Thread: Noticing a trend among straight razor shavers....

I have just started shaving with a straight so I am still learning the ins and outs of the skill. While browsing the forums and reading articles on straight shaving, I have noticed that there are a lot of members that share other similar interests with me. Before straight razors, I grew a collection of pipes. I am also a cigar smoker. Now, a lot of people smoke cigars but very few people are into tobacco pipes. I have noticed that a lot of you here collect pipes too. Im just wondering what it is that links these things together. I think for me, its the fact that many years ago every man used to shave with a straight razor and most men smoked pipes. These were things that men enjoyed in those days and they are a lost art now. I like the history behind these items and the fact that many of these razors and pipes and other things probably have a story behind them. I also love scotch whiskey, and this kinda fits in with everything else I mentioned.

By the way, I am 23 years old and often feel that I was born in the wrong century. haha. Many of my friends my age have no interest whatsoever in the things I collect. I just wanted to see if you all have noticed this too and what your thoughts are.

I think anyone who would use a straight and be willing to take the time to master all the skills required to use and maintain it is from the outset a "different person" than the mainstream. So, many of these things you see folks here interested in are likewise out of the mainstream behaviors.

Another-words we're all a bunch of weirdos and throwbacks.

Originally my friends were like your completely disinterested in my new hobby, but over time and when they began to see the results interest grew one now has a strop/brush and razor I lent him another borrowed a brush and DE for a while and another wants me to shave him. I am 24 so in the same boat as you and can say try converting them to scotch first, that will naturally lead to cigars and pipes ;-)

I started smoking a pipe in college, a corn cobb, because I remembered the smell of the old timer's. I started smoking cigars on a serious level (doing tastings, keeping a journal) five years ago when i moved to Phoenix. I started collecting Pipes and Cigar humidors back when I fell in love with scotch. Eventually my mind clicked! If you want the best of something take the time to learn about it! So like most others when I was fed up with the crappy shaves i was recieving from King Gillette I thought about Straights and the pride of being able to use what our grandfathers/greatgrandfathers used with the same amout of skill. After that I was hooked!

We like toys!

And razors, pipes, tobacco, lighters, cigars, pipe pouches, knifes, scotch, cameras, tools, fountain pens, watches, humidors, fly rods, fly tying tools, kyaks, bicycles, hones,strops, brewing equipment, sailboats, briefcases, (someone else can resume the litany) are better toys than what we got as kids. I'd love to go on but I'm told its recess and I gotta get to the sandbox before the others.

Best to all. Wishing you good health to prolong your playtime....J

Originally Posted by jleeg

We like toys!

And razors, pipes, tobacco, lighters, cigars, pipe pouches, knifes, scotch, cameras, tools, fountain pens, watches, humidors, fly rods, fly tying tools, kyaks, bicycles, hones,strops, brewing equipment, sailboats, briefcases, (someone else can resume the litany) are better toys than what we got as kids. I'd love to go on but I'm told its recess and I gotta get to the sandbox before the others.

Best to all. Wishing you good health to prolong your playtime....J

+1 to 80% of those things!!

Originally Posted by rodb

+1 to 80% of those things!!

I guess we are a symptom of the modern even faster pace of living. Life today is a lot better for most of us than it would have been in previous centuries, unless some of us come from more the wealthier segments of society.
We can look back and from our past we can choose those aspects which bring us connection with our earlier generations, you may find a lot of us tend to look back instead of forward, I have that strong inclination to do so, and have often been both challenged by others and pondered it on my own.
Part is a desire not to conform with todays norms, I have always admired individuals, they do not have to be selfish, no doubt some are, but they think outside of the box.
Genetically there may well be a very strong desire to be self reliant, the absolute sense of satisfaction got from taking my muzzle loading rifle out and putting meat on the table, harvesting my own veggies, baking my own bread and it goes on. We seem to lack the opportunity to really make something of our lives with just our own two hands in the literal sense, you go to work and become a mindless cog in the machine, yes perhaps a far more efficient way of putting meat on the table, but somehow less satisfying. There is no adventure in life, no living on the edge, nothing to say you passed this way.

Cheers

Heelerau

Smoking a pipe gave my maternal grandfather throat cancer, my paternal grandfather emphysema, and smoking cigarettes gave my father emphysema, killing all of them, so the Pope, Prime Minister, President or anyone else would be required to leave my house the moment they even looked like lighting up inside. If others choose to smoke that's their business, but it's not welcome in my home and I consider people smoking in my presence or that of my family no different than if they were spraying sarin gas in their faces and have responded as such more than once. This is why I stay right out of the cigar and pipe threads here and will continue to do so.

As for razors, well I have a "thing" about lost skills and technology and this fits in with keeping something valuable alive.

I think it goes as others say it's about taking the time to do things right and enjoy it, that and I've noticed we like to find things that above average quality for average prices.

wow... me too. I like scotch, G&T, pipes, cigars, etc...

PS I"m 20.

PPS I lived in Europe for a semester where the drinking age is on average 17, so thats how I know about alcohols.