why a straight razor?

O

Old Painless

Joined
Apr 10, 2006
Messages
174
besides a closer shave, is there any other compelling reason to switch?
I feel like I go through these gillette cartridges so fast -- I just keep buying refills and buying refills...it's annoying.
So I am considering switching if it means i can stop with this refill junk that only lasts for a few shaves.
Also, what do I get and how do I care for it?
Thanks!!
 
I have several, including a hollow-ground, 1060ish Dovo ,
g3h.jpg


and a flat-ground, CPM-154 custom from Darrel Ralph.
gsrI-2_5.jpg


You will have a lot of fun slicing yourself with a straight razor, but the one thing you won't get is a closer shave.

For example, much as I love the entertainment value of shaving with a straight razor, the shave you get will be crushed by, say, the new Gilette Fusion, which is by far the best shave I've ever had.

And, as a controlish group, I've also had straight razor shaves from professionals, and they still get beaten by the current generation of cartridge razors.

I'm totally into messing around with straight razors, Colonel Conk shaving bowls and soap, linen and leather strops, badger hair brushes, and so on, but I don't try to justify it with the notion that it's a better shave than what I get in a fraction of the time, with much less mess and no risk of bleeding with cartridge razors.
 
It is an excellent weapon for an attacker who wishes to sit and watch you bleed yourself through your face and partially severed ear.

As an offensive weapon, it's 2" stem and freely swinging handle would leave a great deal to be desired, unless your desires are to amputate your own fingers.
 
Gabe Newell said:
You will have a lot of fun slicing yourself with a straight razor, but the one thing you won't get is a closer shave.
Click to expand...

I disagree. "Closeness" of a shave is determined by the condition of the edge, proper preparation of the whiskers, and the angle at which the shaving implement is held -- period. (The nature of an individual's whiskers and level of experience also make a difference of course, but this is an "all things being equal" argument.)

Assuming the preparation is the same...

1. I have far more options at which angle I use with a straight razor. A cartridge razor is essentially fixed at only one.
2. Implying that any given manufacturer is polishing and refining the edges of their cartridges even nearly as well as mine is incorrect and slightly insulting. They can't afford to spend as much time as I do and they certainly can't afford my level of QC.

Despite the fact that I spent over ten years shaving with cartridges and electrics and only a few months with SR's, I get a consistantly better shave with the antiquated stuff. Considering the above, this should be no surprise.

The fact that on a long enough timeline even a custom straight razor will cost less than a cartridge or electric razor is just icing on the cake. I don't do it because it's less expensive. I do it because it's a better shave and I was tired of razor bumps.
 
I switched to straight razor shaving a fews years back. I get better results with the straight razor than the Mach 3 I used to shave with.
 
If you're doing it right, a straight razor shave will blow away anything else you've shaved with.
 
We could go back and forth on this quite a bit, and, in the absence of a controlled experiment, descend into bitterness and name calling.

While this might be entertaining to on-lookers, it wouldn't actually add anything to our collective understanding of the issue.

Since I'm too lazy to actually set up a double-blind study, I have a suggestion. Anyone who would like to who regularly uses a straight razor, I will send a Gillette Fusion to for comparison purposes. The only condition is that you post your results afterwards and either say "Hey, Gabe was right about this," or "Gabe must not have a clue how to sharpen and use a straight razor if he thinks this is a better shave."

Clearly I think I know what the answer will be, but I would be perfectly delighted to be proven wrong.
 
Gabe Newell said:
We could go back and forth on this quite a bit, and, in the absence of a controlled experiment, descend into bitterness and name calling.
Click to expand...

The problem is not that an experiment needs to be done to prove the matter once and for all. Its a subjective thing. Shaving with a straight razor vs. a safety razor vs. cartridge razor is a matter of personal preference. Its like driving a stick shift or writing with a fountain pen - some people enjoy the craft for its own sake, others will hate it because the path to good results requires practice and extra effort.

For the switching razors experiment, here is one anecdotal report from a straight razor shaver who went back to a Mach 3.

Also, to the OP, you might take a look at safety razor shaving as an intermediate step to straight razor shaving. Take a look at this page for a bunch of info.
 
I do get closer with a straight razor. That may be dou as much to the face and beard being shaved. And of course the sharpness of the razor. The worst shave I ever had was with a starting to dull straight razor and best is with a very share one.

There is also the cost issue. I calculated one time I save about $40 a year over cartridge razors. That of course will depend on what cartridges you buy and how often.

There is also the learning curve to consider. You will cut your face more often and more sever untill you get the use of the razor down. These days I almost never cut myself with a straight.

ron
 
Thanks for that great link.

For serious every day use, I use an early 20's Gillette safety razor, this with the head that unscrews from the shaft.

For years I used an Atra and Sensor Excel, both using replaceable cartridges,
and they did the job well. The problem always was that the blades on these went dull quickly. To make these last a little longer, I used (and continue to use) an old tooth brush to keep things clean.

But the replacement packages aren't cheap. So I picked up the old Gillette at a garage sale, cleaned it up and found USA-made double-edged blades at my favorite Long's drugs. (These sell for something like $1.85 for 10.)

To my surprise, I found not only do these blades last WEEKS longer, they're easier to clean up after, AND I get a better shave. I did have to learn to be careful in prepping my skin with hot water and a good lather before starting, as the double-edge blade finds every imperfection. (And lets you know it too!)

Lastly, an unexpected benefit of this switching to older tech, was that my wife decided she wasn't going to borrow this razor to shave her legs - "it was all mine to use."

Not too bad, all in all, when we get something good from stepping back.

Cheers,
Joe
 
jkarp_53 said:
Lastly, an unexpected benefit of this switching to older tech, was that my wife decided she wasn't going to borrow this razor to shave her legs - "it was all mine to use."


Joe
Click to expand...

That is the ULTIMATE SUCCESS Story for any guy!!!!!
 
I'll also toss in a vote for Safety Razor. Blades are only 10c each, probably far less if bought in bulk.

If I rinse the blade well after use, I can get quite a few shaves out of it.

After some advice on this forum, I've taken to stropping my double-edge razor blades on the lip of a ceramic mug (which holds my brush and shave-soap), and that gets even more mileage out of them.

I've been shaving with a Safety Razor since I was a private in the Marines (well, that was only 1999), and far prefer it to cartridge razors and electric. I get shave-rash easily, and the SR causes less rash than the other methods.


Thanks for the link on the shaving forum: I've been using a drug-store cheapie SR for seven years, and keep meaning to switch to an vintage safety razor, simply for aesthetic reasons.

Confession: though it's fun to use the brush and mug of soap, I do think that a tea-tree oil shave cream is more pleasant/effective.

-MV
 
Gabe Newell said:
Since I'm too lazy to actually set up a double-blind study, I have a suggestion. Anyone who would like to who regularly uses a straight razor, I will send a Gillette Fusion to for comparison purposes.
Click to expand...

I have straight razors, Mach 3, Fusion, etc. I'll admit the Fusion gives a great shave. If you work that thing at different angles your face will be really smooth. I'm still a beginner with the straight razors, but from what I've experienced I think I could get just as good of a shave with a straight razor. I will admit, it's a lot more work to get the same shave with a straight razor. Prep is everything. Making sure the razor has as keen of an edge as possible, and some razors aren't as good as others when it comes to getting a really good edge. Then you have to make sure your face is prepared properly. The more you can get your hairs to eject out the better your shave will be.

The thing to keep in mind with straight razor shaving is there are many more variables. If you don't take the time to master all of them you may not get an ideal shave.
 
One advantage/disadvantage of multi-blade cartridge razors is the lifting/cutting effect. I assumed that this was a bit of a marketing canard, but in doing some reading it appears to be a real effect.

For faces susceptible to in-grown hairs, this would be a bad thing (I've never had one from shaving).

However, in comparison to straight razors, it's hard to see how a straight razor would be able to achieve the same effect.

The only numbers I've found so far are that beards grow about 15/1000th of an inch per day, and the separation of blades is usually 60/1000th of an inch.

One steel used in cartridge razors is alloyed with carbon (0.45-0.55%), silicon (0.4-1%); manganese (0.5-1.0%); chromium (12-14%) and molybdenum (1.0-1.6%).
 
I had basically assumed that straight razors and cartridge razors were more or less identical metallurgically, with the caveat that you can get non-stainless straight razors and I've never heard of anything except stainless cartridge razors.

However, that assumption turns out to be incorrect as there are a whole bunch of patents filed on various coatings (mainly chromium, but also a zillion other materials) that are used for various purposes.

So cartridge razors have both the "hysterisis" effect and various coatings as the basis for a theoretical advantage over straight razors.

It's fun to browse the patents on razors with Google's patent tool:

http://www.google.com/patents?lr=&q=razor+alloy&btnG=Search+Patents
 
My uncle Nicholas from Italy was a Master Barber for the Beverly Hills Hotel for about 40 years....He told me that the test for a good straight razor was to shave a balloon covered in shaving cream and if it didn't break the razor was sharp...He gave me a straight razor shave with the hot towel, scented rose water and hot steam and a SHARP razor going against the grain of my beard...I didn't have to shave for about 4 days after that.

By the way, I tried his test and went thru about 15 balloons and 2 cans of cream...never did it and never could get my razor as sharp as his.
 
Gabe Newell said:
One advantage/disadvantage of multi-blade cartridge razors is the lifting/cutting effect. I assumed that this was a bit of a marketing canard, but in doing some reading it appears to be a real effect.

For faces susceptible to in-grown hairs, this would be a bad thing (I've never had one from shaving).
Click to expand...

Ah...I had not considered that. Interesting.

For the record, the last multi-blade that I used for any length of time was the Mach 3. I will not say that it didn't shave well -- it did. However, it routinely caused irritation and ingrowns on my neck (as most things do) and could not get that particular area smooth, regardless of prep, direction, or number of passes. With my preferred SR, I can get it smooth on a single pass without irritation.

I will admit that my whiskers are considerably coarser than the norm. I can see someone with finer facial hair managing this with a cartridge but I haven't been able to.

The "lifting" effect can be duplicated to some degree with a SR by stretching the skin but I'm unsure how they would compare in practice. It would depend on an individual's face.

How much better would you say a Fusion is, compared to a Mach 3?
 
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