Thread: Why are white handled straight razors not popular?

maybe most men like the black colour. to me white, yellow, pink I like 'em all, the only scale that I dont like is the Bamboo one.

Originally Posted by sigit666

maybe most men like the black colour. to me white, yellow, pink I like 'em all, the only scale that I dont like is the Bamboo one.

What an odd thing to say O.o may I ask why? I don't have a preference yet.

PERSONAL COLLECTION
Out of twenty-eight razors, I have eleven razors with white (or very light cream) scales and love them all.
2 Union Cutlery "Spike" razors
2 Le Grelot P-Hospital razors
2 Le Grelot Universal Cutlery NY razors
2 Filarmonica razors (4/8 Inox & 5/8 Doble Temple 12)
1 D. O. & H. Co. razor (Germany)
1 dubl duck Goldedge razor ("cracked ice")
1 J. R. Torrey razor (real ivory but very white)

In my search for vintage razors I found that:
Most of the French razors had either white or stained wood scales while more of the German and English razors had black, horn, or stained wood. The Swedish razors seemed to be equally divided between black and white. This may be just happenstance at the time I was searching. It seemed to me that the earlier dark scaled razors were horn, black, or stained wood while the earlier light scaled razors were ivory or bone. The late nineteenth and twentieth century light scaled razors seemed to be imitations of ivory.

SOME QUICK RESEARCH
In doing a search of modern production razors, I found the following information. (The blonde horn scales were difficult. Some were really light and some were medium dark.). Since this was a quick and dirty general search, I won't quibble if you reach slightly different conclusions than I did. It is not meant to be scientific or definitive.

DOVO (Straight Razor Design)
12 wood/wood color
13 black
5 white/cream
4 light bone/horn
2 dark bone/horn
2 colored
2 tortoise
1 stainless

BOKER (Straight Razor Design)
2 wood/wood color
4 black
1 white/cream
1 light bone/horn

HART (Classic Razor)
5 light wood/wood color
4 wood/wood color
4 black
2 colored

THIERS-ISSARD (Classic Razor)
3 light wood/wood color
16 wood/wood color
6 black
6 white/cream
4 light bone/horn
7 dark bone/horn
1 tortoise

REVISORS - 6/8 (Revisor)
3 wood/wood color
15 black
5 white/cream
3 dark bone/horn
4 colored
3 tortoise/multi-color

WACKER (Shaving Shop)
7 wood/wood color
4 black
1 white/cream
11 light bone/horn
12 dark bone/horn
2 acrylic

TOTALS FOR NEW RAZORS
8 light wood/wood color
42 wood/wood color
46 black
18 white/cream
16 light bone/horn
24 dark bone/horn
8 colored
5 tortoise/multi-color
1 stainless
2 acrylic

If you look at just light versus dark new razors, the dark razors hold a 73% to 27% margin in popularity.

NEW RAZOR TOTALS BY LIGHT AND DARK
45 light (27%)
126 dark (73%)

I also thought it might be interesting to tally the current vintage razors being offered by Classic Razor.

VINTAGE RAZORS (Classic Razor)
15 black
11 white/cream
2 colored
1 tortoise
12 yellow

CONCLUSIONS
You may draw your own conclusions from all this. I know it is more than you ever wanted to know.

Happy Shaving!

I think that white plastic scales can start to look shabby when they get a few nicks and marks on them whereas black don't so much.

I actually ordered a white razor because i liked the white look, well i though i ordered a white one lol. They didnt have a photo and i just presumed it was a white one!

Little did i know that there are a few Dovo Renaissance razors (woops)

Anyway, i still want a white one and love the look of it! I might still see if i can get the Renaissance in white. I like the look of the Pearlex in white too!

Originally Posted by Brighty83

I actually ordered a white razor because i liked the white look, well i though i ordered a white one lol. They didnt have a photo and i just presumed it was a white one!

Little did i know that there are a few Dovo Renaissance razors (woops)

Anyway, i still want a white one and love the look of it! I might still see if i can get the Renaissance in white.

DUDE! THOSE LOOK SO BAD ASS! where did you find those, I want one if not both!

I couldn't find the dark brown wood on on the site or the white one, just some light brown scale one, but regardless, that was quit a bit of money for a little frivolity. I was thinking they might be around $70-$80 not closer to $200

Originally Posted by grant9908

I was thinking they might be around $70-$80 not closer to $200

I think you pay a little more because its stainless, not carbon steel and the blade has an interesting curve near the shank (no shoulder). So it's a little different from the standard Dovo blades

Originally Posted by sigit666

the only scale that I dont like is the Bamboo one.

@ sigit666 - Man the bamboo ones are awful! There are heaps on eBay and they don't seem to sell for much.. but hey that's just my opinion about the bamboo. I'm sure there are some people out there that love them!

I actually hadn't caught that the first time around. I thought stainless steal was terrible to make a straight razor out of. Am I wrong?

Originally Posted by grant9908

I thought stainless steal was terrible to make a straight razor out of. Am I wrong?

Stainless steel razors are actually quite nice. It's a PITA to hone them, but once they are right they have quite a bit of stamina before the next time at the stones. Another benifit is it's stain and rust resistance is obviously much higher than our normal carbon steel razors.