Thread: If you transitioned from a double edge

If you transitioned from a double edge to a straight, why did you make the transition?

I belonged to B&B forum and kept reading about the good shaves with a straight and they had pictures of those nice looking razors so I had to give it a try. I also remember my grandfather shaving with one. He was 90 years old and his hand would shake and I wondered how he could shave without cutting himself. I also think it is the coolest man thing you can do.

bj

I always wanted to learn, since I was first shaving- they were the ultimate since they were so "dangerous" and unusual. A Paki blade that couldn't even remove the cream from skin was the first attempt.....several years later i tried again with the help of B&B and our wonderful community here... and here I am....

It's more fun, more relaxing, and to me more rewarding, since it is a 'dying' art that we, the few are continuing.

What they said

I got into it because of my father. When I started the DE thing, I was asking him if he still had any of his old DE razors. He taught me to shave with a DE 40 years ago or so. He said he had since gotten rid of them, but, he told me a story about returning from WWII and he had developed an interest in using a straight because while in Italy, he had seen all of the locals using them, and had many barber shave while there. When he got back to Arkansas, he went to the old home barber and bought 2 straights and had the barber hone them for him.

He put the razors away and never shaved with it because he just could not work up the nerve. He rummaged around and found them and presented them to me, along with a strop and barbers hone. All NOS and never used.

Well I am proud to say, that one of the razors was still shave ready, and after stropping, it is now my daily shaver! The other had a tiny nick, and is now on the way to one of our fine honemeisters to be added to my daily rotation.

Randy

It is the never-ending quest for the ultimate shave. There is something about wanting to master a razor that requires skill, attention to detail and proper razor prep. Plus my AD needed another avenue to grow.

I've given this a lot of thought since I've been shaving this way (Oct 2007) and although there are components that I can identify that are appealing/rewarding (pursuing the mastery of this art, the challenge, the great shaves, the slower pace, etc) , there is still a lot of the allure for me that I can't really put my finger on and can only say that in some ways I think it satisfies a base level desire to manipulate something that really shouldn't be handled (razor sharp piece of potentially dangerous steel). The blade really does command respect and some level of awe. Like fire in a way. You just can't get that with any other type of shaver. I've said it before (pre-crash) that every time I bring the blade up to my cheek just prior to the first pass, there's the little rush. I can't say there are any other daily routine activities that give me that consistently.

Cool stuff.

Chris L

Shaving my head and face with a 1 ton merkur and a assortment of blades ranging from Merkur Super , Gillette Platinum, Derby and my favorite Feather to name a few. You tend want to try something new. Having had straight razor shaves from barbers with feather disposables, it's a great change of pace. Now it's time to do it myself. That's all really.

I wrote a longer version of this in another thread, but the short of it is that I've got very thick facial hair and a DE just didn't cut it (pun intended). I figured going straight might mean I don't look stubbly right after I shave. So far, it's worked pretty well.

There is a certain degree of skill involved in shaving with a safety razor. There is a much larger degree of skill involved in shaving with a straight razor. There is an even larger degree of skill involved in creating and keeping an edge worth shaving with. It's the natural progression. We all have acquisition disorders, learning new skills is just one of them.