Thread: How many people straight shave?

It turns out a longtime friend took up straights a few years before I did, and one of my wife's former coworkers also used one. I suspect there are more of us out there than you'd think.

I first started when I was about 16, I had purchased a Feathered Str8 and went to town tearing my face up and then I lost the razor and well 16 years later I picked it up, but it was not without an influence. I had watched Sweeny Todd and well aside from the mass murder portions of the film, the feeling started to come back, however I was still on the fence. Then I was watching Battlestar Galactica and saw Giaus Baltar using one. It was like a sign from above. The next day I did a internet search and well here I am.

Bottom line is that I think there are far more people that use str8's in one form or another (feathered etc . . .) Far more than 10k in the US alone. Sure I'm going on a hunch, but with all the youtube videos and sites dedicated to Str8's and its cousins; well you get the picture.

Originally Posted by Chrisl

Good question. I would venture to guess under 10,000 nationwide.

Chris L

I think this is way low Chris. Hell there are 5000 members here on SRP alone and as others have said, I started with a straight many moons before SRP even existed. I have no reason for saying this but I'd bet there are at least half a million.

I would think the question can be posed to the sellers of razors and strops. They would have some sort of database on which an educated guess might be based.

I have met many people who have had a straight razor shave while on holiday, but never met someone in person who uses a straight razor.
I like it that way in some ways, as you can pick up razors for very small outlay. To most people straight razors are out-moded junk.
The downside to this exclusivity(spelling?again??) is there are verry few new reasonable priced razors out there.

I've found when talking to co-workers and the like that many foreign-born people in the U.S. have at least seen a family member shave with a straight or feather. I would tend to agree with the poster who said closer to half a million, assuming some of those family members reside here and many may not even have internet access or may not browse in english, I'd say there are definitely far more than most would think at first. Income and internet access could be a factor as well... By the way, I think everyone knows this thread is about numbers and not ethnicity, but in case it needs to be said, there it is.


Also, slightly off-topic, can anyone who's been here since before the theatrical release of Sweeney Todd (Johnny Depp, not stage, obviously) guesstimate how much this site has grown? It seems to me that we gain at least two or three and often more new members a day and, mathematically speaking, it can not have always been this constant.


Quizzically,

Adam

There are only 11 straight shavers but we each have like 40 user names.

This is the second site Lynn has created (maybe third?) and about 1/2 the members changed over from the old "Yahoo" site. So what your seeing here is a portion of the total people.

The site has grown slightly faster than normal over the last year but not too much I don't think. I don't think it was the movie that brought people here, but it could have been I suppose.

Since I'm sort of chartered to read every post in every thread, I can tell you my job gets harder every month. It used to be easier to do the same thing. Now I can barely keep up.

Maybe a poll that reveals "how many members know of a non-member straight shaver or more?"

Just an afterthought

I gave a speech one evening to a smallish group of Toastmasters a year ago. To start the speech I held up a straight and asked who knew what it was. Half (10-15 ) of the hands went up. I asked who had used one. All hands but one were hastily withdrawn. So, out of the 25-30 people in our room, one was a current user and one was either current or former. Statistically speaking that's not nearly a large enough sample to form a conclusion.

However, a friend at work is leaving to re-join the ministry, and we had discussed shaving from time to time. He was curious about straights, and I gave him a W&B as a kind of going-away gift. I figure the Lord will watch over him since he'll be back doing the Lord's work. I think the number is significant and growing.

Originally Posted by CDpyroNme

Also, slightly off-topic, can anyone who's been here since before the theatrical release of Sweeney Todd (Johnny Depp, not stage, obviously) guesstimate how much this site has grown?

I'm almost embarrassed to say that Sweeny Todd played a part in my decision to join this board and get into straight razor shaving. It's always been something I was interested in, but in a sort of abstract way. When my sweetie and I saw Sweeny Todd, we drooled over the razors and the holster, and shortly after that my sweetie got his first razor and asked if I'd be interested in shaving him. At that point my abstract interest in straights became tangible and I started doing some research, finally ending up here. (And soon my straights will outnumber his!)

So I'm sure the movie influenced a bunch of folks here, but I couldn't guess at how many.

Originally Posted by icedog

I think this is way low Chris. Hell there are 5000 members here on SRP alone and as others have said, I started with a straight many moons before SRP even existed. I have no reason for saying this but I'd bet there are at least half a million.

I would think the question can be posed to the sellers of razors and strops. They would have some sort of database on which an educated guess might be based.

That's one in 600, could be, my guess is 100,000 users or 1 in 3,000. I think the true number is closer to that.

Sellers of strops could be illuminating, for with a few exceptions, you can't easily shave without one and most vintage strops rotted away while contemporary razors can soldier on.