Thread: Straights around the world

Well speaking from the perspective of an ex pat who has lived in china for ten years, I would say that at least in China the quality of steel is horrible here and the pace of life is too quick . that and the lovely people of china don't really grow much in the way of facial hair at least the men don't.

I think it´s rather big/common in arabic countries and Tukey, but it never whent out of fashion there and therefor no big deal and nothing to get all obsessed about .

I work with a Thai, he said shaving isn't a big thing over there as Thai men don't grow much facial hair.
I suppose that may also be true for the males in the other countries on that part of the Globe.

JimR is correct when he notes that "with the advent of the industrial
revolution in Europe, and colonialization, the razors made there spread
worldwide--along with guns, Christianity, smallpox and more." This is
certainly true for Polynesia.

In Tonga, for example, shaving was not a common practice until the
mid-19th century, when Europeans (missionaries and merchants mostly)
began to permanently reside in the islands. Judging from the pictorial
archives, it would appear that shaving didn't really become popular
until WWII, when the Allied forces established bases there and a
plentiful supply of DE razors became readily available.

In Tonga today, the vast majority of men shave...using disposable
razors imported from China, Australia and New Zealand. I don't know
of anyone in the country, other than myself, who uses a straight razor.

Other than disposable razors and canned shaving cream, there isn't
much in the way of shaving supplies available, and there certainly is
nothing comparable to a "Men's Store" in the whole country.

Originally Posted by Mikael

I think it´s rather big/common in arabic countries and Tukey, but it never whent out of fashion there and therefor no big deal and nothing to get all obsessed about .

I think that is correct. I've visited barber shops to get me a straight razor shave in Lebanon, Crete and Tunisia. I do not recall about the first two, but in Tunisia it was very fast, cheap and close to perfect. However the razor looked like something we would call trash. Like it has never been cleaned (so did the old barber too). But as i said it was very good shave. However in the shops all shaving gear i saw was just Mach 3's.