Thread: Why did Str8 shaving go out?

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.

You are correct when you said convience and marketing.
Not to mention those 3.5 million razors that fell into
the hands of US Doughboys during WW I. My
Grandfather would have been one of those. But
he went back to his straight razor upon his return
home.

I would imagine that during the straight razor days
the average joe hated shaving just as much as
most men do today.

We have simply turned this into a hobby. A very
cool hobby IMHO.


Terry

Straight razors require 2 sets of skill:
1) Shaving
2) Edge-maintenance
DEs that replaced'em on the mass market eliminated the second set. Cartrige razors eliminated the first. Everything is becoming idiot-proof.

Most of us do this because its really a hobby so stop and think about all the effort that goes into the learning curve, maintaining the razor and the honing and all the other paraphernalia and then think about how easy it is to plug in the electric razor or change a blade cartridge.

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!

actually I agree that the war probably had a lot to do with it marketers aren't about to miss an oppertunity to look like patriots and convince people to try their product all wrapped up together. Until WWII most men smoked either a pipe or cigars but in the army you were issued cigaretts in much greater abundance than cigars and since then everyone has primarily smoked ciggaretts, until cigars became a hobby in the late nintys.

I'm thinkin' it was mostly a safety issue. Not only less chance of cutting yourself up... what about the patter of little feet that may have been in the house. I imagine it could have been a concern at the time.

I suspect it was mostly the war. King Gillette went bankrupt several times because nobody was interested in his new safety razor. Many men did not shave back then, and even those that did probably didn't shave every day. But in the trenches it was necessary for every man to maintain a close shave at all times so the gas mask would fit tightly; in such an environment (little-to-no hot water, iffy availability of mirrors and strops and hones etc) the DE was a major improvement over the straight. So a generation of men (a) got used to being clean-shaven and (b) used the DE to do it. When they got back they remained clean shaven, and started buying their familiar safety razors en masse.

Sounds right to me

Originally Posted by mparker762

I suspect it was mostly the war. King Gillette went bankrupt several times because nobody was interested in his new safety razor. Many men did not shave back then, and even those that did probably didn't shave every day. But in the trenches it was necessary for every man to maintain a close shave at all times so the gas mask would fit tightly; in such an environment (little-to-no hot water, iffy availability of mirrors and strops and hones etc) the DE was a major improvement over the straight. So a generation of men (a) got used to being clean-shaven and (b) used the DE to do it. When they got back they remained clean shaven, and started buying their familiar safety razors en masse.

I think that's probably right, yes. And after millions of converts came home, everyone had to try Mr. King Gilette's safety razor. I wonder if there was a concommitant decline in barber shop shaves during that time as well?

Bill has a point as well, though I think those of earlier generations took a more pragmatic view of safety. Look at the aforementioned barber shop. I'm sure that in the old days, lots of people got shaved with the same razor and maybe brush (though if you were a regular, you had your own shaving mug). I don't think there was an epidemic of people dying as a result of going to barber shops. Similarly, you can cut yourself with a straight razor, but has anyone here ever done any serious damage to themselves? Anything that would do more than /maybe/ leave a scar?

So, maybe we've all just become so milquetoast as a result of modern culture?

Originally Posted by JerseyLawyer

I think that's probably right, yes. And after millions of converts came home, everyone had to try Mr. King Gilette's safety razor.

The relationship is actually more direct than that: The gov't issued gillette razors to every doughboy. Not only did they get used to shaving daily, they did it with gillette razors.

http://inventors.about.com/library/i...rs/blrazor.htm