Author Topic: Straight Razors: Good Idea or Dangerous Whim? (Read 4392 times)

Guest · « **on:** June 19, 2006, 09:02:51 AM »

Of late I have been giving some thought to getting myself a straight razor and hopefully using the two months before school starts again (law school this time) to master it. There are plenty of afficianado sites on the web and I have taken the time to look through a few. I was wondering what the reguler folk of this board have to say on the matter.

As I will be spending the next three years existing mainly on student loans any other random advice concerning reasonable thrift would be appreciated. Disposable razors are just something I noticed that really added up and the straight razor seemed like a good alternative to letting the facial hair grow hippy style Wink

K Frame · « **Reply #1 on:** June 19, 2006, 09:08:38 AM »

Why not just stick your face in a lawn mower?

The effect is about the same.

I used to shave with a straight razor. Sure, I got a close shave, but I got horrific cases of razor burn.

I've been shaving with a Mach 3 or a Quattro for a couple of years now. The shave is incredible.

charby · « **Reply #2 on:** June 19, 2006, 09:12:20 AM »

Shaving is overrated.

RaggedClaws · « **Reply #3 on:** June 19, 2006, 09:35:10 AM »

I tried straight razor shaving a few months ago, slowly building up from just trimming my sideburns to actually trying to shave my cheeks. It didn't go so well. I told myself I'd try again once the inch long scar on my cheek fades away. I'm still waiting for that.

Back to shaving with the M3 Power...

Guest · « **Reply #4 on:** June 19, 2006, 09:41:31 AM »

Sounded like a good idea in my head. Thanks for helping to keep my baby face so beautiful. With any luck all the scars I have or will get shall remain prompts for amusing or amazing stories. 'I was shaving this one time' doesn't seem to qualify

Nathaniel Firethorn · « **Reply #5 on:** June 19, 2006, 09:42:16 AM »

I threw away my double-edge safety razoe when the Trac II came out.

I threw away my Trac II when the Atra came out.

There is, sometimes, such a thing as real progress.

- NF

K Frame · « **Reply #6 on:** June 19, 2006, 09:47:34 AM »

"I threw away my Trac II when the Atra came out."

Yep.

I was an Atra man for almost 20 years.

I figured all these new blades were simply BS.

Well, Gilette did something smart...

They sent me a free Mach 3 in the mail. Nice handle with 1 blade.

One shave and the Atra went in the garbage.

Nathaniel Firethorn · « **Reply #7 on:** June 19, 2006, 10:28:56 AM »

Senior moment. (I knew something like that was going to happen...)

I meant Mach III rather than Atra. I cut myself a couple of times on a test-drive of the Atra and stuck to the Trac II for the next twenty years.

Now they've got this Fusion thing out, but I don't trust smart razors. Tongue

- NF

TarpleyG · « **Reply #8 on:** June 19, 2006, 12:25:05 PM »

I switched to electric a year and a half ago because I kept getting ingrown hairs. I also grew a goatee since that area was more prone to the ingrown hair problem. I had a cheapie ($30) Braun I bought at first and used it for a little over a year. It worked better than a $300 wet/dry Panasonic I bought a half a dozen years ago (that thing really corrupted my view of electric shaving). The Braun's blade got dull and the replacements are as much as the razor itself so on a whim I bought a Remington Titanium (one like the old Norelco 3-head design) and WOW!, what a difference. It set me back about $50 and was definitely worth it. I get as close a shave with it as I ever did with any Mach 66 I tried (or whatever blade count they are up to now).

Greg

Monkeyleg · « **Reply #9 on:** June 19, 2006, 01:01:47 PM »

"Why not just stick your face in a lawnmower?"

Cheesy

Azrael256 · « **Reply #10 on:** June 19, 2006, 01:28:43 PM »

I wrote a dissertation on straight razor shaving a couple of years ago. You can read it here. I ended up reworking it a little bit and got an A+ for it in my Oklahoma and the Southwest class.

It's not a bad way to go, and once you really get the hang of it, the burning sensation and horrible scarring will go away. In case you were wondering, the straight razor really is the reason that all the Civil War era generals are pictured with beards. It works really well when you're young and your facial skin is nice and taut. Once it starts to wrinkle, mower blades, outboard propellers, and angle grinders work more efficiently and cause less burn.

The straight razor is often depicted as the way a "man" shaves. This is in error. If you want a shave fit for a real man, find yourself a Turkish barber and ask for a shave. I won't go into just how it works, but I will say that it gives a new definition to "razor burn."

jefnvk · « **Reply #11 on:** June 19, 2006, 01:38:31 PM »

Shaving is overrated.

Haven't been clean shaven since October, and couldn't be happier. I got an extra 5-10 minuets of my life back in the morning. Plus, a big suprise to me, it acts as an insulator in winter AND summer.

MillCreek · « **Reply #12 on:** June 19, 2006, 03:18:30 PM »

I shave my entire head, face and neck every morning except for a Van Dyke and eyebrows. I use cheap disposable clones of the Gillette Custom Plus pivot twin-blade. I can pick up a package of eight or ten for about $ 3.00 at my local Target or Wally World. I use a razor for a week and toss it in the trash. I figure spending about $ 0.30-0.40 per week on shaving is not too bad.

My head has more lumps and bumps than does my face, and I have found that the twin blade pivot razors are less likely to cut me than the three or four blade pivot razors. God only knows what I would do to myself using a straight razor.

280plus · « **Reply #13 on:** June 19, 2006, 05:07:03 PM »

Norelco baby...

I'm done in like 5 minutes.

Cheesy

brimic · « **Reply #14 on:** June 19, 2006, 05:25:27 PM »

Quote

They sent me a free Mach 3 in the mail. Nice handle with 1 blade.

One shave and the Atra went in the garbage

Feh. You're still shaving with a 3-bladed razor? That's so 2003 and barbaric. Cheesy

280plus · « **Reply #15 on:** June 19, 2006, 05:31:25 PM »

When I was back in HS one of the things the Nuns liked to make you do during detention is write 500 words on how many angels can fit on the head of a pin. The modern version of that would be , "How many blades can the razor companies fit on a handle?" Tongue

K Frame · « **Reply #16 on:** June 19, 2006, 05:36:09 PM »

"It's not a bad way to go, and once you really get the hang of it, the burning sensation and horrible scarring will go away."

OK, I don't know why, but that's the funniest goddamned thing I've read in a LONG time!

"Feh. You're still shaving with a 3-bladed razor? That's so 2003 and barbaric."

I was talking with a friend a couple of years ago (not long after the 3-blade jobbies were announced, and before the Quattro hit the market) and was wondering where the madness was going to stop. I predicted a 7-blade razor. He laughed and said the 3-blade is as high as it's going to go.

We're up to 5 blades now....

"Introducing the new GilSchiWilBic DECIMUS MAXIMUS!

The closest shave you will EVER get.

The first blade gently lifts the hair while blades 2 through 5 cut it increasingly close.

Blade 6 grabs hold of your skin, and blades 7 through 9 burrow progressively deeper under your epidermis where, finally, blade 10 removes the hair folicle.

Yes, you lose your face, and have to travel to France for a face transplant. But you get one HELL of a close shave!"

K Frame · « **Reply #17 on:** June 19, 2006, 05:37:19 PM »

"When I was back in HS one of the things the Nuns liked to make you do during detention is write 500 words on how many angels can fit on the head of a pin."

I always figured about as many as it took to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop.

I think it's a good thing I never went to the mackrel snapper academy.

cosine · « **Reply #18 on:** June 19, 2006, 05:44:26 PM »

I can't see myself ever using a straight razor. I like my face the way it is right now.

As for shaving in general... I just scrape the cheapest razors I can find at Wally World, (only two blades too! Shocked

), with the cheapest shave cream I can find at Wally World, across my face every two days.

I'm a lazy slob. Cheesy

Nightfall · « **Reply #19 on:** June 19, 2006, 05:59:53 PM »

I got a Braun 8585 which comes with a base unit that cleans the shaver. Leaves it clean, lubricated, with a kinda lemony scent. Shaves are even better than my Mach III.

Quote

If you want a shave fit for a real man, find yourself a Turkish barber and ask for a shave. I won't go into just how it works, but I will say that it gives a new definition to "razor burn."

Anybody else intrigued?

Azrael256 · « **Reply #20 on:** June 19, 2006, 10:49:43 PM »

Quote

Anybody else intrigued?

Ok, picture this: A wild-eyed Turk lathers you up and then whips out a scimitar. I'm serious. His great grandaddy sacked Jerusalem with it. Then, in about five strokes, he does the deed. I'm amazed that he didn't cut my ears off, but I think I know how it really works. He never really touched my face with it, but the blasted thing is so horrible that the hairs jump off your face in terror. The shaving cream, too.

Now, you know all those irritating little hairs that are real hard to get to? The stuff around your ears, and any dimples in your face. Ok, well, the Turks came up with a way to deal with that. They had to since using their cutlasses to shave inside your ears might well result in the client being unable to pay. Unable to hear, at the very least. It is painfully clear that their shaving technique was developed over centuries of invading other countries. You see, if you're sacking a city at night, you have to forego the shield in your left hand in favor of a torch. So, guess how they do it... They take this torch, dipped in some kind of flammable liquid, and light the thing on fire. I'm fairly certain that it's some kind of accelerant derived directly from the blood of Infidels. Either that or benzene. The stuff positively REEKS. It's supposed to smell better than burning hair, but it really smells like Constantinople smoldering in the night.

So this lunatic starts smacking my ear with this 15th Century flamethrower. You hear this whoosh as the flame sears your already sunburned flesh, and the psychopath doing it to you just stands there laughing. I'm fairly certain that "Quaffur," the Turkish word for "barber," is actually some Byzantine form of "freaking nutcase."

So, my shave completed, this weirdo slaps some aftershave on me. I'm here to tell you, it wasn't any Old Spice I'm used to. It is an ancient concoction derived from rotting camel dung and OC spray. Oh, and it doesn't wash off. I smelled like an old-world compost pile for a whole week.

On the other hand, it was about 50 cents, and it was a damn good shave.

S. Williamson · « **Reply #21 on:** June 20, 2006, 12:36:05 AM »

Where was this? Here in OKC?

I swear, some of the unneccesary stuff you subject yourself to... Tongue

280plus · « **Reply #22 on:** June 20, 2006, 12:59:16 AM »

Quote

A wild-eyed Turk lathers you up

Whoa! That's enough for me right THERE!!

Tongue

French G. · « **Reply #23 on:** June 20, 2006, 09:14:24 AM »

I think if you want ecomony get a good norelco. I had a corded version, it was $20 something, it lasted 8 years with one bladeset change. I now have a cordless new Norelco, they run forever. I would like to get a straight razor and learn mainly because the only decent haircut I can get is from the old barber who cleans up my neck w/ a striaght blade. No way in heck I'd let anyone under 50 near me with a straight razor, my only worry with this guy is him having a massive grabber while the blade is stuck to my neck.

Leatherneck · « **Reply #24 on:** June 20, 2006, 09:41:08 AM »

Braun electric; 30 seconds twice a day and don't waste any more time on it. Every once in a while take the time for a blade shave, but not so often...

I'm thinking depilatory shower here--you know how Marines hate hair!

TC

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Author Topic: Straight Razors: Good Idea or Dangerous Whim? (Read 4392 times)

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