Thread: Traditional Shaving Products for Our Troops

I'm gratified that they can have any shaving tools of their choice out there; it would be borderline criminal to deny them basic things. (Smoking cigars comes to mind, but let's not get into that so I don't have to tell you about my friend's son - a West Pointer in active service in an active zone with Special Forces - smuggling boxes back there for his guys.)

If the idea takes root, please count me in. While I don't have anything on hand, I stand ready to put money up for it or go out and buy something nice to send to the boys out there.

I'm not a man to hold a grudge, really I'm not, but if this takes hold and I'm left out I will find the responsible party, come over and dull every razor I can find.

Ok, I won't do that, but I use hyperbole to illustrate a point. Besides, I've been burning to use the world "hyperbole" in a sentence for years.

This is a wonderful idea. I'm game to donate some gear.

i dont have much of a collection but i could donate what i can or i can order some new stuff and have it shipped directly to whoever is going to head this up. people here were so great to me during the two deployments where i had internet so i just wanna give back what i can. count me in

-dan-

Interesting, I am deploying this summer and planned on taking my disposable str8, wasn't wanting to take a stone and strop, and hadn't heard that I couldn't take it. I will have to be sure to ask around. I know there are some places I wouldn't even bother given the conditions but those places are less common now.

hey everyone.. let me know if i can send over some products for a group care package.. i have around 80 derby blades and a few misc soaps i can contribute to the cause..

i love being a member of this community and will do anything to give back.

I deployed over there andnever had an issue with sr8's...The only thing they had an isue with was my knife and bayonet....We could bring guns on board, but no knives...I was ridiculous...SO if the Soldies are carring the str8 on in a carry on luggage, then that is where the issue lies...As for sending str8's over..Most soldiers won't like the time it takes to shave with a straight...I was in for 22years and converted only a few in that time....Most joes like to rip through a shave...THere are a few, but not enough to send str8s over....THey would end up using them to open MRE's.

Ladies and gentlemen:

I have read these posts with much interest, and have analyzed the idea of providing straight razor and wet shaving equipment to our troops fighting wars. As a former soldier who has served in war (mine was Vietnam), my thoughts echo what some of you have noted.

My experience tells me most soldiers dislike the daily shave. They find it a burden, a pain in the tokhus, but do it because regulations are regulations. Although Straight Razor Place has made this noble gesture to our soldiers in war, I dare say we will have few takers.

A soldier has far too many things to think about, and on which to spend his time, than to embrace the world of straight razor shaving with all its rituals and idiosyncrasies. With rare exceptions, soldiers would rather get the shave over as fast as they can, any way they, and move on.

I fear, therefore, our effort will be for naught. Yes, our soldiers will be grateful for the gesture — soldiers are always grateful for a nod — but most will probably admit that straight razor shaving is not for them, at least not under the circumstances. A soldier's reality in a bloody war is different from ours in a peaceful land.

What's more, the world of wet shaving with the straight razor and the double edge relies on personal desire rather than anything else. We embrace this colorful world because we want to. Yes, occasionally some of us have tasted the fruits of it on invitation. Yet the reason we have kept up with it is directed by our desire to shave with the straight razor or the double.

I believe the best course for us, as individuals and as members of Straight Razor Place, is to provide all the teaching and information we can and let our soldiers decide for themselves, when conditions are better, whether they want to experience the daily pleasures in the shave den we civilians so enjoy.

Regards,

Obie