I must be part of an elite group of the toughest, most courageous men on the planet.....

[Tomo]

Yeah that's what happens when you take their guns away, they find different ways of killing each other. Like you say, bad people will find a way to harm others.

There are still plenty of guns around. You just need to register them and get a license. Not necessarily a bad thing. It’s pretty easy to get your hands on a long arm if you are so inclined. Lots of shooting ranges but the game these days is much more limited than what you would find in North America.

 

[Steve56]

I wish we had a National Razor here in England

Great idea for a pass around! lol.

Boris Johnson wouldn't use it. He doesn't even know what a comb is!
(This is only about his hair, not recent events)

View attachment 1396342

He’s my idol, when my boar brushes look like that, they’re broken in!

 

[StillShaving]

Great idea for a pass around! lol.



He’s my idol, when my boar brushes look like that, they’re broken in!

Boaris Johnson bristles at your remarks

 

[thombrogan]

Shaving with a razor is practical.

Shaving with a gun, now that’s beyond my abilities.

 

[KW Driver]

I use a slicing/scything/bias cut under my jawline practically every shave. yes, early on it can be a potentially serious cut, but if you master the basics first it is not an insurmountable technique

 

[Jakebullet]

Paranoia about knives? What's next, paranoia about walking canes? Hairbrushes? Bad people are always gonna find something to do bad things to good people with.

25 Of The Most Bizarre Murder Weapons Ever

Unfortunately, murder - officially defined as unlawful killing with malice aforethought of another human – is not a rare occurrence even in today’s society. While this heinous crime is usually carried out by means of

list25.com

Number 8 is probably the best way to go.

 

[Shangas]

Seriously, I must be either super tough or insane to put a piece of razor sharp steel on my neck and face, right?

Well.....

I am hoping someone potentially interested will read this and not be turned off by other people claiming how life threatening these tools are.

I hate the name cut throat razor. I really truly do. I am sure the movie Sweeney Todd didn't help at all either. If you are putting enough pressure on the blade to cause a life threatening injury, you are doing it wrong.

I feel like most men don't even give it consideration because it is some super dangerous tool. While technically it is a dangerous tool, it's not as scary as most people make it out to be. Simply being alive is a risk. Granted I am more likely to be injured by trying to make toast in the bathtub than I am sitting at my desk at work, but I digress.

I am by no means an expert, but I would like to explain a few things to potentially interested people.

No pressure. This goes two ways. If you go into this thinking you are going to cut yourself, you probably will. Don't get yourself psyched out. Relax, pay attention, and use caution, but don't be scared. Also, no pressure goes for the physical aspect too. Just like a safety razor, let the weight of the razor do the work. No pressure. You should respect your razor, not fear it.

Also, start off slow. If you're not 100% confident at first, shave just your cheeks with a straight razor, and finish other spots with a cartridge or safety razor. Once you get a feel, then move onto the jaw, then moustache, then neck etc.

A dull razor is more dangerous than a sharp one. This goes hand in hand with no pressure. If your blade is dull and you need to add pressure to get it to cut, that is more of a hazard than an ultra sharp razor that glides through whiskers. Have your razor professionally honed and shave ready when you first start, and focus on technique.

Lastly, always go up and down, never side to side. Every time of the few times I have cut myself with a straight it has been because I moved my blade side to side and not up and down. Side to side movement WILL result in a cut. I have never permanently scarred my face, but I have cut myself.

I hope this helps clear up some of the stereotypes around straight razors. While a safety razor I guess is technically "safer", it is not 100% safe either. My worst cut was actually with a Gillette open comb from 1912.

Been meaning to respond to this thread for a while.

I call them straights and cutthroats, depending on who I'm talking to. Usually if it's with somebody who has no idea what they are, I call them cutthroats, purely because I'm sick and tired of the worn-out, idiotic "OMFG THEZY ARE GEHY RAZORS TOO!?2?2???" jokes, that scrape against my ears like a box-grater used by Gordon Ramsay.

Straights are not nearly as dangerous as what people think they are. I mean yes you could kill yourself with one, but not by accident. Not unless you're an absolute idiot, that is.

I never apply any pressure when I shave. I used to go slow, but after doing this for over a decade, I can do a complete shave in five minutes.

A dull razor is definitely much more dangerous than a sharp one. A sharp one glides, a blunt one tugs and gashes.

I'm lucky to have hardly ever cut myself with a razor. I've nicked myself once or twice, but never actually a full-on cut.

Interesting side-story:

Back when lockdown was still happening, I took my seven-day set of straight razors to the local key-cutter and asked him to engrave the days of the week on the spines (which he did beautifully for a good price).

On the way home I had an appointment with my barber so I went in to get it done (it's right across the road from the engraver's shop) and he spotted the box in my hands.

"What's that?"

I opened it up and showed him...

"Do you actually use them?"

"I've been using them for 4 years!"

"How? I thought your eyesight was awful?"

"It is. I'm legally blind".

"Then how..."

"I take off my spectacles, lather up, strop it, and shave".

He was silent for a minute.

I went back about two months later, and he says: "I tell that story to all my customers now whenever they ask about how dangerous it is to use straight razors. I say 'one of my customers is blind, and he's been using one for years! What's your excuse??'"

I laughed!

 

[Legion]

Been meaning to respond to this thread for a while.

I call them straights and cutthroats, depending on who I'm talking to. Usually if it's with somebody who has no idea what they are, I call them cutthroats, purely because I'm sick and tired of the worn-out, idiotic "OMFG THEZY ARE GEHY RAZORS TOO!?2?2???" jokes, that scrape against my ears like a box-grater used by Gordon Ramsay.

Straights are not nearly as dangerous as what people think they are. I mean yes you could kill yourself with one, but not by accident. Not unless you're an absolute idiot, that is.

I never apply any pressure when I shave. I used to go slow, but after doing this for over a decade, I can do a complete shave in five minutes.

A dull razor is definitely much more dangerous than a sharp one. A sharp one glides, a blunt one tugs and gashes.

I'm lucky to have hardly ever cut myself with a razor. I've nicked myself once or twice, but never actually a full-on cut.

Interesting side-story:

Back when lockdown was still happening, I took my seven-day set of straight razors to the local key-cutter and asked him to engrave the days of the week on the spines (which he did beautifully for a good price).

On the way home I had an appointment with my barber so I went in to get it done (it's right across the road from the engraver's shop) and he spotted the box in my hands.

"What's that?"

I opened it up and showed him...

View attachment 1397472

"Do you actually use them?"

"I've been using them for 4 years!"

"How? I thought your eyesight was awful?"

"It is. I'm legally blind".

"Then how..."

"I take off my spectacles, lather up, strop it, and shave".

He was silent for a minute.

I went back about two months later, and he says: "I tell that story to all my customers now whenever they ask about how dangerous it is to use straight razors. I say 'one of my customers is blind, and he's been using one for years! What's your excuse??'"

I laughed!

I still want my personalized razors back…

 

[Shangas]

I wish I was lucky enough to have personalised razors!

 

[rbscebu]

When living in Cebu, there was an elderly gent, Toto, I knew who was blind (he used a white cane to get around). He shaved daily with a shavette.

 

[Kyle89]

I went back about two months later, and he says: "I tell that story to all my customers now whenever they ask about how dangerous it is to use straight razors. I say 'one of my customers is blind, and he's been using one for years! What's your excuse??'"

Haha love it!

Before I bought my first straight I knew it was something I wanted to do but it seemed daunting and didn’t feel ready yet. I came across a YouTuber (can’t remember his name) who shaved with one. He was legitimately blind, and in top of that his hands shook. After watching him shave with a straight razor in that condition I bought my first razor and strop realizing that it’s not voodoo.

 

[Slash McCoy]

25 Of The Most Bizarre Murder Weapons Ever

Unfortunately, murder - officially defined as unlawful killing with malice aforethought of another human – is not a rare occurrence even in today’s society. While this heinous crime is usually carried out by means of

list25.com

Number 8 is probably the best way to go.

It would be in pleasant surroundings, anyway.

 

[Shangas]

Haha love it!

Before I bought my first straight I knew it was something I wanted to do but it seemed daunting and didn’t feel ready yet. I came across a YouTuber (can’t remember his name) who shaved with one. He was legitimately blind, and in top of that his hands shook. After watching him shave with a straight razor in that condition I bought my first razor and strop realizing that it’s not voodoo.

In my experience, shaving with a straight has very little to do with looking at it. It's all to do with feeling, movement, and muscle-memory. You don't really have to look at anything. I've never needed a mirror to shave, for example. I just...do it.

 

[rbscebu]

In my experience, shaving with a straight has very little to do with looking at it. It's all to do with feeling, movement, and muscle-memory. You don't really have to look at anything. I've never needed a mirror to shave, for example. I just...do it.

I am not up to your level of SR shaving. Perhaps one day. I still need a mirror to see where there is lather that needs to be removed.

 

[Slash McCoy]

In my experience, shaving with a straight has very little to do with looking at it. It's all to do with feeling, movement, and muscle-memory. You don't really have to look at anything. I've never needed a mirror to shave, for example. I just...do it.

Have to agree with that. I lived on a very small sailboat for 7 years and had no mirror aboard. Didn't really need it. I know where my face is, it's right there on the front of my head. In fact, I did this, too... shot on a ship, not on my boat. I don't have that boat anymore, got a bigger one and I live ashore now anyway, and retired so no more ships, but you never know when I will do another stunt shaving video. We also have a totally blind member here who also shaves in the manly fashion, on a daily basis. You don't have to see what you are doing to have a good shave.

 

[Jakebullet]

Love that you’re a sailor Slash.
When lockdown uk started on a whim I read this ‘Stories of the Sea’. Good little read, got me interested in sea books.
I loved it so I read jack London’s ‘the sea wolf’, and ‘south sea tales’. I read the same title by Robert Louis Stevenson. I read ‘the old man and the sea’ by Ernest Hemingway.
There’s a great story by Jack London called ‘the seed of McCoy’ they’re On a ship in the South Pacific, there’s a fire in the hold they’re looking for an atoll or island to beach the ship before the fire consumes it.
I got google maps up on my phone and as I read I visited every island in the story along with them. They landed finally at an atoll called Fakarava in Fremch Polynesia. As I was reading I was looking at the entrance to the lagoon they used and found the beach where they finally landed the burning ship.
What a great afternoon. While everyone I knew was on lockdown I was sailing the South Pacific .

 

[Eastcoast30]

I often would shave without a mirror. But now that I have a beard, I need the mirror to detail it properly. Lots of respect for @Slash McCoy shaving blindfolded, but I ask, "Can you do it while riding a bicycle?" If so, I would like to see that video!

 

[Slash McCoy]

I often would shave without a mirror. But now that I have a beard, I need the mirror to detail it properly. Lots of respect for @Slash McCoy shaving blindfolded, but I ask, "Can you do it while riding a bicycle?" If so, I would like to see that video!

I would do it but I'm too old for peddling.

 

[5whiskey]

I find the whole macho sideshow with SRs tiresome and embarrassing. There is a learning curve, fair enough. It is not difficult to surmount with caution, preparation (face, mind, and tools), repetition, and occasionally, troubleshooting.

I'm probably more concerned about safely using a table saw. If you really want to terrify me, put me on an extension ladder on a windy day. Or any day, frankly.

¨Probably????" more concerned about a table saw? There is no probably to it. There are times I scare myself, get too nervous, and abort the cut I´m trying to make with a table saw. I guess to be fair, I do occasionally re-saw lumber (example, turning a 2x6 into 2 1x6s) and make other rather unorthodox and dangerous cuts. The worst times are when I´m making a kind of scary cut on a figured piece of walnut or maple, and I get nervous and want to abort the cut but I don´t want to risk losing nice (and quite valuable) lumber.

At any rate, yeah I am kinda into the ¨manly¨ fashion of how using straights feel, but it´s more than that for me. I´m into vintage straights, and for me it´s almost a connection with the past. Nothing like taking an implement made nearly 200 years ago, bringing it back to life, and getting far better results than you would get with the modern shaving solution. I was never really scared of shaving with a straight. Maybe a little nervous the first few times, but not scared. I would have started 10 or more years before I did, but the outlay on a straight, strop, and hones (and skill) required for straight shaving held me back. You really can get into to it for not as much money as most people make out, but I didn´t realize that years ago. I can say that B&B is much more open-minded to less expensive gear today than it was in 2008-2010. I wish I would´ve started 12 years ago, and not 2 years ago.

 

[Shangas]

I find the whole macho sideshow with SRs tiresome and embarrassing. There is a learning curve, fair enough. It is not difficult to surmount with caution, preparation (face, mind, and tools), repetition, and occasionally, troubleshooting.

I'm probably more concerned about safely using a table saw. If you really want to terrify me, put me on an extension ladder on a windy day. Or any day, frankly.

I always found that kind of funny. The whole thing of how "hardcore" and "Manly" and "Badass" you have to be to use a straight razor. I agree, it's way too overblown and hyped up and whatever. What's more, I don't find it to be true.

I mean, does using a straight razor require the mastering of skill? Yes. And courage? Yes. And learning a whole new skillset to keep it going? Yes.

But it's hardly as elitist as one might think. People seem to forget that for centuries before safety-razors came out, this is how all men shaved. It's hardly a revelation. Somehow, I feel that putting it up on a pedestal kind of makes a mockery of the effort required to actually master its use.