Thread: Shaving with a new razor

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Back in the day when everyone used a straight and even later when safety razors had made their appearance though most owned a hone of sorts most did not hone their own razors. There were loads of folks who did it commercially from the local barber shop to itinerant folks on a street corner and from talking to my dad about it and what he saw from his dad most who attempted it themselves shaved with a less than "shave ready" razor.

The take away is many common folk shaved with a dull razor and had neither the skill nor inclination to be honing any razor. That's the main reason DEs became the main way of shaving. The new generation embraced them for convenience just leaving the old fogies and troglodytes like us.

I would say that it wasn't because they didn't have the skill (of course if you don't do something you don't have that skill) but rather the lack of good hones. What they commonly had was mid-range "barber hones". We have better stuff today and there is almost no one today who couldn't easily get the "skills" to maintain a razor indefinitely with a finishing hone.

With the desire, there is almost no one who couldn't do the same from scratch.

With all those barber hones around from the past, that would also indicate that many did maintain their own razors.

It's not my understand that "barber hones" were only used by barbers.