The newspaper article from the Montreal Gazette in early 2007 that got me started in wetshaving.
Cool.
The lure of the straight razor
My face was on fire, and I felt alive. My first shave with a straight razor had left a bracing pain stabbing at my throat, cheeks, jaw and moustache area. A raw borscht-red face looked back at me from the mirror, as though I had hosed it with sulphuric acid.
My face was on fire, and I felt alive. My first shave with a straight razor had left a bracing pain stabbing at my throat, cheeks, jaw and moustache area. A raw borscht-red face looked back at me from the mirror, as though I had hosed it with sulphuric acid.
Little rivers of tears coursed from my eyes from the pain. My finger was bleeding from an accidental cut. And despite it all, large clumps of stubble still taunted me from the mirror after 40 minutes of hacking.
But I didn't care. I was addicted.
It would take a dozen more shaves - each more torturous and bloody than the last - and some time trolling the Internet to realize my costly mistake: New straight razors don't usually come sharpened and must be honed and stropped to an ultra-fine point before they are ready to use.
Doh!
Still, even with the pain and the cuts on my fingers before I realized how insanely sharp the thing was, the shave was oddly exhilarating.
I was shaving with something I could use to hold up a bank. There was no going back to disposables. I was a cut-throat man.
Straight razors almost went the way of the crank engine and ringer-washing machine, but they're making a big comeback.
In a time of space-age, five-bladed "shaving systems," men are increasingly gambling with their jugulars to rediscover the pleasures of an old-school shave with a lethal device made infamous by the "Demon Barber of Fleet Street," Todd Sweeney, who used a straight razor to rob and kill customers in 18th-century London.
Production of straight razors has jumped sevenfold in the past four years worldwide, said Will Lubrano, chief financial officer at Palm Springs, Calif.-based ClassicShaving.com, the world's largest retailer of straight razors.
Lubrano said his own revenues have doubled or tripled every year in the same period. "The demand is amazing. We're seeing dramatic growth in an industry that hardly anyone thought about four years ago."
Sales of wet razors - a category that includes the traditional straight razor and its cousin, the double-edged safety razor - are also hot at Ottawa-based MenEssentials.com, North America's largest online men's grooming-products business. "Our numbers are way up," said owner James Whitall.
"We're selling these things like they're going out of style." Orders are coming in so fast Whitall moved to a larger location with three times more warehouse space in August. Both Lubrano and Whitall say the craze is largely a consumer backlash against multi-blade razors that take cartridges, which are getting expensive and cause skin irritation for many men.
A good-quality straight razor costs $70 to $100.
Meanwhile, they say a properly maintained straight razor can last a lifetime or longer, and if used right, it invigorates the skin and leaves a baby-smooth face.
"I hated shaving all my life. It felt like running a cheese grater on my face," said Lubrano, who became a devotee because his skin was becoming irritated.
So incredibly sharp is a straight razor that it slices off the beard without pulling at the skin and hairs, as a multi-blade disposable often does. With a disposable, you often have to go over one spot several times before you've got the beard all off.
All that pulling can cause redness, irritation, ingrown hairs and acne. A well-sharpened straight razor, properly used, leaves skin glowing but not reddened.
"Once these guys realize they can switch and in most cases alleviate those skin problems, some of them are almost in tears. It has actually changed some people's lives," Lubrano said.
Joel Ferman also converted because he was "absolutely miserable," his skin red and irritated. He has become a collector in his quest to try blades, and now owns 150 straight razors.
He also runs BadgerAndBlade.com, the largest online forum for wet shaving. After a year in operation, the site gets 200,000 to 300,000 hits per day, Ferman said.
The forum has helped foster a subculture of straight-razor enthusiasts that sometimes borders on religious.
Some members have collected thousands of razors. Others give newbies tips on techniques and products and regularly offer them free supplies on the site.
Ferman has also produced an instructional DVD that he sells at cost and he offers to hone straight razors for free.
"We just want to help out as many people as we can," he said. "What used to be such a horrible chore every morning became so much fun."
Taras Stasiuk, a Montreal video-game script writer, has shaved for six years with an unconventional kind of straight razor that uses a small, inexpensive disposable blade.
The traditional straight razor has a longer fixed blade that needs to be regularly sharpened.
Some men prefer disposable-blade straight razors because they don't have to devote the time to maintaining the blade, which is an art in itself.
Stasiuk said his razor cost a paltry $12, while a year's worth of blades costs about $30.
"I got tired of having to clean the hair out of disposables by having to smack the blade on the side of the sink," he said. Stasiuk likes the chance to practice his nimbleness, and has cut his shaving time in half since he stopped using disposable cartridges.
"I don't have to worry about getting the fur out during the shave," he said. "I was surprised how easy it was to learn."
At Mann, a men's spa on Viger St. in Montreal, esthetician Kumi Aoki wields a straight razor. "Clients say their face is smoother and their skin is softer," she said.
"It gives a closer shave."
Enthusiasts counsel newcomers to have patience and take time to study how to use and maintain their blade.
"There's so much technique that goes into it," said Craig Silverman, a Montreal writer who has researched male grooming. Silverman tried a straight razor a few times but didn't enjoy it. "I think I was using it incorrectly," he said, acknowledging that he didn't sharpen his new blade before using it.
"It was just pain. It felt like I was scraping my face with a piece of metal, which is in fact what I was doing."
Each shave left his face red, while his whiskers remained.
"The most hurtful thing was the total embarrassment," he said. But he said he understands the attraction.
"I'm sure the guys who can do it feel like real manly men. Any woman who sees it in your bathroom would be impressed."
For many people, straight razors are just more fun.
"Absolutely nothing is more masculine than a shave tool that can take your head clean off," Whitall said.
They also reconnect men with the art of using and maintaining a straight razor, information that used to be passed on through generations of men.
Straight razors force users to slow down, relax, get in touch with their face and enjoy some me-time, said Whitall, since even with practice, it takes about 10 minutes to shave your face.
"Rush the job and you'll be reapplying your Adam's apple with Krazy Glue."
Post-script: Oh. My. God. I just shaved for the first time with a professionally honed straight razor. As soon as I touched it to my face, I was blown away. It was an extraordinary experience. I realized that everything that came before - including shaving with my own amateurishly honed and stropped straight razor - was basically hacking at my face with an axe.
My new razor - a Frederick Reynolds stainless steel beauty honed by Joel Ferman - was so supple, delicate and ridiculously sharp, I had only to glide it across my skin with no pressure and my week-old beard slipped clean off.
It felt like it was singing to my face as it danced across my skin. After the shave, I was surprised to feel no irritation on my skin. Rather, it glowed and felt invigorated.
The true test came when I showed my wife, Rhonda, the frequent victim of my prickly whiskers.
"Wow, I've never seen you with such a close shave," she said.
Here are some tips for straight-blade newbies:
You'll need a good sword and a few other basics. Check online and at barber supply stores. Or ask your barber where he shops. You'll need a high-quality blade, shaving cream and, for sharpening, a strop and honing stone made for razors. A decent strop can start at around $60 and honing stones start at $40.
Get an edge. Some experts say the secret to using a straight razor is all in maintaining a good edge; it's even more important than technique.
"Don't just shave with a new razor," says Joel Ferman of BadgerAndBlade.com. "It's very rare that a razor will come ready to shave."
If the blade pulls and drags, it's not sharp enough.
Straight razors need to be periodically honed to apply and maintain a super-sharp edge, then stropped. "Strop" comes from the word "strap."
Stropping the razor means guiding it lightly along the strop to straighten and realign the edge.
Most blades need to be honed with half a dozen strokes every one to three months, but the frequency can vary widely by blade, stone and beard.
Most strops have two sides - a leather one and a linen one.
The razor is first stropped on the linen side to heat the blade to make the edge more malleable.
Some experts advise stropping before each shave - eight to 12 times on the linen side, then five times on the leather side.
But others say it all depends on your blade and whiskers. Avoid honing too often, and don't use pressure when honing or stropping.
Shave after your shower or soften your whiskers with a hot, wet towel for a minute or two before getting started. Apply shaving cream.
Angle the blade 30 degrees away from the face. NEVER slice it across your skin, and try not to use pressure. Also, watch your fingers.
When you're done, dry off the blade with a few strokes on the leather or by stropping it lightly a few times on a towel. Rinse your face with cold water and apply a gentle after-shave appropriate for your skin.
For more information
www.badgerandblade.com
www.classicshaving.com
www.straightrazorplace.com
www.uniclectica.com/conserva/ razor1.html
© (c) CanWest MediaWorks Publications Inc.
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