Learning to shave with a straight razor

[JS]

Ah, but consider the sad fate of Henry Thoreau's brother, John, as described by John McPhee in the intro to the Princeton Univ. Press edition of A Week on the Concord and Merrimac Rivers:

John was his brother's best friend, perhaps his only close one. After nicking himself with a razor, John died of tetanus at the age of twenty-seven.

[bradhurley]

Yeah, I hate shaving as well, however I did the goatee thing for years and am over it, plus my beard has turned about half grey in the last 3 years, and I simply don't look that old, nor do I want to.

I've had my beard since I was 18 (I'm now 47). I shaved it off once in my mid-30s and it did in fact make me look at least 10 years younger. Unfortunately it also made me look almost exactly like Bert, the muppet character in Sesame Street, because I have no chin.

[fel bautista]

My dad was a barber and I have all his straight razors. They are the carbon steel variety and are incredibly sharp. I 've got the sharpening stones, leather strop, boar brushes as well. I remember him sharpening them on his day off. I think one of the handles is ivory.

I tried to use one, way back in the begining of time and failed. I did use one of those blue steel gilette blades ( two edges and you had to take the holder apart to put the blade in).

I use one of those tripple edge jobbies, but since my beard ( being filipino, it don't happen) is light, I can make it last and last.

[Loren]

I've had my beard since I was 18 (I'm now 47). I shaved it off once in my mid-30s and it did in fact make me look at least 10 years younger. Unfortunately it also made me look almost exactly like Bert, the muppet character in Sesame Street, because I have no chin.

Well, chin I got, although I'm no Kirk Douglas It's great for holding up the flute and keeping it in place.



Loren

[Loren]

My dad was a barber and I have all his straight razors. They are the carbon steel variety and are incredibly sharp. I 've got the sharpening stones, leather strop, boar brushes as well. I remember him sharpening them on his day off. I think one of the handles is ivory.

I tried to use one, way back in the begining of time and failed. I did use one of those blue steel gilette blades ( two edges and you had to take the holder apart to put the blade in).

I use one of those tripple edge jobbies, but since my beard ( being filipino, it don't happen) is light, I can make it last and last.

Well, I guess you're one of the lucky one's then!


Loren

[Loren]

Okay, we have Chiff and Fipple, so what do you think the shaving aficianados have as an equivalent? Come on, take a guess......



Why it's C&F's Most Dangerous Cousin: Badger and Blade, of course! (It appears to be about all things shaving related, not straight razor specific, although they do have a straight razor forum)

http://www.badgerandblade.com/vb/index.php

Gotta love it, heh heh......

Loren

[burnsbyrne]

I used a straight razor for a few years back in the early 70s. It was the green thing to do except they didn't call it green back then. I got a razor for free from a friend whose father had a collection of them. I took it to get it sharpened, got a stone and a strop and a brush and a mug and I was in business. It's really not too hard to do. The main big rule is NEVER move the blade sideways when it's touching your face. You WILL bleed. If you remember to only move the razor in a direction perpendicular to the blade you will get along real nice.
Mike

[Joseph E. Smith]

I will nolonger use a straight razor. The last few times I did was for purposes not intended by the creator of this item. I have the scars and the rosy cheeked face of embarrassment to show for it.

[PhilO]

Stick to the safety razor dude; I've used a Mach 3 for many years now and love it - I see no need for the super charged turbo 5 blade models or any of that c--p. That said, they do something with the blades to promote unnecessary sales that for example Dell does with its ink cartridges. The blade pack warns you to use a new blade when the dark green line gets very light; that's generally bull; I change blades when the blade stops feeling right and ignore the line.

Dell, the sole supplier of ink cartridges for its printers, has built in skull and cross bones warnings of empty ink cartridges; these are time generated not reality generated and appear WAY too soon in an effort to get you to purchase the very expensive cartridges way early and often. I replace when I see signs in my printed material that printing is beginning to appear less than optimum - often months after the warnings begin. That said, Dell cartridges are no more expensive than others and the printers have been cheap and great for my uses.

Uh oh, highjacked a thread! Sorry.

Philo

[The Weekenders]

Well, goatees and beards may be out, I dunno. I always figure with Winter coming, they come back in. What I like about that is that the beard kinda hides how plump my face gets from all the holiday over-eatin. The Santa look.

What is big out here are these strange tiny wedges of hair below the lower lip. I guess its a cyclical thing, working downward from goatees, which remain big with sports types. When I ponder these things, I always get the mental picture of the dude staring in the mirror too long to be a manly man....Vanity strikes. I'm too old to spend a lot of time looking in the mirror, especially since I can't see that well, and what I do see, I don't much care for.

The facial hair cycle reminds me of eyeglasses, which went from completely big and round to little, square and flat over the years. In each case, there was somebody thinking they just looked GREAT that way...

The little things (soul patches?) look kinky to me. I notice that white jazz guys have 'em, along with the little African-y caps.

[DCrom]

I don't think that electrics give the best shave, but they're probably the most convenient shave. I got tired of the occasional nick with the cartridge razors and made the switch years ago.

But I'm with The Weekenders - if it wasn't for my wife's strong preference for a shaved face (ah, the things we do for love!) I'd have a full beard at all times. I keep telling her that with a face like mine she should be *glad* I want to hide it, but she's not having any.

I've never quite figured out why we bother to shave our faces, but (most of us, most of the time) don't shave the rest of our head at the same time.

[s1m0n]

I learned to shave with a straight razor a few years ago.

Yo9u're advised to lather a balloon and shave that, although I didn't--I shaved my left arm and did so without drawing blood.

Then I went on to shaving my neck and under my chin (I had a beard at the time, and only shaved there) that too went well enough.

There's a light, circular stroke that's easier to do than describe.

[Loren]

I learned to shave with a straight razor a few years ago.

Yo9u're advised to lather a balloon and shave that, although I didn't--I shaved my left arm and did so without drawing blood.

Then I went on to shaving my neck and under my chin (I had a beard at the time, and only shaved there) that too went well enough.

There's a light, circular stroke that's easier to do than describe.

So are you happy you made the switch? Do you feel the shave is better?

Cool looking dog!

Loren

[Doug_Tipple]

I am one of the few people who flunked out of barber school. It was back in the 70's, and barbers were still using straight razors to shave their customers. Now, with a greater awareness of blood transmitted diseases, razors are no longer used in the barbershop, at least here in Indiana.

I am a rather lazy, so using an electric Norelco shaver appeals to me. If you can get over the idea that a shave should be close, then electric shavers will have a much greater appeal. I now use my cordless Norelco while I am doing other things. Thank God, I don't have to look at myself in a mirror to see what I am doing. I shave by feel alone, usually with my eyes closed, in a shaving trance.

Recently we had a house guest who started talking about shaving with a safety razor. He had been to Las Vegas and had been impressed with the expensive new blade razors that were for sale in the hotel stores. I went into my bathroom, and in the bottom of a cardboard box I found one of my old safety razors from the 60's. I gave it to my guest, and he was as delighted to receive it as I was to get rid of it.

I supposed you all have heard about keeping a double-edge razor blade sharp by placing it under a pyramid. I tried it years ago, and it worked for me, but I still cut myself with safety razor, nonetheless.
pyramid power

[Tony]

I use the cheap disposables... average beard. I usually get 3+ weeks of daily shaving from them.

I didn't realize this was a problem.