Thread: Why Do You Use a Straight Razor?

What originally got me into it was probably the nostalgia of the straight blades and frustration with multi-blade razors. I'll be honest, part of it really was James Bond too...I think we all know the part. I was becoming fairly fed up with multi-blade razors and every time I went to the store, I would get just a little bit more angry with the prices on blades. Furthermore, as much as I travel, I keep on running into places that don't stock the particular brand or model that I have...and are the blades cross-compatible? Noooooo. So I would end up buying a new razor...and the associated blades, only to find out that my next location didn't stock those blades. At any rate, as I began learning how to shave with a straight razor, a couple of other bonuses appeared:

- no more ingrown hairs. I don't know the mechanics of it, but I would always get ingrown hairs along the jawline with my multi-blade. No more!
- like others on the boards, I LOVE tinkering, and this gives me a great excuse to work with, possibly, 100 year old pieces of art
- it truly is fun to shave in public bathrooms with them (it really turns heads), or bust out the strop in the tent with all your buds. Usually, lots of questions follow.
- despite the fact that she vehemently refuses to let me teach her how to shave me with the blade (she's scared of it), my wife really does like the closeness of the shave
- with a 2-year old in the house (and another on the way), this gives me a reason to shut the door and have some calm time to myself. Nice shower, turn on some tunes, get the blade ready, lather up, and shave away.

Originally Posted by Kalloran

...as I began learning how to shave with a straight razor, a couple of other bonuses appeared:

- no more ingrown hairs. I don't know the mechanics of it, but I would always get ingrown hairs along the jawline with my multi-blade. No more!
- like others on the boards, I LOVE tinkering, and this gives me a great excuse to work with, possibly, 100 year old pieces of art
- it truly is fun to shave in public bathrooms with them (it really turns heads), or bust out the strop in the tent with all your buds. Usually, lots of questions follow.
- despite the fact that she vehemently refuses to let me teach her how to shave me with the blade (she's scared of it), my wife really does like the closeness of the shave
- with a 2-year old in the house (and another on the way), this gives me a reason to shut the door and have some calm time to myself. Nice shower, turn on some tunes, get the blade ready, lather up, and shave away.

All excellent reasons. I often cite the last reason to people who don't understand how there can be a website frequented by men who are passionate about... SHAVING! It's because we live in a world that doesn't easily allow meditation, contemplativeness, and that offers so many ways to fill our days with false accomplishments (higher scores on video games, updates to Facebook, etc.) This is real, it affords privacy we can otherwise not seize from our days, it's calming.

About the ingrowns... they're favored by multiblade and electric razors because of the touted "lift-and-cut" effect. One blade snags and pulls the barb out a little bit, then the next blade snicks it off so short that the cut end disappears below the skin's surface. The tiny wound heals over and the hair, with nowhere to go, curls up inside, inflames, all that fun stuff. With a single blade that just cannot happen. If you pressed really, really hard you could maybe get close, but by that time you'd be filleting your face anyway and you'd get an ingrown jawbone.

Sweet dreams!

Originally Posted by roughkype

All excellent reasons. I often cite the last reason to people who don't understand how there can be a website frequented by men who are passionate about... SHAVING! It's because we live in a world that doesn't easily allow meditation, contemplativeness, and that offers so many ways to fill our days with false accomplishments (higher scores on video games, updates to Facebook, etc.) This is real, it affords privacy we can otherwise not seize from our days, it's calming.

About the ingrowns... they're favored by multiblade and electric razors because of the touted "lift-and-cut" effect. One blade snags and pulls the barb out a little bit, then the next blade snicks it off so short that the cut end disappears below the skin's surface. The tiny wound heals over and the hair, with nowhere to go, curls up inside, inflames, all that fun stuff. With a single blade that just cannot happen. If you pressed really, really hard you could maybe get close, but by that time you'd be filleting your face anyway and you'd get an ingrown jawbone.

Sweet dreams!

That was a complete surprise to me, that there were shaving communities out there that discussed, exchanged ideas, provided instructional videos, and helped new converts learn the ropes of traditional wet shaving.

Aloha!

Old thread but I thought I'd toss my razor in the ring.

I witnessed with eyes as big as saucers my Grandfather straight shaving as a child. I'd sit with him at his kitchen table with basin and mirror and watch him meticulously lather and strop the razor and then artfully shave his beard with his classic Solingen. He passed when I was about 8 years old. I inherited his Solingen when I was 18 and started shaving with it as soon as I got it honed. I couldn't wait. I had a cousin that was 20 years my senior that was a Barber that shaved. He took me under his wing and taught me to strop and use a straight razor.

I retired his razor when I was about 28 and could afford my own straight razors. His old Solingen now it sits in a showcase with my grandfather's gold pocket watch.

This is why I shave with a straight. Watching my Grandfather wield a straight razor when I was a child set the wheels in motion. Smooth and amazing shaves continued my passion for straight razor shaving since then.

-Zip

Why do I use a straight razor? Simple: I use a straight razor to save money. Plus the fact that it is old school and very cool. (I always wanted to be cool).

I had been looking for a new stone to sharpen my hunting knives and found SRD. I bought a Dovo Best and a week or month later I shaved with it. That was the start of my wet shaving and I have not looked back (nor saved any money)

I use one because the whole process is “me” time. I know thats not in style right now, or maybe ever was, but in my life i need some time that is only mine. Stropping, lathering, shaving 2 or 3 passes, and then touching up, followed by the cold rinse and aftershave splash is just all mine.

I would love to have lived in the slower time when SRs were the way you did it...and i can when im shaving with one,

Originally Posted by PLJ

1. Nothing like shaving with a custom straight
2. To find and restore something a hundred years old a put a edge on it and acutlly shave with it.
3. Love all the different sents and creams,lotions ext..
4. Pulling that bad boy out at the hotel spa,gym and watching the reaction to all those looking.
5. My wife finds it super HOT

Short, succinct and to the point, pretty much sums it up for me perfectly.....

Aloha!

Yes, that's a great list by PLJ Phrank.

#1 - I agree 100 percent and have since I was 18

#2 - Restoration and honing and stroping to shave ready is really awesome indeed.

#3 - Lotions, soaps and shaving supplies are part of the enjoyment, that's for sure.

#4 - Reminded me of when I shaved at my health club with a straight about 10 years ago. Within about 2 minutes I had about 8 guys around me at the shaving counter. I'd been straight razor shaving for a very long time, but when you suddenly have an audience watching every single wisker sliced by your straight edge, it can be a little unnerving. And the barrage of questions and wise cracks. "What happens if you cut your jugular?" "Can you slice tomatos with that thing?" "I didn't know they still made those things" "How do you keep from cutting yourself?" and so on. I switched to a DE at my health club after that. And I still get comments about using a DE.

#5? I suppose SWMBO finds it a bit "Manly" but not HOT or SEXY. She certainly does appricate a BBS face after shaving with my straight.

-Zip

Originally Posted by Haroldg48

I use one because the whole process is “me” time. I know thats not in style right now, or maybe ever was, but in my life i need some time that is only mine. Stropping, lathering, shaving 2 or 3 passes, and then touching up, followed by the cold rinse and aftershave splash is just all mine.

I would love to have lived in the slower time when SRs were the way you did it...and i can when im shaving with one,

Aloha!

I agree my good man. And I often pine for what it might have been like living in a slower time - like the gay 90s. The 1890s. Yet, I more than appreciate the antiseptics and antibiotics we have today, and the lack of Anthrax and Lockjaw and Sepsis and other diseases our forefathers could get from shaving. So I'm glad I live when I do, but I retreat to the shave den to "pretend" it's 1890.

-Zip