As "old school" as straight razor shaving is by nature, there is a decidedly modern aspect to it all. A lot of the most active topics in the SRP are about the latest and greatest of this old practice of straight razor shaving. Common modern themes amongst us range from Colleen's soaps to Maestro Livi’s masterpieces. There's micron-measured abrasives, microscopes, Dremmels, CA finishes, mastering eBay and every kind of soaps, creams, and fragrances one can imagine.

All of these areas are great and the breadth of topics and interests is a real strength of the SRP community. Threaded into this SRP tapestry are some "old school" or more traditional topics; barber hones, barber books, old strops to name a few. I'd like to float an idea out there for creating an "Old School" or "Traditional" forum in the SRP. Though traditional threads are sprinkled around, it’s hard to sort through things to find them. The point of the new forum would be to draw these old school topics to a more visible surface for those of us who find that to be a big part of why we do this. Call the forum what you will, call us Old Farts if you want (though I'm not that old and I suspect there are some gen-Xers in the SRP who might be Old Farts at heart). This would be a place within SRP to post questions, findings, and exchange what we collectively know, are learning and want to learn about straight razor shaving in its most traditional way.

Please don’t misunderstand, I am not criticizing the modern side of straight razor shaving. Those of us with more traditional leanings aren't automatically against all things modern nor are we always purely traditional. I'm just wondering if there are others out there like me that would like to dig deeper into the past details, traditions, knowledge and skills of this great old ordinary thing we are all so fascinated with. A lot of times, posts in the old school forum might just be referrals to other areas with relevant posts. However, I think presented with a place to plant these traditional posts, a lot of information and conversations would grow. Anyone else out there see a value in another section in SRP dedicated to the traditional old school point of view?

Here are just some of the kinds of things I'm thinking would find a home in this new forum:

  • dating our implements (razors, hones, strops, mugs)
  • traditional materials and methods for maintaining our implements
  • barber tips, tricks, and lore
  • barber's manuals
  • learning the art of shaving from your father, grandfather
  • passing on the art of shaving to your sons and grandsons
  • honing exclusively with traditional barber hones
  • understanding more about the methods, habits, materials of the self-shaved man at home...
(...hey, if we can read all about each other's bathroom habits of today, what's so strange about wondering what the details were then???...but not too many details )

What'd'ya think? Anyone else thinking like I'm thinking?


- Dale