Back in '65, when I got my railroad watch and my interest in railroading severly deepened. I began to shave with a straight razor. The kind that barber’s used. I was 15 at the time. I still shave with them.
So I was wondering if there are any fellows out here that use a straight razor.
This has been bandied about on Ask Andy’s fashion Forum and I thought I’d give it a go here.
Mitch
Tried that once…never again… hahahah I’m just lazy.
Adrianspeeder
Not into pain huh Adrian? [;)]
Neither am I. [;)]
I have a beard so i just use a pair of scissors and a disposable for the occasional trim, but you got me thinking. I heard they used to have a barbershop on the 20th Century Limited. I wonder if they used a straight razor for shaves. Hope the track was nice and smooth. How’s that for getting back on topic?
I watched my Grandfather do that in the morning and was fascinated about the way he stropped the blade before use. The tradition died out with his generation in my family.
fbe stands for fur bearing engineer or fully bearded engineer so you can tell how often I shave…not since the mid 1980s…
Some of the old comedy movies would have funny scenes of guys shaving in the men’s washroom with straight razors. But I remember W. C. Fields shaving that way on an airplane that had an open observation platform.
There was an item known as the Shave Easy edge guard that slipped onto the razor’s blade. “Makes any razor a safety razor,” the box reads. Some train barbers used them and others didn’t. Some train barbers used an item known as a “Shavette.” That’s the type you see now at shops that have a detachable blade.
First of all, I’ve cut myself less with a straight than I have with a safety razor. If you’ve never had a shave with one you don’t know what you’re missing. That said, I’ve used my straight many times while on the railroad. I’ve used it in th engine cab. The whole trick to shaving on a train is to let your knees absorbe the motion. Just like writing or pouring water on a train, you have to let your entire body work with the motion. No funny remarks now please.
Mitch
The barber I went to as I grew up gave me some straight razor shaves when I was in my late teens. It was a nice experience, but I haven’t used one since. Do you work up a lather with mug and brush?
It’s funny in that it seems mundane, but I recently tried a shave cream with my safety razor called Alba that I really like. I’ve always disliked the pressurized squirt stuff, but have used it out of habit.
I’ve never gotten a good shave from an electric no matter what the advertising says.
I think lincoln 5390 might be thinking of a silent film I once saw that makes this not entirely off topic.
The great silent film comedian Ben Turpin (who had somewhat bug eyes and a big bushy mustache) is seen in a crowded Pullman men’s bathroom shaving with a straight razor, while the train bounces around. About ten guys are crowding around the one mirror, shaving with safety razors. But he is the only one with a straight razor and in spite of the bouncing he is casually shaving away – while all the other guys look increasingly sick to their stomach.
I have been shaved by a straight razor at the barber shop to shave the back of my neck. That included HOT lather (and I mean hot). They stopped around 1985 due to the concerns over the AIDS epidemic, but my barber kept the leather strop attached to the chair until he retired. And my mother told me her father would do the old trick of plucking a hair from his arm and shaving it in half with his straight razor.
Ah those were the days when men were men.
Dave Nelson
Ha ha Mitch…your post reminds me of a trip on the C&TS once. I was riding in the open car, and there’s a gent there with his camera on a tripod. And he was using it while the train was in motion!
I’m sure that he had read someplace (probably photo.net…those people are fanatics) to ALWAYS use a tripod. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that in that particular instance, using his body to negate any train movement would have been much better than his tripod.
Meanwhile, back to the off topic topic, I’ve never tried a straight razor. Is it that much better?
In spite of the presumption of expertise one might derive from my name, I shave electrically.
Carl Shaver
Not I [:o)][:p][:)]
[quote]
Originally posted by artmark
To answer a few questions…
My lather is derived from a Campbell’s Lather King professional latherizer. It’s chrome like the one’s we used to see in barber shops. It has been in continuous service, only being shut off while I’ve been on vacations, since 1970. The cream itself is a mixture of professional cream, Sandahl’s in a jar, distilled water, and a few splashes of Old Spice after shave. This keeps the machine running smooth. I refer to this mixture as “Brakeman’s Promise.” Lather from a mug or a tube, or machine, or whipped up with a brush is really the only way to go no matter what type of razor you use. Aerosol cream is nothing more than cake decorating cream desighned to make mountains of lather on your face but not really soften your beard. When you use mixed, wet lather cream you can work it into your beard and soften it correctly. A hot towel on the face does wonders.
I saw that film with Ben Turpin. It’s a scream. But he does that movie-comic stuff that mis represents the way to shave with a straight. The angle is wrong and he makes these giant up-strokes. But then that’s what makes the clip so funny.
The reason why I, and a number of guys on the Yahoo Straight Razor Place shaving board use straight razors is that you are in complete control of the blade’s edge. You hone it (once every 6 months or so) and strop it (before and during each use) so that he edge is smooth and conditioned for your face. A safety blade’s edge, if you look under a microscope, is quite jagged and irregular. Made so for the general shaving habits of the majority and to go through that cake decorator’s foam I mentioned. This is what causes razor burn. A finished straight razor blade is very refined with tiny serrated edges all pointing the same direction. The shaves are remarkably smooth. There’s just a learning curve.
The problem with straight razors is that they’re addictive. You won’t own just one. The variety of blade sizes, steel qualities, etching, and handles (scales) is ama
Dude! Thats hard core!
Adrianspeeder
The 2,350 member Straight Razor Group is to straight razors as we are to trains.
On the topic of cutting arm hairs with a straight. That’s referred to as the “Hanging Hair Test.” That’s how one determines the keeness of the edge. You take a hair and hold it with your thumb and forefinger, then slice across it with the razor. If the hair pops in half the edge is good for shaving.
Mitch
I calculate that I have shaved about 17,000 times. Off those, about three quarters were with a safety razor, one quarter with an electric and no more than 2 times by a barber using a straight razor. I have to agree with the point that the straight razor produces a very smooth beard, but I confess that I am probably to impatient (or lazy) to learn the skill of using a straight.
I use a cordless electric now. After so many shaves, the process is almost automatic and I find that I am able to multi-task while running the razor over my face. I am sure that I would need to be more focused to use a straight razor, unless I had plenty of wipes for the blood on the sink.
I had an uncle who shaved with a straight razor every day, I remember him going around every morning with tissue pieces on his face.
Shaving with a straight razor seems like more trouble than it’s worth, just how much time do you devote to shaving every morning? Something that would be fun for the uniqueness of it but not something I’m personally likely to try.
Now, I suppose you still use fountain pens, too. Bay rum aftershave?
Mitch
As an aside, I am not going to dis anybody who uses a straight razor to shave, or takes a larger interest in their use as a grooming tool. One could argue that an interest in shaving devices is more productive than being a railfan. You have an interest in something that you make use of most every day, so unless you are commuting daily on a railroad, the shave is an importaint part of your everyday life.
Besides, when is the last time a nice example of a straight razor showed up on the Google ad strip on this forum?
Jay
I knew folks that shaved with safety razors that went around with tissueon their faces after shaving. His razor must have been dull for that to happen.
I have several versions of my shave routine. The fastest was 3 miutes when I got a late, 15 minute call for a Fox Lake suburban run. I lived 5 minutes from the depot and gave myself a quick one. Wasn’t bad but I don’t recommend it. I can do a moderately good one in 15, but usually spend 30 minutes for the whole deal. It’s somethng yo grow into by desire. This includes the hot towel and first lather, second hot towel and second lather. The shaving part is very quick.
Fountain pens you ask…you betcha. Six to be exact in different nib styles and ink colors. My penmanship is strictly Spencerian, the fancy type you see on old documents. I used to address weding invitations. Bay Rum is there from time to time and other classic Pinaud potions as well. But hey, I still wear stiff, detachable collars with my dress shirts. I used to wear them with my railroad uniform as well. That includes when I was an engineman on the South Shore Line. Shirt, tie, stiff collar, starched pin-striped overalls and jackets, starched white Kromer. But what do I know? I always thought it was worth the effort.
I learned about stiff collars from an old timer Milwaukee Road conductor on the La Crosse Division. I caught no 9 when it was still the morning train out of Milwaukee in January of '74. Both the cond
Somebody has a sense of irony–there’s one there today!