Thread: Best part of shaving with a straight razor

I cant pick any one element!

Its a mix of the history behind it, the whole shaving experience from stropping to lathering to the shave itself, its shaving with a razor that you honed yourself, its the fact that I'm not paying Gillette a Kings ransom to get a sub par shave, its the fact that these shaves are the best I've ever had and the fact that I'm shaving with a work of art not a plastic piece of junk.

And thats just off the top of my head..!

For me its a little bit of all that, but a focus on history. Im a traditinal American Barber. I work at an old school shop with 2 other traditinal barbers. Straight shaving has been staple for me from the beginning of Barber school. I'm an old soul in a young body.

Learning.

Meditative aspects - focus / attention.

Sense of achievement to start the day - before you even get out of the bathroom.

I'm with Stubear on the nice feeling you get of shaving with something you've honed yourself - so I'd also say the level of control / responsibility you bring to the shave. Also that sense of being somewhat independent - you have a single razor that you maintain yourself with no need to involve others or buy replacement parts.

Did I mention learning? I like the developing awareness, solving little problems, improving... which links into all the above comments.

Cool factor? Hmm, not sure - probably is some, but I generally treat this as a personal experience - it is for me, not for anyone else. I've toyed with the idea of doing a shaving demo at the school I teach at for 'Shave for a cure' - but I like keeping this mainly for me. (Plus the kids probably think I'm weird enough as it is... not that I'm trying to be! Of course most adults are weird to teenagers) Maybe I will anyway - do them good to be exposed to another way of doing things! ...sorry about that sidetrack!

All the best,
Michael

Best part?

Great shaves. I wouldn’t do this if it didn’t work.

Pride in ownership. I’m not a collector but I have some nice razors and I enjoy owning them and seeing them put to good use. (See above.) In short, I like shiny sharp things.

Sense of accomplishment. In this era when it seems that everything is reduced to a Power Point presentation, a book for dummies, or 140 characters displayed on a pocket LCD screen; there is a pleasure in successfully demonstrating a skill to oneself. In this case a somewhat arcane and little practiced skill that can’t be downloaded but must be learned. Every morning I do something that most people cannot even comprehend. Most times I do it well. (Today, not so much.) There’s no bragging here. Apart from my wife, no one I meet in the day knows how I shave- or even cares.

Humility. Ten thousand shaves; still a beginner.

Semper circa,
LG Roy

I kinda like sharing all of this, with all you guys (and Gals) here on SRP !!!!

Best part of shaving with straight razor is, eh, shaving with straight razor. All the way from preparing the razor and creating the lather to BBS shave. It has become a pleasant, almost zen like routine to me, as before straight razors shaving was just something that had to be done, like it or not.

Originally Posted by MickR

Knowing that I'm shaving in the way of the men of centuries past. That, in this small way, I am shunning modern society.


Mick

+1.
I remember my grandfather used straight razor and stropped with regular leather belt. Came a day that i found his old Swede and wanted to try it myself. Just to know if i can do the same that men before have done for centuries.

I do not really care what other people think. People at my work have seen me shaving with a straight razor. Some have commented and most have not. My wife has sure seen me shaving but has she noticed i don't know. For years she has seen me humming around with vintage knives and tools (+cars, motorcycles, engines etc etc) so i think she has just stopped wondering what i do.

I can relate to just about everything that has been said. I feel very good that I am successfully shaving with an instrument that most people think is dangerous. Not only that, the whole process, especially stropping, is very sexy!

But, what really gets me off the most is to pick up an eBay junker for a few bucks, and bring the blade back from oblivion to where it gives me a fabulous BBS shave. Now that really gives me great joy!

I could not have put it better than all of the above, i agree with them all PLUS>

I really like the feeling of self reliance, that i maintain my razor, and i am starting to know the little subtleties (yes sadly i already have 3).

I cant help feeling that i have broken away from the pack and the clutches of Gillette and Wilkinson (schick in USA?) and a little part of me is free from the machine (the rest of my life is uber machine)

I hope this is not a little odd but once or twice when shaving when in that Zen like state i can almost see all those long gone men from my family staring back at me, just for a fraction of a second. (i am not normally susceptible to such fancy).

I've always been a man who like to do things myself. I change my own oil, I sharpen my own knives, I iron my own clothes, I fix stuff around the house. So for me, I love the blade maintanance part (although I haven't honed yet). Putting that blade to face for a shave that is a pleasure instead of a chore is also one of the greatest things for me.

I do enjoy the looks on people's faces when I tell them I use a straight. I've found that people tend to think its the most dangerous thing in the world, sometimes I correct them, sometimes I don't. When I first started (this coming from someone whose used a straight for only 2 months ) I was telling lots of people. I realized I was going out of my way to bring it up sometimes, and reflecting on that kind of annoyed me. So now I dont' mention it unless there is a reason to.

You wouldn't think that reasons for taking about shaving come up very often, but you'd be surprised. I ended up mentioning it today because I was working with someone talking about reducing the waste she makes at home, and with straight razors you aren't throwing the blade away. She asked how long they last, and I got to enjoy telling her that, properly maintained, a single straight razor can last a lifetime.

on a personal me deal I love might night before ritual, I go to my shelf, and pick a soap, I then marry it with an aftershave or cologne, and I set it all on my shaving table, I strop up the razor and lay it beside them on top of a piece of toilet paper for the final blade clean after my shave, I then choose my6 brush and sit it in my bowl under the tap awaiting a good fill of boiling water in the morn, I love this ritual and find it kinna relaxing lol.

On another side the one think I like about it all now is coming here and getting all the info I get, be it technique, history or just random knowledge lol, SRP has become as much a part of my shaving routine as the brush soap and blade.

Geek.