Thread: Who were straight razors initially intended for?

Originally Posted by tintin

I would hate to see the cuts i could give someone without the benefit of feeling the pain in time to stop before going too deep.

Originally Posted by rolodave

Same here. I would never shave another person.

Originally Posted by petercp4e

No way, no how...
I have been asked by a couple of people to shave them and have politely declined.

Pete <:-}

I had always wondered about shaving someone else and had the same reservations regarding the lack of direct feedback.

BUT.....I had a request at a blacksmith 'hammer in' for a shave. It seemed mostly a testament by the subject that he trusted me. I had no idea how it would go, but I had shaved my wife's legs with a straight without incident and I was sure that I would not cause anything bad enough to scar, so I was game.

We had quite an audience and appropriately I used my anvil as a table for the brush, soap, etc. Putting on a show for the audience I started with a shoulder massage, kneaded his ears, and generally hammed it up. The first pass went very well and I proceeded to give him a full three pass shave with zero incident. It was much easier than I thought it would be. Later people asked if I received a tip and I truthfully reported that 'He grabbed my butt'.
.
The whole thing was rather fun and I'd do it again in a minute.

'The difference between foolishness and boldness is.......'If you pull it off, it was bold.'

One of the early references to razors and shaving was from the Biblical account of Samson and Delilah in the Old Testament book of Judges. Samson was a Nazirite; from birth no razor had ever come upon his head. After learning that unshaven hair was the secret to Samson's great strength, Delilah called for a man (a barber???) who shaved off the seven locks of his hair. Only then could Samson be subdued. Contrary to popular opinion, Delilah was not the one to shave his head.

The story of Samson was not written down until around 550 BC, but it had been part of the Jewish oral history since around 1100 BC. This would have been during the late bronze age, so the razor was probably either of bronze or flint. Thus, we know shaving using some form of razors has been around for at least 3100 years and likely much longer than that.

Razors were first used on animals to prepare leather and to collect wool.
Then came the barbers and the evolution of different tools. The folding straight was mainly used by barbers/surgeons/dentists on the market places till XIX century. Then they opérée barbier shops.
At end of XVII century M. Perret, a french "gentilhomme" wrote à booklet on "the art of self-shaving" to encourage the gentry to do it so for sanitary reasons. The SR became a "produit de luxe" for the gentry with scales of ivory, mother of pearl or tortoise, with silver scutcheons or gold engraving.

If I recall correctly, at least in Rome, Roman soldiers were required to shave in order to avoid having their beards grabbed during close combat.

This popped up after a quick search:

Shaving seems to have not been known to the Romans during their early history (under the kings of Rome and the early Republic). Pliny tells us that P. Ticinius was the first who brought a barber to Rome, which was in the 454th year from the founding of the city (that is, around 299 BC). Scipio Africanus was apparently the first among the Romans who shaved his beard. However, after that point, shaving seems to have caught on very quickly, and soon almost all Roman men were clean-shaven; being clean-shaven became a sign of being Roman and not Greek.

It is true that Samson was shaved in the old testament but the practice of shaving goes back even further than he. In the book of Genesis Joseph, when he was in prison in Egypt became known for interpreting dreams and was brought before Pharaoh AFTER he changed his clothes and shaved. This would have been around 1888-1884 BC according to biblical scholars. Further the levitical law requires shaving of the entire body as a cleansing for skin diseases. The record of these laws was written about 1445BC. This was likely done with a flint knife like what was used for circumcisions.

I was in the same camp about not wanting to shave another man. Until my dad wanted a straight razor and me to shave him with it(he had a stroke and was using a electric razor). I was so happy as it was only my second straight razor ever and it meant I could learn more on honing.I quickly learned the sharper the razor the easier it was to shave someone. It would ignite my drive to find the best natural stones I could find.
I only kniked my dad one time and it was very little blood(4-5 drops) and my dad was on blood thinner at the time. So you know it was not deep.
I do remember the first couple of times my face covered in sweat as I was very nervous about cutting him. It went away with time.

Originally Posted by STF

I saw an old testament movie a while ago and there were lots of smooth faced men.

Didn't know that they were making movies at the time the old testament was compiled. Many years ago, I took an art-history class on early Christian art, and one of the ironies there was that what is considered as one of the first depictions of Jesus, if not the first, showed a short-cropped, beardless man as rendered.

Its lucky the first shave didnt blood!

Originally Posted by Toroblanco

I was in the same camp about not wanting to shave another man. Until my dad wanted a straight razor and me to shave him with it(he had a stroke and was using a electric razor). I was so happy as it was only my second straight razor ever and it meant I could learn more on honing.I quickly learned the sharper the razor the easier it was to shave someone. It would ignite my drive to find the best natural stones I could find.
I only kniked my dad one time and it was very little blood(4-5 drops) and my dad was on blood thinner at the time. So you know it was not deep.
I do remember the first couple of times my face covered in sweat as I was very nervous about cutting him. It went away with time.

Yesterday, my wife shared with me an ad from the AARP magazine about the new Gillette Treo cartridge razor. It is a disposable razor with shave gel built in that has been specifically designed for caregivers who need to shave someone unable to shave themselves. The razor is designed for "safety, control, and convenience". However, due to the safety comb, it does not shave as closely as standard razors.

As FAR as i know, the earliest reference to shaving is in ancient egypt. Egyptians, especially in the higher strata of society, were very particular about hygiene including being clean shaven (this wasn't just random. People theorize that it started out of a practical need due to living in a desert). Clean shaven look, like others have suggested here for other time periods, was a status symbol that everyone tried for. I don't know exactly HOW MANY people, especially amongst the poorer folks were actually clean shaven, I'd wager a reasonable amount tbh. But in this case it was more of a ritual thing than anything else. Shaving was a ritual practice done by someone else (if i recall).

That being said, some others have raised a good point, logically it seems far more likely that shaving started as a thing people did for themselves. AND if you go back far enough, the tools that were used for shaving would have been easily enough created that if not everyone then there'd at least be 1 person in every family/tribe that would be able to make the tools (unlike say in 1700s where it's perfectly reasonable to walk into a village and expect no one there to know how to make a straight razor), so it'd not be a case of shaving being too expensive due to the tools required. ON the other hand, shaving by itself doesn't offer any obvious practical advantage outside of niche cases (like in a desert), so it's more likely to have always been a "social status" thing - like in egypt where it was done as a ritual and the look was part of social status.