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Found some how-tos and videos online, and I plan to visit a barber and get a straight-razor shave to see how it should feel. Just curious if any Hatrackers have straight razor experience. Straight razor shaving experience, mind you.
And yes, "my arm is whole again!" has come up...
Posts: 7790 | Registered: Aug 2000
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quote:Originally posted by Chris Bridges: I plan to visit a barber and get a straight-razor shave to see how it should feel.
A year or so ago I decided that I wanted to find out what a straight razor shave would feel like, and discovered that there were no barbers in my area who were willing to give me one. Apparently there are too many liability issues for most barber shops to be willing to let their employees give them. One barber told me that it's still being taught, though, and that if I wanted to drive the 50 miles to the closest barber college I could get one. Might not be a bad idea for you to call around before heading out to get one.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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I'm having the same reaction as I did to your typewriter. Owning one is cool. But why would you want to actually USE it? Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Typewriters are good for filling out forms. My only problem is that mine is put away, and too much of a hassle to be worth taking out on the rare occasions when I need/want it.
Posts: 13680 | Registered: Mar 2002
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I have twice, at two separate barbers. The first one burned for about a day, but the second one felt fine, and was smooth as a baby's bottom.
Posts: 2705 | Registered: Sep 2006
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I just started shaving with a double-edge safety razor about a week ago. I got the kit with the badger brush from the Art of Shaving in the mall. It's kinda fun. No straight razor experience here, though.
You might find the info you're looking for at http://badgerandblade.com/ — there are people obsessed enough with this stuff that they'll set up a forum dedicated to it. Which should come as no surprise, I guess.
Posts: 1810 | Registered: Jan 1999
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I used to use a straight razor all the time. (got talked into it by a girl I dated-she was a hairdresser)
Best shave I ever had.
My advice would be to take it REAL slowly at first. (I know, kind of a no-brainer)
Shave "down" (i.e. from head to toe) This will be "with the grain" for the most part, but if your beard grows in odd directions around your adams apple like mine does, don't try to go with the grain if it will require you to shave at difficult angles, just shave down. Shaving your chin will likely be your biggest challenge. Take it REALLY REALLY slow.
Watch (or remember) some old movies featuring men shaving themselves w/ a straight razor and hold the razor the same way they do. I just can't describe it here in words.
Closest shave I've ever had was from a straight razor. (to test this one day, I went back over my face with a Gillette Sensor against the grain, and encountered no remaining hairs.
I gave up shaving with a straight razor because it took too much time (even after I got "good" at it, it still took almost twice as long to shave as I could do with a Sensor. Maybe I'll pick it up again after I retire.)
Good luck and let us know how it turns out!
Posts: 692 | Registered: Feb 2000
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Reasons for doing it: more enviro-friendly (no disposable blades, no plastic, aerosol foam is discouraged, etc), cheaper overall (same reasons), the feeling of tradition, portability (great for hikers, etc) and by all reports a much closer, smoother shave. Also you can be more precise around beards and mustaches since straight razors allow you to go one hair at a time if necessary; you can adjust angles easily, where most safety razors enforce a single angle.
Reasons not to: more time-consuming, much more maintainance of materials required, longer learning curve.
But I like trying new things, even when they're old things, so...
Posts: 7790 | Registered: Aug 2000
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quote:Originally posted by Icarus: *Arguably one of the most famous barbers in the world.
That's interesting. Why is he famous?
He's "The" barber at the Harmony Barbershop in the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. There are actually a few barbers/hairstylists who work there, but Michael Marach is the one constant, while others come and go. Magazine articles in travel magazines and the like about the barber shop on Main Street invariably feature him. He's fantastic*; his "real" job is doing hair for actors, and he's not some young thing in a Supercuts with a beauty school license she got by going to night school for a few weeks. He's got quite a few regulars among the people who live here. I think he does a very good job, and the price is quite reasonable--it's actually the cheapest haircut in Disney World, though certainly not the cheapest in the area. I also like that, since he doesn't he himself as anybody's "regular" barber, he doesn't nag about how long it's been since you've had a haircut. The downside is having to brave Disney transportation (or walk) all the way into the park. And that there's almost always a crowd waiting for a haircut.
Posts: 13680 | Registered: Mar 2002
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I shave with a straight razor every day. Correction, I shave with a straight razor every time I shave, which isn't every day. I've been using the straight razor about 8 years.
It takes practice. I cut myself a lot less often than I do when I shave with a safety razor, but the cuts are actual nicks, rather than just razor rash. They're still razor cuts, though, so they heal cleanly and fast and don't leave scars. I do recommend that you get a barber shave, for reference. Find a barber that actually uses a razor on a regular basis. There aren't many left anymore.
I own two straight razors, one is 3/8" wide (dubl duck), the other is 5/8" wide (Dovo). I can get the Dovo sharper than the dubl duck, but it still is harder to shave with, because (I think) there's more flex in the blade. It "rings" against my skin, and catches more easily. I rarely use it anymore.
The dubl duck runs against my skin more smoothly, but it tends to feel smoother the longer I go before I strop it again. So I tend to wind up waiting until it's actually getting dull before I strop it, which is a bad thing.
Most of the skill involved in shaving with a straight razor is in the sharpening part. At first it doesn't seem that way, because the razor is new and you're busy learning the actual shaving part. But eventually the shaving gets easy, and the blade needs attention. Note: conservative sharpening means less invasive. Strop only at first, with a plain leather strop. Don't use paste with any abrasive in it (if it's red or brown it has rouge in it). And don't let the strop hang loose. I actually laid the strop down flat on a surface for a long time, but I'm more comfortable now. I've never found a new sharpening stone that could work with a razor, but I've got an antique water stone that works nicely. If you choose to use a stone, (many people will tell you never to use anything but a strop) you have to draw the blade as if you're stropping, don't ever run the blade forward on the stone like you usually do if you're sharpening a knife. And if you find a stone company that makes new stones that are good enough to use on a razor, let me know.
Posts: 3735 | Registered: Mar 2002
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Never used a straight razor... for shaving. My... barber? Hairstylist? The lady who cuts my hair always shaves the top of my neck with one though, but not my face. I like the feeling, but not enough to start shaving my face with one. I cut myself often enough with a safety razor before I switched to electric.
But seriously, can barbers be female? I don't get anything fancy, so she's not really my hairstylist, but you just don't (or I just don't) normally call a female who cuts hair a barber.
Posts: 1364 | Registered: Feb 2003
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Depending on the state licensing rules, a barber must be able to give shaves in addition to cutting hair. There's a fair amount of safety training, for example they should be aware that people on blood thinning medication could bleed excessively if you nick them. Stuff like that.
And as I understand it, Richard Burton said that being shaved with a straight razor by a woman was the most luxurious feeling he'd ever experienced. So sure, a woman can be a barber.
Also note: Barber comes from the same root as barbarian, i.e. "a person with a beard."
Posts: 3735 | Registered: Mar 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Glenn Arnold: Also note: Barber comes from the same root as barbarian, i.e. "a person with a beard."
Does it? I know that "barber" is ultimately derived from the Latin "barba", which meant beard, but "barbarian" is derived from the Greek "barbaros", which was echoic of how they perceived the speech of non-Greek speakers (bar-bar-bar). The Greeks certainly didn't view the wearing of a beard as an exotic custom, and wearing of beards came in and out of fashion in Rome, but it's possible that the Romans adopted the Greek term, but that the wearing of beards was so closely associated with the Gauls that the beard was synonymous with barbarity, and the very word took on that meaning. Or not. Jon Boy, can you shed any light on this?
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Apparently my version came later. According to wikipedia:"Eventually the term found a hidden meaning by Christian Romans through Cassiodorus. He stated the word barbarian was "made up of barba (beard) and rus (flat land); for barbarians did not live in cities, making their abodes in the fields like wild animals". [4]"
Posts: 3735 | Registered: Mar 2002
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My son wants one, (a straight razor), Chris. So let me know how it goes on learning with it.
Glad you started the thread, so I can show it to him for him to glean the advice of DSH and Glenn Arnold.
Posts: 9538 | Registered: Aug 2003
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And of course this morning I nicked myself for the first time in years with my regular safety razor Posts: 7790 | Registered: Aug 2000
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I tried the thing about only shaving downward this morning. I could only do it on the right side of my face, due to right hand dominance. The result was that I gave myself razor rash, similar to what I always get with a safety razor.
Posts: 3735 | Registered: Mar 2002
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I know some guys really like the straight razor but in all honesty it is a defunct, antiquated thing which has been pushed into obscurity for a reason.
Posts: 15421 | Registered: Aug 2005
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It is very hard for me to grow a beard, and I actually haven't before, so I decided not to shave for the whole of winter break, and see where it gets me. Apres ca I will go back to my dorm, ask a couple people to be honest, then shave it off.
Posts: 2705 | Registered: Sep 2006
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Indeed, I've gotten so many compliments on my clean-shaven look in the last couple of months (I used to have a full beard). Then again, I got a lot of compliments on my beard when I first grew it.
Posts: 1810 | Registered: Jan 1999
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quote:I know some guys really like the straight razor but in all honesty it is a defunct, antiquated thing which has been pushed into obscurity for a reason.
Depends on how you look at it. I almost always leave a cut at the base of every hair on my neck if I shave with a safety razor. I almost never cut myself with the straight razor, although, as I pointed out earlier, when I do cut myself, the cuts are actual nicks in the skin.
Shaving with a straight razor is a skill that not everyone can master. That alone is the main reason for the existence of safety razors. But as Chris points out, I can expect my razor to last the rest of my lifetime without needing replacement, which is economical, and ecologically sound.
Chris: What kind of razor do you have? How about the strop, and brush?
BTW I have a nice badger brush, but I don't use a shaving cup. I run a piece of soap over my face and then use the brush to work it into a lather right on my face. I haven't heard of anyone else doing it that way.
Posts: 3735 | Registered: Mar 2002
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Chris, I'm fond of your brain. While enjoying your novelty razor, please take all necessary steps to ensure that blood continues to flow to your organs.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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Says "Kriegar" on it, not sure about specifics. What with prior commitments, it'll be a week or so before I can get a professional shave.
And no worries, I plan to be very careful. The only folks allowed to remove blood from my body are the ones who give me cookies and juice afterwards.
Posts: 7790 | Registered: Aug 2000
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quote:Originally posted by Chris Bridges: The only folks allowed to remove blood from my body are the ones who give me cookies and juice afterwards.
You are apparently very easy to take advantage of.
I'm going for the Brett Favre look right now. Three days, no shave. The stubble is getting long enough to be almost soft. I asked my wife what she thought of me growing a beard, just to see how it looked, but she gave me the "meh." I'm still tempted, tho.
Posts: 5957 | Registered: Oct 2001
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But why would you want to actually USE it? ![[Frown]](frown.gif)
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My... barber? Hairstylist? The lady who cuts my hair always shaves the top of my neck with one though, but not my face. I like the feeling, but not enough to start shaving my face with one. I cut myself often enough with a safety razor before I switched to electric.![[No No]](graemlins/nono.gif)
