Thread: How NOT to shave with a straight razor!

My wife and I have rarely watch network TV these days; we just cannot get into the new shows. Although we live in USA, our current favorites are British shows shown on the Acorn TV streaming channel. One show we have been watching is "Wire in the Blood", a psychological thriller detective show. It is 10-15 years old series, shown in SD rather than HD.

In the episode we watched last night "Falls the Shadow", the murderer, who was abused by his grandfather as a child, was shown shaving his grandfather with a straight razor. He was holding the razor at about an 75 degree angle to the skin and scraping off the lather, demonstrating how NOT to shave with a straight razor. Perhaps he was trying to get even with his grandfather for abusing him as a child. With scenes like this being all too common, it is no wonder that some folks try shaving with a straight razor and give up. There are lots of good videos showing how to use a straight razor properly.

I have rare seen a show where a straight was used properly. Either the grip or angle is wrong. Or the stroke is wrong. If they used a well honed rasor in films and TV actors would all be called scareface.

In The Patriot there is a scene where General Cornwallis is getting a shave. Looked really awkward.

What do you expect from anything on TV? It's all about ratings,money, and greed. No reality of what real life is......

For some reason it really irks me when I see it done wrong in western movies

the majority of the times i have seen they held the razor all the way from 70 to 90 degrees. Honestly what do you expect? First of all probably nobody there shaves with a straight and second if the person is lathered then they have to wipe the lather for the visual effect. Best way to do that, 90 degrees and scrape it off. It doesnt matter since the butter knife they are using doesnt cut anyways.

Originally Posted by alex1921

.... It doesnt matter since the butter knife they are using doesnt cut anyways.

I think this is the answer to why its not causing real issues doing it wrong.

I'm sure everyone understands it is a dull blade and you can't expect 100% accuracy from Hollywood films. Just one of those things that irks some people that are passionate or more knowledgable about about a certain topic.

Like the scene where a deputy tells another guy to turn the safety off on his Glock. Glocks dont have manual safeties! They had to add a "click" sound effect when he pretended to switch it off.

Doesn't really bother me if it isn't something horribly obvious.

Obviously, the actors have read the straight razor shaving guide on wikihow :

https://m.wikihow.com/Shave-with-a-Straight-Razor

Originally Posted by captainhx

Obviously, the actors have read the straight razor shaving guide on wikihow :

https://m.wikihow.com/Shave-with-a-Straight-Razor

"Hold the razor at an angle"
So THAT is the secret.
Not too bad all things considered. I'm sure many cringed at the use of the word "sharpen" (dun dun duuun sound effect) in the article though.lol