Thread: Barbers notch

We cannot begin to overestimate the impact on straight razor shaving that Judson "Lefty" McKensington has had. It's actually a somewhat cautionary tale, as the actions of one man, and the stories perpetrated by him have colored all that has come after for generations, that we are still to this day, trying to get to the bottom of.

So far we have Lefty as:
The originator of the reason for the Barber's notch use in razors.
The inventor of Bay Rum
The originator of the outright lie of canvas stropping heating the razor's edge.

Let's see what other tangled webs Mr. McKensington has woven.....


Lefty's shop continued doing a rather brisk business, based largely on his former reputation as a skillful barber garnered before his fall into debauchery.

Now for some time, old Lefty held off on hitting the sauce until after noon, to try and keep some semblance of decency. So, his morning customers would actually recieve a pretty decent shave, whereas his afternoon customers were likely to be subject to whatever Fate had in store for them in the chair of the barber with the red shot eyes...

As has been seen so many times in the human condition, once the "man taking a drink" has turned to "the drink taking the man", anything can happen.

Lefty's "Happy hour" starting time began to creep earlier in the day....

11:30a.m "Just to sharpen up a touch..."

Next it was at 10:25a.m "Gotta keep the hands steady..."

Soon enough the clink of Lefty's special blend bay rum bottles was happening at 9:15a.m after his first two customers of the day.

That soon fell to taking a hearty swig before even unlocking the front door to open for business "Fortifictaion to face the day!"



Well, soon enough, old Lefty began actually resenting the constant intrusion of a steady stream of customers clamoring for a shave..."Can't a man get a moment's peace in this town!?"

One day Lefty had had enough.

The front door bell jingled as a young man with a stubbly contenance ambled in...."I'd like a shave, good Sir..."


"Nope" replied Lefty "It'shh not gonna happen today...*hic*". The heavy aroma of bay rum hung in the air of the barbershop. It was 8:30 in the morning, it was a bright sunny day outside, yet the curtains had been drawn, leaving the shop in a twilight gloom.

"And why not, pray tell?" Inquired the young gent, squinting into the darkness.

"Well, you see...it's all about metalurgurgy...metallalagy...metaflallagyastfy.... GALDANGIT, it's about the metal!"

"Metallurgy?" interjected the young man.

"Isn't that what I just said!?" bellowed forth a rather cantankerous Mr. McKensington. "You see here, you young whipper-snapper *hic*, I shaved up a boat load of customers yesterday, and now the razors have to "rest" to allow them to regain their sharpness....you're not a barber, you wouldn't understand such intrictatacies... intracatatafies.....intratastrophies,....GALDANGIT , the details, you wouldn't understand such details! *hic*"

"Intricacies?" ventured the young man.


The young gentleman was a student at the University, and having an open and impressionable mind, this seemed to make some sort of sense. He also heard Mr. McKensington say something he didn't quite catch about "the razor needing to re-lign the teeth..." or some such thing, which also sounded quite interesting.

However, in truth, old Lefty was growing hot under the collar, and had began to mutter under his breath threats to the young man that if he didn't leave the establishment immediately, Lefty was going to "re-arrange" the young man's teeth, vis a vis the knuckle-sandwich!

The young man did leave the shop, and upon being questioned by his chums as to why he was still be-whiskered, the young man told them with all seriousness of the need for razors to rest, the re-aligning of the teeth at the edge of the razor, and all the rest...

And there you have the origin of the lie that razors need to "rest"

Originally Posted by Seraphim

...And there you have the origin of the lie that razors need to "rest"

LOL, and the myth of the strop heating the steel too. "Lefty logic" makes sense now... but that might be due to my current state of inebriation. Takes one to know one and all that.

Well I've heard that poor Lefty's demise came one sad day when he was liberally partaking of his bay rum and the time came to close up the shop for the day. As the final customer was leaving, Lefty, needing another drink AND wanting to put his barber tools into the bleach jar he used to clean things, got the process kinda mixed up in his head, and managed to put his combs and scissors in the bay rum and take a drink of the bleach. He seized up, and dropped dead on the spot. Apparently the final customer of the day was a chemist of some sort in the process of making a sterilization solution, and when a passerby asked him what Lefty had drank that caused him to keel over so abruptly, the chemist jokingly replied, "barbicide."

It was of course then that the chemist, Maurice King, hit upon the perfect name for his sterilization solution for barbers.

Maybe Seraphim has heard this story and can make sure that I'm getting it right.

I think that replying with the appropriate link or search parameters saves a lot of time & encourages people to do the search themselves.

Admit to it, guys: YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS FOR!! the barber's notch... nice reading though. It sure does beat working, I tell you. Reading this... not a barber's notch.
I for one, have a safe explanation: it looks different, it's a style thing... and hey! you can open the razor with one hand! And what's this?! I can shave around my nostrils! Hurra! And I can open a bottle! ARGH! No I cannot... err... can someone call the doctor...

... please...

I...

think... I'm...

... fainting...





mommy?...