Thread: Help required with lecture on straight razors!

Straight Razor shaving has noticeably increased my confidence. When I first expressed my interest in Straight Razor shaving to my friends and family most of them were horrified I received very little support in my endeavor. I bought a straight anyway and even though I'm new to this I'm getting better and better with every shave. I am proving everyone wrong and at the same time I am learning that I can do whatever I feel like and excel at it if I put in the time and effort. I realized that following the group (disposables and electrics) is not always the best choice.
Straight Razor shaving has taught me that putting 5 or 10 more minutes into something as mundane as shaving makes it an art and an accomplishment and this same train of thought is now following me into my education. Putting in an extra 5 or 10 minutes into doing my homework neatly makes me feel proud to have completed something, not the usual OH MY GOD I'M GLAD IT'S DONE feeling I use to have with the subpar work I put out.
Straight Razor shaving has taught me that new isn't always better and that the easier quicker route is not always the best.

I would add the following:

1. A straight razor gives the perfect shave because that is what it was designed to do, i.e., the problem it was intended to solve. A DE safety razor gives the next best shave but it isn't the perfect shave because the problem it was intended to solve was different; it was intended to solve the problem of how to produce a disposable blade cheaply and efficiently. King Gillette did not set out to create a better way to shave, he set out to produce something disposable that everyone had to buy, the fact that he decided to make a razor was secondary. More modern cartridge razors are just so much marketing hype piggybacked on the original concept of a disposable razor.

2. In my opinion, every man needs to do something macho. One of my friends races Corvettes, others skydive, collect guns, go hunting or play basketball. For me, it's risking death and dismemberment every morning when I shave.

3. Straight razor shaving is also a way to connect with the world of craftsmen. Honing the razor, stropping it on leather are manual skills that no longer exist in an age when everything else is digital.

My reasons:

I hated shaving whether I used an electric shaver, DE or a cartridge one. The reason: I alwas felt I could have done a better job. Never really BBS.

OTOH it is also a way of saying: I do not like our economy based on disposables and wasting resources.

Finally it is a challenge to get the most out of razor, hone and strop. It makes you feel self-sufficient in a way.

Shaving takes me longer nowadays, I get up 10 minutes earlier and enjoy it every day!

Most of these will have been mentioned by others but for the sake of your lecture I thought you might want to do some statistics or rating the importance of individual reasons by the number of occurences in the answers.

Good luck!

Great information - I am compiling the answers as suggested so keep the thoughts coming as it helps to have a wide sample. Once compiled I will post what the commonest themes were etc. I suppose I could have gone for a poill but that would have narrowed things down a fair deal. All this quality qualitative stuff is really helping.

Thanks again
Stephen

Just a quicky, I'll PM you with a longer one I've started. The hated shaving thing resonates here. The number of times I had shaved (DE-Electric-disposable-replaceable) on successive days between the age of 14-44 were few and far between. Hated the feel after, the task, all aspects of the shave. Shaving really was something that I had to do between beards and then, 3 days later, I had to do it again.

Straights had always appealed, the idea of them anyway. Suppose I could say it was the 'green' aspect but if I'm honest was more the notion of having a tool that worked and kept on working for longer than a week (or, in the case of electric razors, longer than about 5 minutes). The 'history' was part of it too. I wanted to think that such an obvious task had been perfected when everything that I'd been using was so far from perfected and felt that, perhaps, a straight razor fitted the bill. It does.

I have always been fascinated with how people went about their lives in days gone past. Just the everyday things. And for a man you can't get more everyday and mundane than shaving. That is what initially pushed me toward straights. Other things, such as better shaves, self-sufficiency, carbon-footprints etc just followed from there.

I smile a lot when I read our posts here, actually. We have a strange juxtaposition of the old and the new - modern technology applied to antiquated shaving practices. It makes perfect sense to do so, but I still get a smile out of it all the same.

James.

I got started in straight shaving many, many years ago because I was in the military and my job involved melding with indigenious people for many months on end. I could never take enough cartridge blades. Buying locally involved very low quality products.

Back in those days we stropped on tire rubber and used barber hones. I was once asked by a very poor local if he could have my cartridge razor (disposable blade on its 10 shave) when I was "done" with it. I gave it to him and he shaved with it for a few months. I decided I could make do with just my straight for a few months. Back then I didn't really understand honing so the shaves were just so-so.

Now, 25+ years later I'm more interested in searching for the most perfect shave imaginable. I've had a few shaves with a straight where I've been left BBS with skin that felt "new born" and have been striving to unlock the secrets to more of those types of shaves. I've almost figured it out. Some of my most interesting thoughts are usually those that run counter to "conventional wisdom" of this and other shaving forums.

I'm working on my Masters in Education and I really enjoy the teaching and learning part of straight shaving. I'm going to be putting together a series of instructional tutorials for my Masters Thesis and portfolio and I enjoy reading the posts on here a whole lot to support that endeavor. I've taught several classes on honing and shaving and enjoy that part a lot. My objective will be to eliminate the learning curve associated with straight shaving. Should be an interesting year for me.

Originally Posted by AFDavis11

I'm working on my Masters in Education and I really enjoy the teaching and learning part of straight shaving. I'm going to be putting together a series of instructional tutorials for my Masters Thesis and portfolio and I enjoy reading the posts on here a whole lot to support that endeavor. I've taught several classes on honing and shaving and enjoy that part a lot. My objective will be to eliminate the learning curve associated with straight shaving. Should be an interesting year for me.

I look forward to reading your conclusions when they are complete.

Me too!

James.

I'm really just a newbie to the whole straight razor thing, but I've been finding myself connecting more and more with the past than the present or future (for certain things).

Firstly, I think society in general has lost an appreciation for art, and for me, shaving with a straight really is very artisan in nature - much like the Japanese tea ceremonies. Something that requires focus, attention and patience - far too much in this world these days is about instant gratification. There is also a sense of accomplishment when shaving with a straight, versus how I used to feel about shaving prior - as though it was a nuisance. We've gotten far too reliant on aids and are losing focus on skills (think of how many sensors and anti-whatever are now in your cars, versus even as far back as only 15 years ago!), it's making us all lazier than we need to be.

Second, when (if) I have a son, I'd like to be able to teach him this same art, while teaching him patience, focus and the importance of paying attention. I'd also like to be able to pass something down to him that he can then pass along to his children, etc. Family history maintained in not only an heirloom, but in the art of using the heirloom.