Thread: Then and Now

So as I was honing razors this morning I got to thinking... Ohhhhh no

I realize that for many of us we have different reasons for using a straight razor, and they vary quite a bit... But the one thing that most all of us agree on is that they give a better shave...

So my thought of the day was...

Did Straight Razors always give a better shave???

We have way more access to much better Stones, Hones, Strops, Brushes, Soaps and Creams.. We, the everyday man, have taken straight razor shaving way beyond what the everyday man was capable of doing back in the golden age of straight razor shaving... Many of us treat ourselves to a "Royal Shave" everyday now, where our Grandparents and Great Grandparents simply shaved..
I started thinking of the difference in edge comfort from when I started 30 years ago and used a Pure White Arkansas stone once a week to up keep my edges, I never even knew the term bevel set let alone what it really meant...

Now I use the best stones available, to get the ultimate, in keen and smooth... I use High Tech Pastes and the best strops I can afford, just for minuscule gains in comfort...

So that brought me back to the original pondering of "Did they always shave this good, or was the shave just average, and that is why King Gillette took over the industry so easily?????

Thoughts, Opinions, ????

I have always assumed that the average straight razor user in the late 19th/early 20th centuries probably did not get as good a shave as someone with a safety razor with a fresh blade. Look at the condition of some of the eBay specials that have survived and picture yourself using them as is. They were probably retired from active use pretty much as we find them today, worn down blades, big frowns and all. Sure they were probably sharper, but I would bet that if you limited yourself to what Joe Public had available for honing they still weren't that great.

Glen, I think the ulitmate reason in the overthrow of the straight razor in the mid 20th century is mainly a thing of convenience. After America finally out of a war mindset and into a cultural/counter cultural set, we notice that technological advances and more focus on industry pulled people from the slower, focused way of life into a more business/money run society. "time is money" became the catch phrase of the time. This call for the need of a quick meal (McDonalds and fast food on the rise), an expedited route of travel (more focus on expanding the highways), and a quick shave (the disposable razor). So on an entrepeurial stand, King Gillette made a great business at the right time. However, to us "purists" it came with a price in luxury. As a student of hsitroy i can only give you this standpoint in time, it may not be the right answer or even the answer youre looking for, but it was a sigjn of change in America.

Alternatively, the type of shave is debatable. As you had mentioned, it was just shaving. We consider it a relaxing part of our day... to them it was something else that needed to be done before work. Now the question to ask is, "do we do it to revive a simpler time past, or for the sheer adrenaline of having a razor sharp blade at your throat, or just to save a few dollars?" Everyone is different. I'm sure we all do it because it brings back the idea of simplicity and taking time to enjoy things. In that mindset you must keep in mind, the people who shaved this way in the start had nothing to compare it to, so technology enhanced a practice that was unchanged since pre-history. This is why it was welcomed as much as it was. Time changes things, it's up to people to keep that record of things past, and not let the great ones become forgotten.

I know it is a long post, but i figured i'd throw out my ideas. Feel free to criticize.

Originally Posted by joshb1000

So on an entrepeurial stand, King Gillette made a great business at the right time. However, to us "purists" it came with a price in luxury. .

That was my question, we now say "at the price of luxury" -BUT- was it ???... I agree with most everything else you wrote, but was thinking about just that one element really..

Very well written post BTW, I never mind reading the long ones ....

I guess we'd have to ask some older gentelmen that would remember the transition, I just called my father to ask about straight shaving, in regards to this post as a matter of fact. He said, "You chose to go back to straight shaving?!" "I was just happy when i didnt have to hone and strop every other week when my razor was finally on it way out. Once the disposables came out it was like a dream, no more extra time spent on the chore of the prep." However i do remember him emphasizing on, "Since the disposables came out the shave quality has gone downhill fast, and i remember i used to debate going back to a DE or straight, but I STILL remember why i left it.. took to much time to hone a 100 year old razor, because there was nothing else around." Before he got off the phone he said, "enjoy the shave though, it'll be the best you ever had...JUST TOO MUCH DAMN WORK!"

So needless to say he has a sense of humor about it, but like we had all said it was a changing time, everyone wanted something new and easier, but many still agree on the quality and closeness of the shave itself. I dont know if that answers anything but hope it helps.

I know that I started straight shaving as a way to force myself to shave. I truly hated shaving as I couldn't stand the cost, monotony and especially the razorburn. I found that if I were to start shaving that I would have to make it an essential part of my life and therefore a hobby.

I currently own (somewhere) a rusted out pile of steel that once shaved my grandfather's face. When I first talked to my grandmother about his shaving she informed me that he had to shave everyday for his job and he found that this was the only method of shaving that his skin could survive. He had very sensitive skin. She told me that he used a strop daily and had the local barber hone it once a month on all I can surmise was a monstrous coticule. With this method he still had to replace the blade once a year for the fact that they lived in a very humid environment surrounded by the sea. From what I understand it was considered his only luxury in his life as they were extremely poor. My uncle learned the ways from my grandfather, but has long forgotten as a straight razor does not last long on a fishing boat and, let's face it, not a great idea in the Alaska seas.

Robert Doyle in "Collecting Straight Razors" says that the full hollow came to dominate the market shortly after it's introduction in the mid 1800s. So barbers and Joe citizen were looking for improvements in the process. I suspect that the average guy shaved himself back when the straight was the only game in town. Going to the barber was probably a treat enjoyed once in awhile. A shave was a quarter and many guys in those days made ten cents per hour.

From what I've read about Gillette they darn near went broke at first. IIRC the thing that really popularized the DE was WW1. The men were issued straights and DEs. The DE was easier to handle all the way round and the replaceable blade more convenient, especially for troops in the field. Chris Moss wrote in his tutorial on using a straight that he bets the men back then did one pass and called it good. I think he is probably right.

The Gillette wasn't the first safety razor BTW. IIRC it was Kampfe Brothers which I believe later became the Star. Anyhow, I began shaving in the early 1960s with a Gillette. At that time their best blade was the Super Blue and it was terrible. I can still remember how glad I was when they came out with the Platinum Plus or the Stainless. I don't recall which came first but they were a vast improvement over the Super Blue blades.

I think...from what I've heard that they did always give a better shave. The only person I know that shaved with a straight years ago is my Dad..he's 81yrs old now and still says everytime I show him one of mine that that was the best shaves he ever had. They just simply did it different back then..they made do with what they had. If you really think about it it's not really that different today...some of us have barber hones to maintain our edges or use tallow soap and think those are luxurious...yet back then those were just basics. Well...thats my two cents

Back in the 60's, when I was a kid, I went with my dad to my great granfather's house where my dad would strop and give him a straight razor shave. I inherited from my dad all of my great grandfather's razors in exactly the last state they were in when he died.

It has struck me that all of them were in such a condition to give just an average shave compared to how I shave now using the best of everything money can buy and using the collective information from people here at SRP that have dedicated time and resources beyond anything my great grandfather could have dreamed of.

I have to believe that my great grandfather enjoyed "just a shave" and not the BBS that I get everyday, and really won't tolerate much less. When I take my first stroke, if my razor is not shaving like a laser, I move on. If my lather isn't perfect, I will start over. If I spoil on an aftershave, I try something different.
From what I remember of my dad shaving my great grandfather, these were never even an option.

Never having experienced a barber's straight razor shave, I cannot tell you what that might have been like, but my dad's cousin was a barber and treated him to a straight razor shave on my dad's wedding day in 1958. My dad sais it was the best of his life.

So I suspect that the average man got an average daily shave, and I suspect a barber gave an excellent shave since that was the main tool and he had tons of practice.
All speculation on my part of course.

Originally Posted by joshb1000

. Now the question to ask is, "do we do it to revive a simpler time past, or for the sheer adrenaline of having a razor sharp blade at your throat, or just to save a few dollars?" .

Save a few dollars?