Straight Razor Shaving as a means to Going Green

[Seveneighth]

Over the past year or so four different people have asked me about taking up straight shaving as a means to going green. This is part of an effort on their part to give up plastic, to reuse more and to source local goods.

I have to admit that I was a bit caught off guard on each occasion, although the last time I got into a pretty detailed discussion because the guy had already started researching it.

It got me thinking. Can you help me be more prepared for the next time someone asks me about this and share your thoughts. I realise this might not be a current concern - but if it's a way of encouraging new straight shavers then surely it's a worthwhile topic.

Here are the general "rules" based on what people seemed to be concerned about.

1) Absolutely no plastic. Even if it's from a vintage razor, should the scales break, you are still putting plastic back into the ecosystem. Besides - there is a principle being stuck to here. That means no synthetic brushes, no lapping film, no plastic packaging.
2) No pollutants. I'm not sure where oil falls into this (opinions welcome) are there other substances we should be wary of? Is silicon carbine ok? inhalation can be dodgy, and depending on manufacture I understand there can be pollutant bi-products.
3) Domestically sourced where possible. The aim here is to cut down on aeroplane shipping. Same country or state is best - - ground transport. Preference would be same continent at worst. That means all these trans-global shipments should avoided - e.g. a Gold Dollar being shipped from China.

Razors:
Horn or wood scales. Avoid hard and exotic woods? E.g. stick to Olive, or locally sourced woods.
Continental Europe - Solingen, TI etc.
UK - There are a couple of bricks and mortar shops in the south east stocking Dovos. Otherwise UK custom makers?
US / Canada - custom razors only?

Locally found and restored vintage wooden handled razors.

I guess, when buying from a bricks and mortar shop or a local mail order, the stock has been supplied to them in bulk, which reduces individual air flights.

Honing:
A local honer.
UK - modern Welsh stones / possibly Coticules, depending on how they are shipped.
US - Arkansas stones
Continental Europe - Coticules
Medditeranean - Cretan / Vermio
Asia - Jnat / Cnat
Africa - Zulu grey

Brushes:
Badger / Boar / Horse only
Europe - Semogue or Omega? - is the boar hair locally sourced?

Soaps
Which soaps have no plastic packaging?
Which soaps are available locally?

Strops
Natural flax or linen rather than any synthetic fibre.

[BobH]

Wish I could help but I am pretty jaded in regards to shaving with a straight razor as a means of going green. Almost everything associated with shaving comes from some sort of industrial process and as such has an environmental foot print that is unavoidable. Aren't plastics recyclable in any event?

Bob

[Seveneighth]

There was a documentary here in the UK where they showed all the plastics in the ocean. It seems to have spurred people to try to adopt a no plastics lifestyle - or at least reduce it. Certainly, locally, it is hit and miss which plastics are recyclable. Larger containers seem to be but not all.

[Tjh]

Over the past year or so four different people have asked me about taking up straight shaving as a means to going green. This is part of an effort on their part to give up plastic, to reuse more and to source local goods.

I have to admit that I was a bit caught off guard on each occasion, although the last time I got into a pretty detailed discussion because the guy had already started researching it.

It got me thinking. Can you help me be more prepared for the next time someone asks me about this and share your thoughts. I realise this might not be a current concern - but if it's a way of encouraging new straight shavers then surely it's a worthwhile topic.

Here are the general "rules" based on what people seemed to be concerned about.

1) Absolutely no plastic. Even if it's from a vintage razor, should the scales break, you are still putting plastic back into the ecosystem. Besides - there is a principle being stuck to here. That means no synthetic brushes, no lapping film, no plastic packaging.
2) No pollutants. I'm not sure where oil falls into this (opinions welcome) are there other substances we should be wary of? Is silicon carbine ok? inhalation can be dodgy, and depending on manufacture I understand there can be pollutant bi-products.
3) Domestically sourced where possible. The aim here is to cut down on aeroplane shipping. Same country or state is best - - ground transport. Preference would be same continent at worst. That means all these trans-global shipments should avoided - e.g. a Gold Dollar being shipped from China.

Razors:
Horn or wood scales. Avoid hard and exotic woods? E.g. stick to Olive, or locally sourced woods.
Continental Europe - Solingen, TI etc.
UK - There are a couple of bricks and mortar shops in the south east stocking Dovos. Otherwise UK custom makers?
US / Canada - custom razors only?

Locally found and restored vintage wooden handled razors.

I guess, when buying from a bricks and mortar shop or a local mail order, the stock has been supplied to them in bulk, which reduces individual air flights.

Honing:
A local honer.
UK - modern Welsh stones / possibly Coticules, depending on how they are shipped.
US - Arkansas stones
Continental Europe - Coticules
Medditeranean - Cretan / Vermio
Asia - Jnat / Cnat
Africa - Zulu grey

Brushes:
Badger / Boar / Horse only
Europe - Semogue or Omega? - is the boar hair locally sourced?

Soaps
Which soaps have no plastic packaging?
Which soaps are available locally?

Strops
Natural flax or linen rather than any synthetic fibre.

interesting topic. SR's inherent lack of "things to discard every month" can certainly make for a greener option. As BobH said, any industrial process or anything made by large companies in factories IS going have a carbon footprint (over 70% of greenhouse gasses and pollutants are produced by just around 100 companies, not individuals). So the trick is to avoid those:

1. Razor - buy vintage. While the vintage razor ITSELF may have been produced in a factory (e.g a Boker from 1920) it's at least re-using something that would otherwise end up in the dumpster. It may not even be recycled tbh, while all the materials may be recyclable, I"m not sure how much that matters. And this way, you'd be keeping non recyclable parts out of the dumpster - like older plastic handles, and the "recyclability and eco friendliness of the materials" stop mattering. Even if you buy NEW razors, you can buy one made as a cottage industry (e.g buy someone on this forum rather than in factory), which will have a much lower carbon footprint - and the materials will NOT matter, if it NEVER ends up in the garbage (there's no point in talking about recyclability, if you never plan to throw it away, especially given SR"s can last hundreds of years).

2. software: Made from naturally sourced oils and materials, especially made locally is the best option here. There are plenty of people on here that make and sell soaps, and again, since this isn't a big factory just someone making stuff from their homes the carbon footprint is a lot lower. While natural ingredients can be more expensive, there are plenty of reasons (BESIDES going green) to use as many of those as possible anyways.

3. Strop: linen can be recycled linen, I've seen some videos around youtube of people using old firehoses for the linen strops. I'm not sure if leather strops can be made by recycling leather, but again these can be locally sourced, made by an individual rather than in a factory.

Things don't have to be sourced locally, if they're sourced from a place that's environmentally friendly in their process. E.g: I buy olive oil that's made in greece (can't make olive oil in Canada), but it's made sans-factories in a very environmentally friendly manner, which basically cuts down on the danger to the environment almost fully. The key here, to me, is that a majority of pollutants and environmental damage is not being done by individuals but by large companies and factories and similar processes.

[beluga]

The ultimate technique as far as facial hair and going green is concerned would IMO be to grow a beard.


Considering the tools needed, straight shaving requires quite a few, and cartridge razors even more, so that would leave safety razors as a sensible compromise, says this straight shaver.

B.

[DZEC]

If you really want to be as “green” a shaver as possible, then the suggestion to buy vintage makes a lot of sense. That applies to razors, brushes, strops and hones.

Modern shaving equipment manufacture uses a lot of energy (smelting, heat treating, grinding of blades and manufacturing of synthetic stones) and chemicals (tanning leather, making brush handles and scales, not to mention synthetic bristles and synthetic hones).

I don’t know if it is possible to recycle DE or SE or cartridge blades, but we certainly do not seem to do that. What SR users generally do not do that safety razor and cartridge users do is throw away the blades so the metal and other materials do not return to the environment as waste. Even when an SR is toast, we have members who repurpose them into wind chimes

[BobH]

As far as soaps/creams/croaps go, companies and individuals/artisans making them at the very least have to put them in containers. These containers are sourced from larger industries and made of plastic or metal. The empty containers may or may not be recyclable but can be repurposed. OTH who needs all these empty containers. Best bet there would be to buy only the soap sans container and use you own reusable container like a Pyrex one with lid. That works well especially if you only buy one puck at a time. It also works no matter what you use for shaving with.

Bob

[bouschie]

Don't know how you are going to totally avoid plastic. Many brushes have plastic bases. Newer razors are plastic but the celluloid vintage scales can rot and decompose. Most soaps come in plastic wrappings or containers. If you really look at it every ingredient in razors, soaps, brushes, strops ,hones is produced chemicals, gas for engines , electricity.

The only way to avoid polluting land fills is don't shave. Let the beard grow and drag on the ground.

[Cangooner]

I'm all for avoiding plastic as much as possible, and make my best efforts to live up to that goal. The extent of the damage caused by our over-use and improper disposal of the stuff is only just coming to light. But that's often easier said than done...

+1 to the vintage razor suggestion, particularly with scales made from natural materials. Not all plastics are recyclable, and a depressing amount of plastic "sent" for recycling just gets chucked for one reason or another, so just not consuming it is the best option. And with the razor itself, that can be done. But as has been noted, other items will be harder to eliminate plastic altogether.

Buying local will be the best option in terms of avoiding packaging, etc., but depending on one's location that might not be possible. Location of manufacture isn't really an issue IMHO for vintage items. Any carbon footprint due to getting a razor from, say, Sheffield to Canada in the distant past will not be affected by my decision to carry it home from an antique store. On the other hand, if I order a razor (new or old) from Sheffield today, that carbon footprint is on me. However, when compared to a lifetime of disposable cartridges, I'm certain buying and using a straight is a MUCH better option.

For soaps, the "greenest" I currently have is likely Mitchell's Wool Fat. It came packaged mostly in paper with a very light plastic wrapping, and it lives in a reusable ceramic bowl. Again, "green" in terms of avoiding plastic, and the best thing is that it's bloody great soap! When that runs out, I can replace it with a locally-sourced, packaging-free soap.

For brushes, you can get/make them with mostly natural materials, but you will likely have at least something like epoxy holding the thing together. I suppose natural adhesives could be used, but I don't know how they stand up to getting wet.

I have no idea what to say about strops! Most are obviously leather, and depending on the process used for tanning the leather, that could involve a potentially pretty nasty chemical soup. But there are more environmentally friendly tanning processes out there. You'd just have to research the leather and its source. There are vegan options too, but I don't know a damn thing about them. They may be "greener" but that's not always the case with things like alternatives to natural materials.

Long story short, IMHO straight shaving is the 'greenest' approach out there, followed closely by DE. And as for the rest of the associated stuff, I try to take the same approach as with other aspects of my purchasing decisions: think about what you're buying, avoid cheap crap, buy things that will last, and shop locally when possible.

OK, time to get off my

[Tjh]

Many brushes have plastic bases. Newer razors are plastic but the celluloid vintage scales can rot and decompose. Most soaps come in plastic wrappings or containers. If you really look at it every ingredient in razors, soaps, brushes, strops ,hones is produced chemicals, gas for engines , electricity.

First off, OH Yea, celluloid, not good all around.

And yea, definitely agreed to that last point. As much as possible we can aim to buy local, buy natural, reuse stuff make sure things don't end up in a landfill (again, let's be honest NO ONE is recycling razors for their metal)...ultimately in todays world it is close to impossible to completely avoid hurting the environment somewhere along the way, we all depend on large companies and processes: where is that plastic for the base made? where did you get the ingredients for that soap you made?

I wonder though, if it's really possible to make brushes and soap that are 100% sourced from small providers using environmentally friendly processes along the way (One guy driving his car 100miles is NOTHING compared to that giant USPS truck driving 50 miles).