Thread: Why Do You Shave With a Straight Razor?

When I retired, I ran across the Art of Manliness Website and read the "Shave Like Your Grandpa" and "Shave Like Your Great Grandpa". At the age of 67, I was intrigued by the challenge of trying some new hobbies. Since I had been wet shaving with a DE all my life, I began using a straight razor last December. The enjoyment and satisfaction were incredible. Of course, SRP infected me with SRAD and I now have 25 razors. BUT, I wouldn't change a thing.

I love acquiring the skill.
I love having a BBS face.
I love using new and vintage razors.
I love trying new creams, balms, aftershaves, and colognes.
I love getting into a Zen Zone while shaving.

I only wish I had started with a straight 50 years ago. So many lost shaves.

Curiosity. Ability. Fascination. Frustration

That's why I shave with a straight-razor.

I only started shaving recently. About two years ago when I was about 22. I used a cartridge-razor and it was frustrating as hell because I kept cutting myself. I got bored with that stuff and went looking for a safety-razor to use. An old-fashioned double-edge razor. Mantic59's videos helped me a lot and I was certainly getting better shaves.

But I was always fascinated by straight-razors. I just think they're so cool! This is the "fascination" bit coming in. To think that you can shave with something that you could also eat dinner with. That's pretty cool. Not that you SHOULD try and carve up a steak with a Wade & Butcher...but yeah. The whole activity of stropping, sharpening and all that was fascinating to me. But I never took the plunge because I had NO IDEA where to get all the materials I would need. AND how much they would cost.

But then I learnt that you could buy all this stuff second-hand for a pittance! I got into the 'curiosity' phase and I started stocking up.

Folks over at Badger&Blade will know that I'm ENTIRELY self-taught with straight-razor shaving. I did all my own reading, all my own video-watching. I even sharpened my first razor from scratch. No professional intervention ANYWHERE. That's a challenge, but it's also a great sense of accompishment.

I soon learnt how to sharpen a razor (trial and error, but I got there in the end) and I learnt how to strop (first on a belt, then on a paddle strop and finally on a hanging-strop) and now I've never looked back.

It's cool. It's cheap. It saves money. It's an awesome factor of 100,000^Infinity and it's also really relaxing. This is why I do it.