Thread: Why did Str8 shaving go out?

When my son was about 6 he had his first brush with a straight razor. My wife and I came in from the front garden to find our son at the top of the stairs crying and waving his hand about furiously. In the process of this panic my son was spraying the walls with blood droplets over some considerable area. On investigation and interigation we deduced that he had found one of my razors and understandably for a 6 year old, ran his finger over the cutting edge whilst trying to understand why I used it like I did every morning. Thankfully he only nicked his finger but as you know, a straight can bleed like the best of them.
This incident stopped his curiosity in it's tracks from then on but it goes to show that children can reach the safe areas parents think they can't.

Right, my point though long winded was:
Safety could be a factor in the demise, though I'm sure it's down to commercialism and the need to promote a ready market place with the need for cheap, easy, quick, safe shaving.


PuFF (the bad parent)

Originally Posted by Wildtim

Yea and those expensive paint brushes are just like straights they allow you to do a better job on one pass and can cut in better so you spend less on accessories like masking tape too. I just goes to show that if you take the time to educate yourself in any area of life you will learn what the best is, and if you actually get the best from those in the know you will get the best results, not the quickest, not the easiest, the best.

Those are great shots of the pups. My 7 year old daughter has spent the last 20 minutes telling me how cute they are

Originally Posted by PuFFaH

When my son was about 6 he had his first brush with a straight razor. My wife and I came in from the front garden to find our son at the top of the stairs crying and waving his hand about furiously. In the process of this panic my son was spraying the walls with blood droplets over some considerable area. On investigation and interigation we deduced that he had found one of my razors and understandably for a 6 year old, ran his finger over the cutting edge whilst trying to understand why I used it like I did every morning. Thankfully he only nicked his finger but as you know, a straight can bleed like the best of them.
PuFF (the bad parent)

This reminds me of an accident I had, when I was about 5-6 yrs old. My father shaved at that time with a Schick Injector. He left a cartridge of spare blades in the drawer of our coffeetable in the livingroom. I found the cartridge and although I wasn't ment to produce a blade I managed to do so. I ran it along the tip of my tongue to "taste" its sharpeness and to top it, I ran it again along my upper lip, because I couldn't taste the sharpeness. I did taste my blood very soon though.

Was my father a bad parent? No, in no way, he just forgot to hide the cartridge.
Safety razors in the neighbourhood of children, OK, but we also have to teach them what is sharp. I found out the hard way.

Originally Posted by idaho mike

The National Geographic thread got me to thinking. Why did str8 shaving go out of fashion? Implied in the video is the notion that a str8 is just beyond the skills of mere mortals and the safety razor was a huge improvement in design. I'd be curious as to what others think.

My guess - convience and marketing. It would be interesting to see some stats if they existed.

Safety razors are fool proof. Do not forget that before WW 2 many men did go to a barber's to get shaved, many less well off only once or twice a week. So being clean shaven must have been a sign of personal wealth. Going to the barber's every day is unaffordable nowadays. Not everyone is interested in all the hassle that comes with str8s so I think that explains a lot.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

The fact is we live in a world were everything comes easy and people want things now. Mediocrity is the accepted norm for most people when it comes to everything. I guess we're just throwbacks, part of a tiny minority and that sits fine with me!

That is how it seems to me for the most part.

I remember reading somewhere that one of the things that led to straights recieving a bad rap were the horrendous shaving misshaps that used to happen on shaky trains. Apparently businessmen would shave enroute to their destination. If the train hit a bad turn or slammed the brakes there were apparently a number of lethal shaving accidents.

Originally Posted by Str8away

That is how it seems to me for the most part.

I remember reading somewhere that one of the things that led to straights recieving a bad rap were the horrendous shaving misshaps that used to happen on shaky trains. Apparently businessmen would shave enroute to their destination. If the train hit a bad turn or slammed the brakes there were apparently a number of lethal shaving accidents.

hahahaha that's actually pretty funny.....what barber would be prepared to take that risk nowadays?

My father in law told me that he shaves on a ship with a straight a couple of time. People always looked at him as if he was insane.

I can't believe that people actually inflicted mortal wounds on themselves unless the train jumped tracks, in which case they would have died anyways.

IMO, straight use died off because of convenience and laziness. Imagine not enjoying shaving. And suddenly, you no longer have to strop or hone your razor. And you have a razor that offer protection from nicks and cuts. We are a lazy society. I sell cars for a living. We offer a minivan that has 5 doors. 3 of those doors open with the push of a button. When we are too lazy to open a door, why bother with shaving with a straight razor?

RT

Originally Posted by rtaylor61

IMO, straight use died off because of convenience and laziness. Imagine not enjoying shaving. And suddenly, you no longer have to strop or hone your razor. And you have a razor that offer protection from nicks and cuts. We are a lazy society. I sell cars for a living. We offer a minivan that has 5 doors. 3 of those doors open with the push of a button. When we are too lazy to open a door, why bother with shaving with a straight razor?

RT

Randy,

I think you hit it on the head..

i am going to disagree with the tone of a lot to the posts. I hear a lot of people say it died of because of laziness. Actually I think it died off because it take a lot more time to shave with a straight, especially if you throw in maintenance.
When you get down to it, of what real benifit is there to sahve wiht a straigh besides personal fulfillment.
For a lot of people, time not spent sahving or messing with straight razors translates into more time to spend with family or working or doent things more productive than pursuing a shave.
who would be more responsible/less lazy. someone who spends 20 minutes a day shaving and an hour a week maintaining his sahving gear, or someone who spends three mintues a day sahving and no tim maintaining but uses that saved time to do something productive like work or spend time with family?