Thread: straight razors on vacation

Thanks for the insights! I guess I'll just risk it. I don't want to go back to a cartridge for two months after having shaved straight for three.

I don't know what the laws are but common sense says if it's in a case with shaving soap and brush that you're carrying it as a tool and not a weapon. At least it gives a plausible reason to have it. The question is do customs officers have common sense?

Originally Posted by thuktunflishithy

I don't know what the laws are but common sense says if it's in a case with shaving soap and brush that you're carrying it as a tool and not a weapon. At least it gives a plausible reason to have it. The question is do customs officers have common sense?

That's what I figured, but you put it very nicely, do customs officers have common sense? I will be going through customs at least four times and I would like to go through each time without any trouble.

Still, they probably won't even check my bag, so I guess the risk of it even being found is not that great.

I travel a lot,

Never experienced a problem with a straight razor packed in checked luggage. However, I guess there's always a first time. Baggage does also go astray from time to time. If it's a short stay of a few days, I take a DE. If it's a longer stay, I take one of my less expensive straights.

My uncle, one of the people that got me into this, has been straight shaving for decades. He also travels alot for work and brings a blade along all the time, this was one of the things he warned me about. He has actually been asked by customs to unpack his luggage to show it a few times, however it was never a problem since it is indeed a tool as mentioned before.

Only once it got confiscated, he was traveling from Tanzania back to Holland carrying a TI with imitiation ivory and the customs couldn't figure out if it was real or not Very shameful since it was a beautiful blade though.

So unless it's any exotic material or if you pack it with heroin I suppose you should be fine!

Sounds like an opportunity to court trouble to me, simply because it's a blade, and you're in a foreign country. Might avoid a lot of hassle to just take a basic DE or carts for an overseas trip...

If you wanna bring 'em, go ahead.
I do quite a bit of travel with mine, no worries at all.
I've showed them to customs officers on several occasions, and no-one has any problems with that yet

It appears to me the only reasonable solution would be to buy a new straight in every country and mail it back to your self before leave the country?

Mdtn has the best solution by far!

It's the best excuse I can think of for owning a well honed Gold Dollar straight razor!! If they steal it, so what?? Still better than a DE!

Enjoy!
Jeff.