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Men Pick Up Grandpa’s Razor for a Close Shave—Too Close
‘Is it normal for your face to look like a war zone?’ People are ditching cutting-edge technology for old-style double-edge blades to reconnect with the past, cut costs and save the planet, at the risk of a little bloodletting.
www.wsj.com
Men Pick Up Grandpa’s Razor for a Close Shave—Too Close
Growing numbers are ditching cutting-edge technology for old-style double-edge blades, at the risk of a little bloodletting
By Sharon Terlep
Sept. 22, 2019 2:30 pm ET
When Paul Young glanced down during his morning shave and saw the water in the sink had turned pink with his blood, he blamed himself, not his 1800s-style razor.
“It was my fault, I was listening to a political podcast and I got exercised,” says Mr. Young, 59, who sells software from home in Columbia, Mo.
Mr. Young is among the growing ranks of men risking a little bloodletting to return to simpler times when razors didn’t have flexballs and lubrication strips and can cost more than $4 to replace a blade. They are ditching cutting-edge technology for double-edge or “safety” razors.
Safety is something of a misnomer for what is basically a straight razor attached perpendicularly to a handle with only a metal guard separating blade from skin. Popularized in standard-issue World War I field kits, the razors are so-named because they replaced the barbershop-style straight razor that was simply blade-on-skin.
Men are looking to reconnect with the past, “either their own family or a romanticized version of a 1950s barber shop,” says Mark Herro, who runs Sharpologist.com, a kind of online shaving bible, and started using a safety razor over decade ago.
“How many of us remember standing at the feet of your father in the bathroom, watching him shave?” the site says.
Mr. Young says he switched from multi-blade razor refills because “it offended me on a moral level” to pay so much “for something that gets thrown in the trash.” A double-edge razor costs as little a 15 cents for a blade that is typically recyclable.
He started using a safety razor intermittently about a year ago, then ditched modern blades altogether early this year. He bought a styptic pencil, an essential tool to stanch bleeding from mishaps.
The perils of grandpa’s razor have driven users to virtual communities of men who share tips on surviving an old-timey shave. Without the safety features of a modern razor cartridge, pressure is paramount. Too little leaves behind stubble; too much causes razor burn or worse. A careless lateral swipe can leave a nasty gash.
Critical is getting to know your razor, says Shawn Burns, who runs men’s grooming site toolsofmen.com. “No two safety razors are the same, they all weigh differently and have different blade gaps,” he says. “And with the neck especially, you get irritation because the hair grows in eight different directions.”
A downside is that the Transportation Security Administration doesn’t allow safety-razor blades in airline carry-on luggage.
'You have this razor from 1955 or from 1909, and it’s weird to think about where that has been,' says Paul Bissonnette, who keeps a collection of 83 safety razors.
Men who have mastered the shave say it can help to have the right shaving cream, brush, handle and soap. Baxter of California, a maker of men’s grooming products, recommends a brush made from a badger’s belly hair.
Nick Theccanat, a New Yorker who works in public relations, came across a blog suggesting the razors as a way to cut costs while attending college a decade ago. “The first couple of shaves were not that successful,” he says. Early attempts left his face covered in nicks and often a Band-Aid or two. “It was embarrassing.”
He sought suggestions online for a less bloody shave and came upon a world of how-to videos, passionate writings on the safety razor’s merits and collectors showing off rare razors.
On the Double Edge Safety Razor Club Facebook group, around 1,000 members go for advice on things like “What is the best way to clean shaving cream residue/buildup off the razor brass” or “Is it normal for your face to look like a war zone?” The community wasn’t kind to one who announced he was returning to modern razors, criticizing him for giving up too soon.
The safety razor’s recorded history dates to an 1847 U.S. patent application, filed by British-born inventor William S. Henson, describing a device resembling a “common hoe.” A second iteration made its debut in the late 1800s, with Brooklyn brothers Frederic and Otto Kampfe submitting a patent for “new and useful improvements in Safety-Razors.”
More pivotal was the 1901 introduction of a safety razor with a disposable blade. Behind it was American businessman King C. Gillette, founder of the namesake razor giant that Procter & Gamble Co. acquired for $57 billion in 2005. Mr. Gillette won a contract to supply American troops in World War I. Soldiers returning home began the device’s path toward becoming a mainstay.
A spokesman for P&G, which still sells Gillette safety-razor blades, said there was no meaningful shift to safety razors. The consumer-products giant in 2009 acquired The Art of Shaving, which sells high-end safety razors and accessories, among other items.
Safety razors represent a tiny fraction of the U.S. razor industry, with around $2 billion-a-year in annual sales, according to one estimate. Their growing following has made an impact on people like Nancy Woda, who with her husband runs Taconic Shave in Yorktown Heights, N.Y.
‘There’s a trend of men reconnecting with the past, either their own family or a romanticized version of a 1950s barber shop.’
“It used to be that we were the only ones in the space, now we have a huge amount of competition,” she says. The company distributes and co-owns Parker Safety Razor handles, blades, brushes and other products.
Most recently, Ms. Woda says, environmentalists have taken up safety-razor shaving because the blades are recyclable and the handles last pretty much forever. “I am hashtagged all the time by eco people.”
In an eager collector’s community, razors can go for hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars based on age, rarity, features and condition. A Gillette Bottom Dial razor, considered high-tech when it came out in the 1960s with a handle dial to adjust the blade, sells at auction for $1,500 or more.
Paul Bissonnette of Bucksport, Maine, has 83. He started collecting after his search for a superior replacement to his safety razor led him to a 1955 Gillette model. It worked perfectly, says Mr. Bissonnette, 44, and the search left him intrigued.
“You have this razor from 1955 or from 1909, and it’s weird to think about where that has been,” he says. “Then to know that 100 years from now it will be a great razor.”
Write to Sharon Terlep at sharon.terlep@wsj.com
