid you have to maybe exercise to stay in shape.

I cook most of the food I eat. I take pleasure in seeing people enjoy the food I've cooked much more than the crap they buy at the store or get at the dining hall. I take care to make sure the food I buy is quality, and I can't wait to have my own home so that I can produce as much of my own food as possible.

I wear fedoras and other old fashioned type hats and suit jackets because they look far better.

I study Latin and Ancient Greek and Biblical Hebrew at college because the literature in these languages are the foundation of everything in our intellectual culture.

I drink scotch and I keep it in a beautiful crystal decanter I found at an antique store in Spain. I like a nice cigar to go with it, preferably Cuban

I buy whole coffee beans and I make my own coffee with either my French press, my ibrik (a coffee pot used for making traditional Turkish coffee), or my traditional Vietnamese coffee drip. I haven't been able to find a good hand grind coffee grinder, I would appreciate it if anyone had any suggestions since it sounds like many of you grind your own coffee.

I brew my own tea (not that Lipton or Nestea crap) using a traditional Moroccan tea kettle and serve it in my Turkish tea cups I bought in Istanbul.

I only buy micro-brew beers (almost always Belgian imports), and my roommate and I are planning on teaching ourselves how to brew our own beer this summer.

If I had the money to buy a car, I would buy a standard.

When I saw Gangs of New York, Liam Neeson's character used a straight razor, and I knew I had to get into it for all the reasons outlined above.

I get the best shave by using a straight. I also like sharp objects and find honing a knife, woodworking tool, or razor to be relaxing and fun.

Great thread title!

I feel like I have to keep my straight razor usage on the quiet. A lot of people definitely think that using a straight = you're a psychopath.
My personal reasons for using are..

(1) I love the idea that its a basic technology that people have been using for hundreds and hundreds of years. And you could pick up a razor hundreds of years old and still use it.
(2) You never feel more man than after a straight razor shave. You've literally cheated death with your skills.
(3)All the money saving and environment saving is some very nice icing on the cake.