Thread: Ode to the Straight Razor Shave

Ode to the Straight Razor Shave

Fair shaver take heart as you travel this globe. Though your days be happy or sad,
When the edge is aright, and it graces your face, on that day, not all will be bad.

It’s only a shave, neither life nor ‘tis death. But pleasant it is when it’s right.
To start your day well with a straight razor shave will improve your mood just a mite.

Morning comes early, I wish it weren’t so – if only it started at ten!
But think of the pleasure the morning shave brings and awake so much easier then.

In times of the past ‘fore I fancied the straight and shaving was just a bland chore
I’d stumble from bed, wander down through the hall, and bounce off the bathroom door.

Some days I might shave, on others I might not, depending the mood in my head.
And then there were days, I’d simply just say “What the heck, I’m headin’ back to bed.”

Armed with a goo can and trash-able twin blade I’d squirt out the air-foam Gillette.
Then scrape it off quickly, without much finesse, and splash aftershave while still wet.

But now – oh the bliss of this wonderful thought – yes now, I shave with a straight!
Like men of the past, I’ve skill in my hands and boy, oh boy, it feels great!

I know how to strop and make the edge keen. I know how the razor to grasp.
I know how to lather and moisten my beard. I know what they knew in the past.

I have as an option what for them was tradition, In fact the only way that they had.
I choose the straight razor, with strop, brush and lather – such a great and resurging fad!

The blade how it glistens, the strop how it sings, my brush, such a froth it does whip.
With hot steamy water I warm up my mug and soak up my beard till it’s limp.

The fragrance is mellow and soothing and pleasing. It’s part of what makes it so grand.
The feel of the badger stroked over my whiskers is something not found in a can!

There’s the feel of the razor, just so on my skin (A fine line twix bliss and defeat!).
A past of persistence has yielded ‘nuff mastery to make for great shaves so complete.

Complete – with the extras, it’s more than a shave. It’s the proud simple skills with the tools.
It’s the pleasant revival o’ this fine old tradition though mere moderns may think me a fool.

Complete – with the feelings of doing this plain task in a very un-plain sort of way,
Of choosing the road much less traveled though some think my mind’s lost its way.

Oh well, they may wonder, or down right make fun of, this “crazy” tradition reborn
As I smile and forget them and reach for my razor made with Sheffield’s great steel and old horn.

Ah, yes…I’m reminded, as I think of this beauty with its age spots and nicks in the scales,
There’s nothing quite like it, this old Wade & Butcher o’er a hundred twenty years since it set sail.

‘Twas bought from a junk shop (or was it from eBay?). I cleaned it and sharpened it back
From its useless existence in dark-away places, now alive in my rotational rack.

I’ve this one and others; my strops and my stones, a brush made of badger so grand,
A couple of soaps, and a cream here and there, and a holder made with my own hands.

These things and still others are fun stuff to gather and gather them all I have surely!
But it’s the shaving itself that is why I endeavor and look forward to each morning so early.

The razors and hones and strops and the soaps, and more of each thing that I crave
Are simply the tools and many temptations that serve up a straight razor shave!

Well done, sir!

-whatever

-Lou

from Idaho....not Ohio, not Iowa

Originally Posted by scarface

Well done, sir!

-whatever

-Lou

from Idaho....not Ohio, not Iowa

Thanks.

Do you get that Iowa/Idaho/Ohio confusion? Like I'll meet someone and tell them I'm from Iowa. And they say something like, "Oh, yes, Iowa...I have a good friend who lives in Boise." As some sage says...'whatever'

- Dale

Yeah, well, everyone knows about the Idaho Cornhuskers, the Iowa Buckeyes and those fabulous Ohio potatoes!

-whatever

-Lou

In the spirit of the original post, I will set my reply in rhyme

Your ode is so cool.
You're clearly no fool.
(I think, my good man, that you stuck it!)

For me rhyme is hard.
God knows I'm no bard.
(At the end is where I tend to ....um.... mess it up somewhat)

Very well done ode Dale

James.

Originally Posted by Jimbo

In the spirit of the original post, I will set my reply in rhyme

Your ode is so cool.
You're clearly no fool.
(I think, my good man, that you stuck it!)

For me rhyme is hard.
God knows I'm no bard.
(At the end is where I tend to ....um.... mess it up somewhat)

Very well done ode Dale

James.

Not bad yourself......











....Shortfella!

-whatever

-Lou

There once was an ode to straight shaving
A morning ritual we're craving
Now rhymes can turn naughty
With jokes from the potty
But our poet was clearly behaving.

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