They lathered up withthe shaving brush and some good-smelling soap, swiped the straight razormultiple times across the hanging leather strop and then wielded the sharpblade over their face with the skill of a master swordsman. Even after KingGillette introduced the double-edge safety razor in 1904, grandpa and othersheld on to straight razors for the best way to shave.
It still is for many ofus who take pride in our BBS: baby bottomsmooth. “The one great thing about the straight razor is that it calms downyour life and makes shaving a pleasure,” explains Lynn Abrams, straight razorauthority and co-owner of Straight Razor Designs, an online shaving productshop.
Straights require morethan just stropping and shaving away. Beard preparation with brush and soap isessential. The shave is done, generally, in three passes: with the beard’sgrain (WTG), across it (XTG) and against it (ATG).
“It produces one of theclosest shaves you can have,” Abrams says. “Touch your face and you get avelvety, sticky soft feeling. And in most cases, people who have shaved twice aday their entire lives end up shaving only once a day with a straight razor.It’s that nice a shave.”
With all the so-calledconvenient methods of shaving available to today’s men, aficionados will saythe art of traditional wet shaving with straight razors is less aboutconvenience in the modern sense and more about a personal feeling ofindividuality. A straight razor shaver who finds the daily shave a burden isunheard of. Most of us can’t wait to lather up.
Also important for someis the idea of going green by eliminating the disposable waste that comes withplastic razors, multi-blade cartridges and shaving foam dispensed from cans.The cost in the long run is something to consider, too: The straight razor,strop and brush can last a lifetime, and a puck of quality soap will go for atleast six months.
“They’re alsonostalgic,” Abrams notes. “Men remember their parents or relatives shaving witha straight razor.”
For many of us, thestraight razor also carries a distinct element of sweet and sentimentalromance. Remember the old-time barbershop on a Saturday morning, where ahaircut and straight razor shave came with all the day’s news and commentary bythe locals? My first barbershop straight razor shave was worthy of an emperor.Over the years little has changed in the ritual: Whip up luxurious lather,strop the razor and take time to enjoy one of life’s delights.
For those plagued with in-grown hairs, razorbumps and razor burns, straight razors arguably help reduce, if not fullyalleviate, the problem by cutting stubble above the skin rather than below, asmulti-blade cartridge razors are believed to do. “You have one very sharprazor, where you control the angle in the shave,” Abrams adds.
It takes skill andpatience to master the craft of straight razor shaving. And it is not foreveryone. While not part of the counterculture, Abrams says, straight razorshaving is not in the mainstream either. Yet the art continues to growworldwide as men, young and not so young, discover the art of straight razorshaving to be alive and well.
“Part of it is just theawareness that other people are shaving with a straight razor,” Abrams says.“Ten years ago, when I went looking for straight razor information on theInternet, there was none.”
Because of that, Abramsstarted the first straight razor forum on the Internet. Straight Razor Place(straightrazorplace.com) offers information and advice on every element ofstraight razor shaving, from how to get started and links to instructionalvideos to where to find products. Top online vendors include: Straight RazorDesigns (www.straightrazordesigns.com), Classic Shaving(www.classicshaving.com) and Vintage Blades LLC (www.vintageblades.com).
There is a big choice ofrazor brands, including top lines such as Dovo, Thiers-Issard, Wacker andBoker. Custom-designed straight razors by Robert Williams, Mastro Livi, JoshEarl and Tim Zowada produce works of art. Prices range from about $75 for agood, no-frills brand-name razor all the way to $1,500 or more for a custom.Vintage razors such as Dubl Duck, C-Mon and Filarmonica are also in demand.
“Basically you need astraight razor, a strop, a brush, a mug and a soap,” Abrams says. “You can buya complete starter kit for under $150.”
What follows is a shortlearning curve, with a small serving of nicks and a whole lot of pleasure, asgrandpa would say.
