Thread: Who were straight razors initially intended for?

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 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.