Thread: Why did Str8 shaving go out?

I am still a newbie, only shaving with a straight a couple of months. I agree with y’all in that for the most part people look for the easiest way to get a job done, and the concept of any item being disposable and requiring no maintenance is best. I have been using fountain pens for years, I fill them form a bottle as needed and give them a good cleaning when necessary, some of the people in my office just don’t get it, why use a fountain pen (FP) when a bic stick is just as good. Comparing writing with a FP to a disposable ball point is like comparing a good straight to a bic disposable. There just ain’t none.

On second thought, maybe Bic is at fault, pens, cheap razors, and the lighter that took out the Zippo.

Just my .02,

Martin

A lurker opening up for a change.

I think the demise of the straight has a lot more to do with marketing than anything else. I'm sure most of us were surprised when we first learned that the straight is better than the latest from Gillette. How could it be, after the $1 billion that Gillette spent developing the Mach 3?

Sure, there would be some guys who didn't want the hassle of a straight. But there are millions of them who are frustrated with a lifetime of painful, unsatisfactory shaves. I think a lot more men would shave with a straight if they knew that the shave they always wanted was possible.

Members, let's show them the way.

Josh

There is no one reason for the demise of the straight razor. As with all things, it is not that simple and is a combination of multiple factors. The marketing genius of King Gillette with the US military during WWI, the convenience and time-savings of the DE vs the Straight, the marketing prowess of Gillette and Schick, our love affair as a society with the altest and greatest technology. As with the zippo and non-propane grills, straights are considered not only old-fashioned but downright obsolete. I am discovering many things that I have grown-up thinking were better merely because they were newer technology are only as good as the old technology, at best.

I firmly beleive that if a mass-producer of straights were to launch an effective marketing campaign that there would be a resurgence in thier usage. This community proof-positive that there are lots of guys looking for a better way. How many in here actually started-out shaving with a straight? I am not someone that has ever truly enjoyed shaving, but I do like a good, close, comfortable shave. That is what brought me around to straights. Now, I do enjoy shaving, but I believe that is more a side-effect of the end result, and learning what is really necessary to make that happen.

Just my $0.02 worth.

- Mike

Originally Posted by mspeel63

There is no one reason for the demise of the straight razor. As with all things, it is not that simple and is a combination of multiple factors. The marketing genius of King Gillette with the US military during WWI...

It wasn't just marketing genius. If you're in unsanitary conditions, under bombardment with the rubble bouncing all around you, and nothing to see by but the flares, and you've gotta stay clean-shaven 24 hrs a day so your gas mask will fit tightly and you won't die from your lungs dissolving, the safety razor was a godsend.

Convincing the men to pony up for the blades once they came home and it was no longer on Uncle Sam's nickel, now *that* was marketing genius.

You can compare the straight razor with the horse and cart. They went out when cars came in. Cars are faster, require less space and less time to groom etc.
I have been told that a century ago about one third of the U.S. prairies and arable land was needed to feed horses (grass, oats etc.).
Now we can use the land to feed the ever expanding human population.

don't know... shaving is only about 5 minutes slower for me with the shave right now, I had to do a 3-pass with the M3 as well to get a good shave. So it's not about the time (though the preparations are somewhat elaborate and that's not for everyone I agree )

I still believe it's about the marketing: you don't see anything but the disposables in stores (not counting those ultra-rare specialty stores you didn't even knew exist before you came to these forums ) and M3 surely isn't better than a DE if you say that you could shave with it in the dark even without nicking. So phasing out a good product for not necessarily a better one always is about 1 thing: $$$

Originally Posted by PuFFaH

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.

I know what you are talking about.
My 1.5 year old daughter is not only very curious, but she was walking around at 10 months, running at 11 months, climbing stairs at 12 and climbing vertical ladders at 14.

We have to be very careful about where we place stuff because she does not yet grasp the concept of danger.
My shaving gear is on the top shelf in the bathroom, as far out of reach as possible.

The only thing worse than a kid dying is a kid dying because you were careless.
I don't I (not my wife for that matter) would ever forgive myself.

WWI. A war so nasty that the world seems to want to put it out of the collective memory. Europe still has not recovered from WWI.

An old man once said (and I always listened to old men when I was a kid), "Our young men went off to WWI shaving with straight razors like the generations before them, smoking pipes and cigars, and carrying pocket watches. They came back shaving with safety razors fit only for a woman's armpits, smoking cigarettes fit only for the lips of pimps and whores, and wearing wristwatches fit only for a woman's wrist. The world has gone to hell in a handbasket!"

Shaving with a straight takes longer for me because I want it too. My shave is just never good enough so I go over this part a bit more or try a different angle here or there until I am satisfied, but I do not think that is why others dont do it.

I believe as others have said that others to not try straights because of marketting. I have spoken to some people and let them know I shaved with a straight and they said I was nuts, not because it takes longer, not because it can cut you, and not because of the up keep, but because there is absolutely no way that one straight razor can compare to five blades.

They have been brainwashed by american marketing, and will refuse to consider any other options until they see enough commercials on tv.

I don't buy into the laziness factor. This particular
generation (WWI) was still a roll of your sleeves
and get it done generation. They were not lazy.
Marketing from Gillette, the fact that shaving to
these men was not considered an enjoyable, it
was simply a grooming chore and nothing more.
The DE simply made it easier and quicker. And as
time went on I suppose the straight razor seemed
so, horse and buggy, so 19th century to many men.
There is no doubt many reasons for the demise of
the straight, but very few swiched because of laziness
IMHO. Compaired to these men, we are a bunch of
weenies......


Terry