Thread: do we baby our razors?

i notice that most people on this site (including myself) take extremely good care of their razors, drying every drop of water off when they are done and THEN letting them air dry for the day. the question is, do you think people a hundred years ago, when straight shaving was the "norm", took as good of care of their razors as we do now or do you think they would treat them like the cartridge razors of these days, just shave and toss it in a drawer? this thought just popped into my head the other day and wanted to see what others thought.

i think they would just shave and toss it in a drawer for the next day

-dan-

Long story short: We definitely baby them. For sure.

Probably not. But their razors weren't 100 years old, either.

My great grandpa had a barber's satchel he kept his stuff in. (still have it actually) and there were pockets to neatly put the razors and combs and whatever else he had in there. It doesn't look like he just threw them in there. Could just been for toting around but when we opened it most things were put in a pocket.

I've seen a lot of very old blades in excellent condition so that might indicate that some if not most people took good care of thier blades, I am sure they would not have wanted to shave with a rusty razor anymore than we do. Three dollars was a great deal of money 100+ years ago and I could see people, in the past, feeling much as we do about our blades now.

I think everything was taken better care of a 100 years ago. People didn't have much and couldn't afford to just buy a new razor whenever they wanted. Now we are used to "buy, use and throw away" everything. It certainly wasn't like that before. Everything was made to last a lifetime, if you took proper care of it.. And it seems like most people did.

A few reasons why we baby our razors now and old timers didn't ,
1) back then there were many manufactures , a simply case of supply and demand ( if you're blade breaks or has rust ... just buy a new one ) and they were available almost anywhere
2) 50-60 Ect years ago a razor was meant for one thing ... SHAVING
now days we look at them as art or " vintage" we also custom razors with exotic scales , adjustable pins , and mirror finish blades , most good quality razors start at around $150, back then they were just a couple of bucks.
Point is we have a lot more invested in our razors , so its ok to baby them ...

Hi,

All the evidence seems to indicate that for the ordinary working man a razor was an expensive item. I'm sure that most looked after their razors to ensure they were clean, usable and sharp. I'd guess they didn't get too obsessive about them, in much the same way as most of us didn't.That is, until we started collecting and using what are essentially, antiques.

If they hadn't looked after them then how come there are so many of them still around?

My great-grandfather took good care of ALL his tools. The toss it away attitude is just for the young punks of the generation that is growing up now.