Thread: Did our grandfathers shave with blunt razors?

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?

I think the term was marketing but the move (away from straights and toward "safetys") was mainly societal: because it was the latest, greatest thing. It was seen as more high tech etc. A modern parallel was when people threw away (I know people who literally threw them away) their vinyl records when CDs came out. The buzz was that they "sound better," which they absolutely do NOT but that wasn't the reason so many people jumped ship. It was to be on the tech band wagon.

Edit: BTW I have all the old vinyl I bought as a kid, some from my parents and even some 78s from as far back as the 1890s. I have straight razors that are newer.

One you can cut throat. The second , you can only be scratched. That's the difference, dangerous - safe.

I used all my LP,s for shotgun practice

Both can cut a throat there hoss, a DE blade is a sharp tool, so really no safety, ask any kid who found his daddy,s DE blades and played with them

Originally Posted by tcrideshd

a DE blade is a sharp tool, so really no safety, ask any kid who found his daddy,s DE blades and played with them

Ha! I remember cutting myself more than once. Im a slow learner.

Originally Posted by tcrideshd

I used all my LP,s for shotgun practice

Both can cut a throat there hoss, a DE blade is a sharp tool, so really no safety, ask any kid who found his daddy,s DE blades and played with them

Oh man, not the ZZ Top and Allman Brothers I hope? Please tell me there was no Trower in there.

Yeah I sliced my fingers right up on Dad's DE when I was little.

Originally Posted by PaulFLUS

Oh man, not the ZZ Top and Allman Brothers I hope? Please tell me there was no Trower in there.

Yeah I sliced my fingers right up on Dad's DE when I was little.

Yep-I was about 3 when I took my Dad's Gillette SuperSpeed apart and cut the s*&t out of my finger in the middle of the night one time-the blood was everywhere! I was that curious kid who was always getting into trouble over it.

And every gun that was "put away safely" also got played with-thankfully no tragedies in that department. Funny, I'm a safety nut around guns now. My boys could both safely clear a large semi-auto by the time they were eight or so, and both shot the best groups every year at Scout camp after I taught them how to shoot (a little gratuitous bragging, sorry).

Originally Posted by Steve56

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?

Totally agree based on personal experience, not that a single example proves a point.

When I was a teen I had a Gillette adjustable DE. I didn’t quite tighten the head enough and the blade caught me on the neck leaving a cut about 6 inches long. It looked like I had tried to cut my head off.

I have never even come close to a cut like that with a straight razor.

I did the same thing on my cheek with a DE less than 5 years ago. I still have a scar from it...and I don't even get to say I got it fending off a mugger who was attempting to rob a group of nuns and orphans