The Lost, But Not Totally Lost Art Of The Straight Razor Shave
Death by its own blade.
Such is the cruel twist of fate that befell the straight razor, once man’s most trusted tool of depilation.
Or has this brand of blade, in fact, dodged death?
And if it has, where does one find it—the now holy grail of men’s grooming… the perfect straight razor?
What’s forever been a tried, efficient and supremely eco-friendly method of shaving is now that cool thing your rogue barber does to clean up your neck after a cut. We’ll get back to the rogue part in a second.
Straight razor shaving is nowhere near the norm today, like it was in your grandad’s time.
In fact, the pervading notion among (at least) some Ontario barbers is that straight shaves are…illegal.
“Now that I think back many moons ago, when I was a barber and I first started bringing the in-shop shaves back, almost every client that sat in my chair wanted to make sure I was using a disposable blade,” says Saul, a now-retired tonsorialist from Vaughan, Ontario who’d rather not be named (not that anyone could blame him). “The guys that wanted a traditional straight shave would bring their own razor in for me to use on them.”
In reality, the City of Toronto, the city’s governing municipal governing body, states that, technically, straight shaves are fine; so long as that blade’s thoroughly cleaned and disinfected between jobs, of course.
Here it is straight from the horse’s mouth:
“If the blade cannot be removed from the handle, the entire item must be cleaned and then sterilized between clients.”
Again — on one hand, it’s easy to get why, after enduring two years’ worth of non-stop news about a global pestilence, a barber might choose disposability over purism.
And even if we’re not counting the bug, it’s never exactly been uncommon for the feds to shut down a straight shave. “I remember the Vaughan health guy would come in and tell me we could only use disposables,” says Saul. “I think most barbers might be under the impression that it’s not allowed.”
But, just like in your favourite mythical epics, the kind of death endured by the straight razor isn’t the literal kind, but rather, the Machiavellian one; and it might actually be a good thing for the humble blade.
Stop thinking of that Johnny Depp movie with the pies and the weird woman from Fight Club.
Straight razors transcend that sort of thing, and we do not endorse using them as a weapon. Yeesh.
The “cutthroat” razor (its other, less popular moniker) is alive and very well, only it limits its stead to two types of refuge: The homes of men who want what’s well-made and old-world, and the barbershops owned by those who just won't let go.
Not that we blame them, either.
Vijon (who’s surname we’ll keep anonymous) is another skilled barber, and most notably, a proud straight shave enthusiast.
Vijon runs King’s BarberShop in Stoney Creek, Ontario, a one-chair establishment as humble in size as he is in his demeanour.
He’s been open for less than a year, but the Albanian native (his English is perfect) never stops—not in the least because it’s just him, but because his guys love him.
“Some of my clients ask me how well-trained I am with this thing,” laughs “V” as he cleans up this scribe’s neck post cut. “Other ones know exactly what a straight razor is and they love it!”
“And I know there are all kinds of shaving instruments a man can buy,” says V. “But for me, nothing will ever beat the efficiency and simplicity of the straight razor. I won’t use anything else.”
There’s a clear staunchness in V’s voice, one that begs the following: Is tradition eternal?
Will there always be those who’ll never forgo what’s new for what’s old, no matter what?
Maybe to both, but either way, there’s something to be said about convenience killing character. In our post-modern world, the mantra’s why roll up your sleeves when the roomba can do it? Why get up to dim the lights when your smart home can do it?
At the same time, there’s also something about the ceremony of sharpening blade against strop, wrapping a hot towel around your face, and shaving the way man was meant to shave.
You can fill a boardroom with suits who’ll pitch every revolutionary kind of shaving technology a junior exec can conjure. You can pen piece after piece about straight razors being the “dinosaur” of a man’s bathroom, the way this one proclaims with little else to back it up beyond all shave creams are “toxic” and bad for the environment. As if all shave creams are made the same, or as if all of them spew forth from aerosol cans, the real potential pollutants. By the way, we once published something on aerosol cans and why they suck.
You know, in case you missed it.