Thread: The Straight Razor's Future

In all the years I have been involved with straight razors, I have been able to convince only two friends to try straight razors and both of these friends are barbers who use the Feather type in their shops. And another two friends were convinced to try DE shavers. The rest of the world seems to be afraid of the straight razor.

We need some very popular celebrities to use straights in movies and TV to promote any real interest. Gilette, Schick and Personna would not be happy about that.........

I've gotten several people to start shaving, several people from other forums. They are woodworkers in this case, which put them pretty far ahead in terms of having what they need on hand.

I can't imagine that stuff like SR shaving won't continue to grow. Of course, it'll never be the mainstream shaving method because it's not that convenient and there's no money to be made on it by companies like gillette. Crude, simple, convenient stuff is always going to win the market because it's easy to sell something to someone when you tell them "it'll be easy and you won't have to learn anything" with the silent comment of "just don't look at the cost of it" never said.

If I knew what I know how about shaving, I could've bought one 6/8 vintage razor, a horse butt strip and a knot and shaved with it the rest of my life, buying only soap. In time, i've learned even to make the new williams soap perform pretty well. I've already got the sharpening stones, but even that is something I could have done without - a simple vintage barber hone of good quality will maintain a razor indefinitely if you learn not to allow it to work off the edge. If I get a decent butt strip, that makes about 3 strops and gives me a bunch of scrap. If it's an ugly piece, maybe only one strop (wouldn't buy it then). a single butt strip strop lasts how long? I don't know - I've got one with over a thousand shaves on it and it functions better than it did when it was a month old.

thriftiness could be communicated to some, but it's easier to convince someone to buy an old superspeed and 100 astra blades. They'll be able to shave for years on about $25.

At any rate, as people get fascinated with doing things with their hands, since they no longer consider that being an inconvenience or drudgery (as people 125 years ago would've), I think SR shaving will just get stronger and stronger. I only hope that it could get large enough so that there will be a considerable number of trade cutlers who have the skill the cutlers did 100+ years ago.

Thriftiness and a romance with the past go only so far.

Just try and convince a woman to throw away her electric washer and dryer and instead do it the old fashioned way by boiling and beating the clothes or maybe just using a washboard and simple soap and rub and then hanging the clothes out to dry on a clothes line.

I think I read somewhere in most developed parts of the world the Electric Razor is king. The U.S is an exception with most using a cartridge. Good luck convincing an electric user to switch to a straight.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Thriftiness and a romance with the past go only so far.

Just try and convince a woman to throw away her electric washer and dryer and instead do it the old fashioned way by boiling and beating the clothes or maybe just using a washboard and simple soap and rub and then hanging the clothes out to dry on a clothes line.

I think I read somewhere in most developed parts of the world the Electric Razor is king. The U.S is an exception with most using a cartridge. Good luck convincing an electric user to switch to a straight.

As I tell all of my friends that shoot digital cameras exclusively, when the fighting starts and an EMP bomb is dropped, I will still be able to shoot my cameras. The same goes with my straight razor, try getting a new cartridge then.

Originally Posted by guitstik

As I tell all of my friends that shoot digital cameras exclusively, when the fighting starts and an EMP bomb is dropped, I will still be able to shoot my cameras. The same goes with my straight razor, try getting a new cartridge then.

I reckon if that EMP bomb drops, the very least of your worries would be your photographies. Digital or not

Originally Posted by Birnando

I reckon if that EMP bomb drops, the very least of your worries would be your photographies. Digital or not

Ouch!........

You catch on quick Birnando

Apparently, sales for cartridge razors have peaked and are now in a decline.
Looking at the price gouging that has been going on for years, I am not surprised.

If old Abe Lincoln's saying that "You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time" was right, then this was bound to happen.

Fed up with the "Best shave a man can get" hype, I myself abandoned cartridges and took up DE shaving quite some time ago.
I still remember the initial fear factor when I used this strange DE tool for the first time.
But it went surprisingly well, and I was sold on the concept.
Because it was quite easy, truth being told.


Wind forward a few years and I took an interest in straight razors.
The first consideration was: Why would I want to bother?
The second: Does a straight really shave better than a DE razor?
The third: How much does it take to master this dangerous tool?
(And how will my face look during that time???)

Looking at straight razors, and knowing what it can do to a man (e.g. Captain George Vancouver), I was not even sure, I would want to take the risk.

Well, eventually I did.
The first few shaves were, let's call it: "below standard".
My skin didn't look too bad, but closeness and smoothness was a far cry from what I was used to from my open comb DE razors.
I had my doubts....
But I persisted, and today my straight shaves are at least equal to my DE shaves.

Undoubtedly, it will take effort and persistence - maybe more than most men would want to invest for an (at that time) uncertain outcome.



So will straight razors become mainstream?
Not likely.
But I believe DE razors will continue to become more popular, because they are easy to learn, work well, and are economical to use.

Some of these DE users will eventually want to try straight razors.
Some will become converts; some will move on.

So, in a nutshell, I am quite confident about the future of DE and straight shaving, but have certainly no illusions that it will become mainstream.




Which brings me to another point:
Does the fact that some of our registered members don't frequent shaving forums any longer really signify that they have given up DE or straight shaving?

I don't think so.
There is clearly some apprehension involved when taking up DE and straight razors for the first time.
You look for information and advice and that brings you eventually to forums like ours.

But once you have figured it out (DE shaving in particular), many shavers don't feel the need any longer to frequent shaving forums, because - let's be frank - it is not that difficult and once you have established your routine and found your products, you really don't need forums like ours any more - unless you become one of us and want to make your voice heard. :-)


So, am I truly concerned about the future of DE or straight shaving?
In one word: NO

What I am more concerned about is the fact the the number of skilled craftsmen who produce good straight razors is declining, as there were few trained in the 70's and newer entrants like Ralf Aust are few and far between.

Gentlemen,

Your responses have been diverse and illuminating, thank you, and I have learned a great deal. I am sure there is a goldmine of thoughts still remaining to be expressed. Please go ahead and join in the conversation.

This is a wonderful thread, and if I have to be the resident contrarian that would probably surprise few here. To wit:

I think the cartridge razor market is far from peaking. It is driven by the rise in population, almost half of that rise being of the male gender, and very likely way over 90% of them using cartridges. Maybe my experience is different, but I have never met anyone in my personal life who uses anything else. I wish that was different, but my wishing that won't make it so.

It is certainly true that a review of the Member List does not show why those members decided to leave SRP behind. Certainly some of the members who achieved post counts of 100 and above may have figured it out and no longer needed the help.

I don't think that is the case, though, with the predominant group of the discontinued members, those with post counts below 10 or so. I would love to believe that they did all the research available in the Library and posts, figured it out quickly and just didn't need additional assistance. I fear quite the opposite is true. They were either scared or not committed enough to try it, did try it and didn't like the initial results, and went back to cartridges. That cannot be proven, but it seems to be the most likely scenario to me.

I do remember a fellow posting about three years ago that he had bought a straight razor, shaved with it and got a totally BBS shave on his first attempt. He was never heard from again. I cannot prove that achieving a total BBS shave on the first attempt is impossible, but I believe that it is very highly unlikely. It took me two months to get decent shaves and a full year to get BBS shaves. I felt at the time that what that guy got was not a BBS shave but a BS shave.

I do think this is one of the most interesting threads I have read here, and my thanks go to Obie for the idea and for the thread.