Thread: Did our grandfathers shave with blunt razors?

For the OP: One grandfather born in 1900, he used a coticule and a red pasted strop. The other grandfather born in 1926, used a soft arkie, a hard arkie, and a green pasted strop - in the 1980s he added a black arkie to the mix.

And someone near the beginning of the thread mentioned bronze razors from Egyptian times and they were probably dull. Bronze takes an exceptionally sharp edge, much sharper than steel. It just doesn't hold that edge for long. It would have to be honed weekly and probably replaced yearly.

Alex, I can remember getting my neck shaved as a little boy with a straight razor and my mother emphatically telling me to sit STILL. I remember being a little nervous seeing the razor like seeing that gigantic syringe the dentist used but not while being shaved. What I remember most is that it surprised me that the shaving cream was warm.
Cris in biblical stories people also shaved with flint razors. It was done either for mourning or because of cleansing rites.

I can’t help but think of the 1K challenge. Set the bevel strop and shave. I would not call those dull razors. If you added a pasted strop or two to the mix I’m sure it would be fine.

+1 RezDog.

This image was posted on another forum by a reputable guy (he’s a member here), as George Washington’s shave kit. A small coticule or maybe PDSO and a little pasted strop. It doesn’t really take a lot to maintain a razor.

Here’s a little video of this kit:

https://www.c-span.org/video/?c44825...ns-shaving-kit


Looks like a coticule to me.

In the USSR, there were no good stones . But still the barbers shaved. They used one bar of abrasive and after that the razor was passed on a strop with paste. The paste was used by GOI. It was the only thing that killed the razors. Over time, they turned out with a reverse smile.

My grandfathers, born in the 1880's, both shaved with straights. I remember coming across the razors one of them had in his old tool chest. Both quit using straights as soon as they could (and one was a joiner and could hone chisels, plane blades etc very well), and I think in large part there was an air of danger about them once the "safety razor" - which is, essentially, a marketing term rather than a statement of fact - came onto the market. No one thought of straight razors as dangerous when it was the only way to shave. But once you could buy a "safety razor" it became a matter of irresponsibility to have a straight razor in the same house as children. Attitudes change as a result of social judgement (one might note a parallel or two today). I think the standard practice for the ordinary man was to take his razor to the barber for honing, but even then it would likely get a couple of minutes on something less than a Swaty in most cases. So no wonder it was a single pass with the grain and call it good.

The so-called dangerous razor is a Barber's tool. But the razor, which began to be produced around the 1870s, which became the progenitor of the safety razor and was invented to facilitate self-shaving .

Originally Posted by drmoss_ca

No one thought of straight razors as dangerous when it was the only way to shave. But once you could buy a "safety razor" it became a matter of irresponsibility to have a straight razor in the same house as children.

An inquisitive child could still get cut badly with a safety razor too. With either type of razor the responsible thing to do was keep them stored safely out of harms way.

I wonder if it was that or the fact that the safety razor was so much less hassle to use and maintain. Straight razors use drastically fell off but some straight razors were still in use by the average Joe into at least the 1950s here.

Bob

Agree, there’s no razor that’s child safe.

I also disagree that a straight is more dangerous than a ‘safety razor’. I’ve not cut myself any more or worse with a straight than the old disposables that I used to use. Safety razor users have their own specialized vocabulary for the wounds that they inflict, which is notably absent in the SR community. So maybe the term ‘safety razor’ was largely marketing?