People are often surprised that anyone still shaves with a straight razor. It looks old-fashioned, and a little intimidating. But there are good reasons it’s coming back, and most of them have nothing to do with nostalgia. Here are mine.
Buy once, for a lifetime
A straight razor is a single piece of good steel. There’s nothing to replace and nothing to wear out except the edge, and the edge can be restored on a stone again and again. Looked after, a razor will outlast you. Many of the razors I restore are a hundred years old and still shave beautifully. Buy one good razor and you may never need to buy another.
A nod to the past
For hundreds of years, this is simply how people shaved. The cutlers of Sheffield were making razors in the 1700s, and by the late 1800s the workshops of Sheffield and Solingen were sending them all over the world, including to New Zealand. Barbers used them every day well into the twentieth century.
When you pick up a vintage razor, you’re holding something made by hand by a craftsman, carried, used and cared for by someone generations ago. Every one I restore has a story, even if I can only guess at it.
A relaxing ritual
Shaving with cartridges is something you rush. Shaving with a straight razor asks you to slow down. Lather the soap, strop the blade, and give the shave your full attention for ten minutes.
It sounds like more work, and it is, a little. But many people find those ten minutes are the calmest part of their day. It’s a small, unhurried ritual, and it turns a chore into something to look forward to.
It saves real money
This is where the straight razor really earns its keep. At the time of writing, a pack of eight name-brand replacement cartridges costs around $65 in New Zealand. That’s about $8 a cartridge.
If you change cartridges every week or two, that’s roughly $210 to $420 a year, every year. Over ten years that’s roughly $2,100 to $4,200, and that’s before prices rise again.
A restored straight razor is a one-off purchase. Add a strop and a puck of shaving soap, and an occasional touch-up hone, and you have everything you need for years. For many people, the razor pays for itself within a year or so.
Every dollar counts right now
With the cost of living squeezing households across New Zealand, recurring costs add up. Shaving is something most of us do for life, so the cost of a cartridge habit stretches for decades. Swapping it for a one-off purchase is one of the easier savings to make, and it comes with a better shave.
Kinder to your skin
A multi-blade cartridge drags several edges across your skin with every stroke. A straight razor uses one sharp edge, at an angle you control. Many people who struggle with razor burn, irritation or ingrown hairs find their skin is much happier once they’ve learned to shave with a straight razor. Good preparation helps too: warm water, a proper lather and a light touch.
Everyone’s skin is different, and it takes a little practice to get it right. But for many people the difference is the reason they never go back.
Better for the planet
Cartridges and disposable razors are a mix of plastic, rubber and metal that can’t go in your kerbside recycling, so they end up in landfill, week after week, for a lifetime. A straight razor produces almost no waste. There’s no plastic to throw away, and the razor itself can be passed on when you’re done with it.
Buying vintage goes one step further. Every razor I restore is one that already exists, brought back into use instead of a new one being made.
A shave you control
With a straight razor, you decide the angle, the pressure and the direction. That control means a clean line around a beard or sideburns, a closer shave where you want it, and a gentler one where you don’t. It’s a skill, and like any skill, it’s satisfying to get good at.
Something worth handing on
Very few things we use every day are worth keeping. A good straight razor is. It can be honed and handed down, and it makes a gift with real meaning: something useful, beautiful and built to last.
An honest word: there’s a learning curve
I won’t pretend it’s instant. Your first few shaves will be slow, and you’ll want to take your time. Start with the easier parts of your face, keep the blade flat, use no pressure, and let the edge do the work. Most people feel comfortable within a few weeks.
Every razor I sell arrives honed, stropped and ready to shave. And if you’re not happy with the shave, tell me. I’ll help put it right, free of charge. See the razors on the bench now.