Thread: Why?

So, I was just wondering, what was it that made you all become interested in straight razors? Was it the closeness of the shave? The nostalgia? The reduction of irritation?

I'll personally admit that when others have asked me what caused me to become interested, I've pointed out all the benefits of straight razor shaving I've read about. Very few of them actually had any bearing on my interest, though. Mostly for me it was nostalgia. I'm a bit of a young fogey at heart. I've always had a bit of a nagging interest to try striaght shaving, but I was always under the impression it was no longer done because it was incredibly dangerous to do. When I discovered that it really wasn't, I immedietly started lurking forums and eventually ordered myself a starter razor that I am very excitedly waiting for.

There's just a whole lot about the concept that appeals to me. Like pipe smoking, it's a bit of a lost art. Something that very few people will ever enjoy again. A skill that the vast majority of people lack. Then you get in to the senses, I mean, a straight razor is a beautiful tool, and I literally can't wait to hear the sound of a straight razor running over a strop and eventually a hone.

So, what about you? Was it a practical decision, or a latent love that just had to be woken?

it's dangerous and cool looking. that's 95% of the attraction right there. the other 5% is that I like doing things the old fashioned way, e.g. I use a fountain pen to write and a reel mower on my lawn, etc.

To save money!!!

No really that was my first motivation then it became to learn as kill that very few have. I like learning the old way of doing things, quite often it takes more skil but is nearly as fast and often more effective than the modern way.

It's an easy way to beat inflation. Inflated prices, inflated quality, inflated marketing and advertising, and inflated results attached to disposables coupled with the straight razor that a friend gave me a couple of years ago and a recent brush with cheap knock-off disposables I wasted $$ on from eBay pretty much shoved me into shaving with a straight.

The cool part about it for me is that I can keep using the same blade over and over and can know that it will last for years. Isn't that uncommon for people on low budgets these days in the USA? Everything I can buy for $20 is going to fall apart within 6 months but my $20 razor is going to get the job done for as long as the job needs getting done.

I'm a young fogey. I have an odd sense of endearment to the old ways and old things. I love classic cars, old fashion (suits, hats, etc), and the simpler ways of things like a straight razor. It wasn't until I started that I found out that it was a better shave Part of it seems to just be the style of it. Things had a certain sense of flair in the olden days as compared to today. For instance, compare a set of 10 straights to a set of 10 modern razors. All 10 straights will be unique while 8 of the 10 modern ones will be a Fusion, with the two remaining a disposable BIC. Going along that same path, shaving with a straight is just damn relaxing. Instead of a task I have to do, it's something that I want to do and take time doing it.

That's true too, I suppose. I've never really noticed a price problem, as my grandfather was pretty good with a buck and bought razor blades by the case when they came on sale. He died with a pretty huge quantity left. I got his Gillette Tech, as my father always used bic original disposables, and at 24, I've still got nine packs of blades left. :P

Plus, the way I get in to hobbies, I don't kid myself in to thinking this is going to be cheaper in the long run.

Too often I found myself watching old movies wondering whether or not people shaved like that anymore.

And too, the danger aspect helps. You know, if you sneeze while shaving, you'll be without a head.

For me too, it's partly a kind of nostalgia--sort of wanting to have the best of the old days: you know, the style and the way things were built to last, without the racism, homophobia, antisemitism, high infant mortality, and likelihood of an agonizing death from peritonitis if your appendix happened to burst too far from town. Just to keep things in perspective. But yep, I push an old reel mower in summer, appreciate a good fedora, smoke a pipe and enjoy old-guy drinks like manhattans and shots of straight bourbon, sometimes prepare a manuscript with my manual typewriter, and am looking forward to getting a paycheck or two past tax time so I can get my old Parker fountain pen repaired.

There's also the ecological aspect, which has a kind of esthetic and spiritual dimension for me--I just viscerally hate, as well as intellectually dislike, the avalanche of disposable junk we're getting buried by, stuff that can't be repaired and doesn't give the pleasure and satisfaction of handling a well-made thing even when it is new, stuff that is designed--designed!--to last a year or two, if that, and then be added to the landfill. And in the long run shaving with a straight is going to save money, if I don't get sucked into the various acquisition disorders.

P.S. and apropos of nothing, I love that little rant guy, I could sit and watch him for hours ...

Originally Posted by rastewart

And in the long run shaving with a straight is going to save money, if I don't get sucked into the various acquisition disorders.

Pfft, not gonna happen. Curiosity always gets you in the end. I wonder if X razor will feel different, x strop will fit me better, x hones to at least know how. I saw a member here go from learning to shave to actually making razors.

I also like to do it simply because of the looks I get when I tell people. Some people have extreme admiration, others just think you're a loony. It's always fun to say "it's a great feeling to shave with something that could easily kill you". My favorite though is when talking to any medical person "My razor is sharper than any scalpel you'll ever find".

What's almost sad is that my Zeepk (which I used to break in my DMT) is sharper than the sharpest knives I've ever used, including many scalpels.

For me it was a mixture of nostalgia and saving money (at least I THOUGHT I would save money ). I had collected double edge razors
over the years, but was using a muck3.

I went to the local Wal-Mart and started to pick up blades for the muck and decided heck no, that I wasn't going to pay that much anymore.

So I started searching for the de blades....couldn't find them, (I've since learned that Wally sticks them in the MIDDLE of all the disposables so that they are harder to locate ). When I couldn't find the de's I decided then and there that it was time to take the plunge, so when I got home I hit the internet to try to find information on how to use a straight, that's how I found SRP, and B&B.