A short essay on how straight razor shaving used to be

[paintflinger]

The danger of shaving back when was not a joke. Henry Thoreau's brother John nicked himself with a razor & died soon after, for example.

What? Infected blade? Cut the jugular?

Little tidbit for you guys:

"Deaths popularly attributed to Tutankhamun's curse
The tomb was opened on 29 November 1922.

George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, financial backer of the excavation team who was present at the tomb's opening, died on 5 April 1923 after a mosquito bite became infected; he died 4 months and 7 days after the opening of the tomb."

"On 19 March 1923, Carnarvon suffered a severe mosquito bite which became infected by a razor cut. On 5 April, he died in the Continental-Savoy Hotel in Cairo.[20] Fueled by author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's suggestion that Carnarvon's death had been caused by "elementals" created by Tutankhamun's priests to guard the royal tomb;"

Can we make the forum script automatically redirect people to this thread if they use the term "gel tips" in their posts?

Not sure what gel tips have to do with anything. They're a wonderful property to find in a knot.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Little tidbit for you guys:

"Deaths popularly attributed to Tutankhamun's curse
The tomb was opened on 29 November 1922.

George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, financial backer of the excavation team who was present at the tomb's opening, died on 5 April 1923 after a mosquito bite became infected; he died 4 months and 7 days after the opening of the tomb."

"On 19 March 1923, Carnarvon suffered a severe mosquito bite which became infected by a razor cut. On 5 April, he died in the Continental-Savoy Hotel in Cairo.[20] Fueled by author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's suggestion that Carnarvon's death had been caused by "elementals" created by Tutankhamun's priests to guard the royal tomb;"



Not sure what gel tips have to do with anything. They're a wonderful property to find in a knot.

Uh, it's hard to explain...

 

[paintflinger]

Uh, it's hard to explain...

Even better...

 

[naughtilus]

They're a wonderful property to find in a knot.

Over-bleach any 2-band and you get gel tips. Sometimes dipping in hot water encourages the chemically damaged hair tips towards curling.

 

[paintflinger]

Over-bleach any 2-band and you get gel tips. Sometimes dipping in hot water encourages the chemically damaged hair tips towards curling.

Ehhhhhhh, that hasn't been my experience and I spent a lot of time looking for true gel tips. I still don't see what it has to do with Arne's post.

 

[naughtilus]

Ehhhhhhh, that hasn't been my experience and I spent a lot of time looking for true gel tips.

Watch first minute of this video. You can have all the gel tip$ you want, just ask the manufacturer.

I still don't see what it has to do with Arne's post.

He's a brush guy. He won't mind a bit off topic banter.

 

[Texican65]

As a "newer" member to the site, I just read your article recently...and thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it! Thank you for taking the time to post that, brought great images to my mind.

I even asked my 97 year old grandmother if she could remember her father's shaving schedule. Unfortunately, that was too long ago, and she couldn't recall how often he shaved. She did how-ever remember, that every Saturday in the evening, after both children, then mother, then her father had all bathed in a metal washtub in the front yard...in the same water....that mother would shave the back of father's neck, and trim his hair with a straight razor. I have his old razors, an old straight, and 2 Durham Duplex razors. I imagine that she was using the Duplex's for his neck and hair.

Dow

 

[Rosseforp]

As a newbie to straights I really enjoyed reading this article @Polarbeard .
I started with DE's in January, but the allure of using my Grandpa's straight has always piqued my interest. With the help and advice of members here, I have been able to hone and shave with it, a Joseph Rodgers & Sons, from around 1900.
I still have early pictures of my Grandpa, with his Handlebar Mustache, and his later years fully shaven after Safety Razors became popular.
Prof

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

As a newbie to straights I really enjoyed reading this article @Polarbeard .
I started with DE's in January, but the allure of using my Grandpa's straight has always piqued my interest. With the help and advice of members here, I have been able to hone and shave with it, a Joseph Rodgers & Sons, from around 1900.
I still have early pictures of my Grandpa, with his Handlebar Mustache, and his later years fully shaven after Safety Razors became popular.
Prof

Like you I have greatly enjoyed this article. I read it occasionally and like it ever time I read it.

Unlike you I don't have the razors of any relatives. As far as I can remember none of my relatives used straights in my lifetime. In other words, you are blessed to have that connection with your grandfather. When you think of it, it's a very intimate connection in a sense, and also a very ordinary mundane connection, but I believe it's worth its weight in gold.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Rosseforp]

Like you I have greatly enjoyed this article. I read it occasionally and like it ever time I read it.

Unlike you I don't have the razors of any relatives. As far as I can remember none of my relatives used straights in my lifetime. In other words, you are blessed to have that connection with your grandfather. When you think of it, it's a very intimate connection in a sense, and also a very ordinary mundane connection, but I believe it's worth its weight in gold.

Happy shaves,

Jim

Yes, but I am still kicking myself, as the first razor that I used was a DE that my father gave me when he started using carts. I only remember using it a few times, with little success, then it just sat behind the mirror till I moved out. I never saw it again. So that does make my Grandpa's razor special.
Prof

 

[Tanuki]

As a "newer" member to the site, I just read your article recently...and thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it! Thank you for taking the time to post that, brought great images to my mind.

I even asked my 97 year old grandmother if she could remember her father's shaving schedule. Unfortunately, that was too long ago, and she couldn't recall how often he shaved. She did how-ever remember, that every Saturday in the evening, after both children, then mother, then her father had all bathed in a metal washtub in the front yard...in the same water....that mother would shave the back of father's neck, and trim his hair with a straight razor. I have his old razors, an old straight, and 2 Durham Duplex razors. I imagine that she was using the Duplex's for his neck and hair.

Dow

Thanks @Polarbeard for this essay and thanks @Texican65 for giving it a bump and catching my attention!

As for the weekly bath and shave, my mother was youngest child and last to use the weekly bath water in her Hoosier farm family. I still have the copper boiler they used to heat the water. Rural electrification came along in a couple decades... and then radio!

 

[Garethtoogood]

That was a great video. thanks

Great essay indeed, and very accurate also. Just to demonstrate (start viewing at 10:20): here is an old-timer razor grinder from Sheffield shaving himself in 3 1/2 minutes (in no particular hurry and talking to the interviewer) - beginning to end - with simple boar brush, regular soap, one pass, single-handed. I'm pretty sure this is how he's done it from 1920s, and I'm also sure he was cleanly shaven all his life.
What we are doing today is more of a hobby/spa treatment than a basic necessity procedure it was back then

 

[Polarbeard]

Thank you all for your kindness.

 

[BigPoppaSmurf]

This is a great read, thank you for writing it. I often wonder if I'm becoming the old curmudgeon I thought all old folks were when I was younger, "you kids get off my lawn," technology I just don't care enough to keep up with, "back in my day..." The old ways are being forgotten, and your post made me feel a connection to relatives remembered by only a few people.

 

[Polarbeard]

This is a great read, thank you for writing it. I often wonder if I'm becoming the old curmudgeon I thought all old folks were when I was younger, "you kids get off my lawn," technology I just don't care enough to keep up with, "back in my day..." The old ways are being forgotten, and your post made me feel a connection to relatives remembered by only a few people.

Thank you for your very kind words.

 

[VBH37118]

Polarbeard, you hit the nail on the head. Shaving was very simple back then, only a straight razor and I am sure they did not have the time or the funds like we have today to be able to turn a daily routine into a hobby

 

[Jens]

Nice way of putting things into perspective. I just get curious, given your detailed historical write-up:
I would love a list of sources, where I can read more. Are you able to list some of your sources for us in this forum?

 

[VBH37118]

A list would be great, shaving in past Centuries seems to brushed aside for some reason.

 

[BigPoppaSmurf]

I don't presume to speak for Polarbeard, but I ran across this site recently -- Dr Alun Withey - https://dralun.wordpress.com/
He says "I am an academic historian of medicine of the body, and 2014 AHCR/BBC 'New Generation Thinker'."

Since Barbers were so much more than just cutters of hair throughout history, I found his wide variety of historical Barber-related articles (going back 3,4,5+ centuries) fascinating. Check it out.

 

[VBH37118]

Thank you for the info, I will look into it.