Wondering if shaving with a straight is right for you?
Straight shaving can have a meaningful impact on your physical, emotional, and financial well-being while reducing your impact on the environment. By deciding to become a straight shaver, you are resolving to take back control of your shave, transforming a loathsome chore into an enjoyable, empowering ritual. Here are our top 5 reasons you should be shaving with a straight razor.
Portland Razor Company’s TOP 5 REASONS TO SHAVE WITH A STRAIGHT RAZOR
1: Straight Shaving is Good For Your Skin.
Gentle exfoliation, like the kind you get from straight shaving and using a shaving brush, can be great for skin health. Exfoliation removes the topmost layer of dead skin cells and promotes new cell growth, collagen production, and improved circulation. Shaving with a straight razor and applying lather with a shaving brush are two great ways to add this kind of beneficial exfoliation to your shaving routine. The brush lifts hair and dirt off the skin while applying lather and moisture, and provides the most gentle exfoliation. The straight razor clears dead cells, dirt, and lather away in one clean stroke, and your technique can be modified to provide a more or less aggressive shave.
Straight shaving is cleaner than shaving with cartridge or electric razors, reducing the risk of common skin infections like ingrown hairs, razor burn and razor bumps. Safety bars, lubricating strips, multiple blades and motors are difficult to clean and can clog with hair, skin, soap, and dirt. This can cause the blades to rust, become dull, and grow harmful bacteria which increase the risk of these aforementioned infections. A quality straight razor made with high carbon steel and proper heat treatment will take and hold a sharper edge over cheap stainless blades, and can be cleaned between each and every pass, making for a sharper, cleaner, closer shave.
2: Straight Shaving is Good for Your Brain.
Learning new skills that use both hemispheres of your brain--this study suggests digital photography or quilting--improves cognitive function, memory, and coordination. The catch is: you have to keep learning new skills to continue receiving these benefits. You can get started with straight shaving knowing only the basics of shaving and stropping, but there are many learning opportunities within the world of straight shaving. Learn to hone your straight razor, build the perfect lather, set your razor into some primo scales. While we are happy to do some of these things for you, we think you will enjoy performing them yourself once you get your feet wet -- why should we be the ones to have all the fun?
Many use straight shaving as an opportunity to meditate, which has been shown to lower stress and boost your immune system. Folks who practice this type of meditation in the morning claim that it sets them up for a more productive day. Evening shavers benefit, too! Performing an analog task like meditating or straight shaving an hour before bed--especially as part of a routine--instead of being sedentary in front of a glowing screen makes it easier to fall asleep, and improves the quality of your sleep.
3: Straight Shaving Saves You Money.
A well-cared-for straight razor should provide a lifetime of shaves and save you hundreds of dollars each year! Some savings are pretty obvious, like never needing to buy refills, sign up for a subscription, or drive to the store for blades ever again. But straight shaving saves you money in less obvious ways, too. It reduces the amount of waste you create, which in turn decreases your waste disposal bill. Harder to measure--but even more important--is the reduced pressure on landfills, which are expensive to construct, fill, and close; never mind the cost of environmental cleanup as a consequence of poorly-constructed or improperly-sealed landfills!
You can enjoy all of these savings even after accounting for startup costs and recurring costs for sharpening services! The key to getting the most out of your straight razor is in taking care of it: keeping it dry, stropping it properly, and having it honed when necessary will reduce wear and prolong its usable life to further extend your savings, even into the next generation. Long-term costs can be reduced further by purchasing a good stone and learning to hone your straight razor on your own.
4: Straight Razors are Good for the Environment.
Straight shaving is a zero-waste solution. With nothing to buy or throw away, it’s the best shaving method for the environment and a simple way to reduce your carbon footprint. Every year, 68 million American men throw away 2 billion disposable razors, generating 34 million cubic feet of hazardous, non-recyclable waste. This adds to 250+ million tons of new trash, 13% of which is plastic. In short, making the change to straight shaving is a meaningful step for the environmentally-conscious.
You can improve the environmental impact of your other shaving and grooming goods as well. We recommend natural, sustainable products from responsible sources, like those made by our friends at Craftsman Soap Co. From the Craftsman Soap Co website:
“We use recyclable packaging, post-consumer recycled papers and soy inks, and have always made our products free of palm oil because of its reputation for destructive farming practices. Coconut oil, shea butter, and cocoa butter together create an alternative to palm oil that we believe creates a richer, fuller lather and a better bar of soap.”
5: As a Straight Shaver, You Have Control.
Straight shaving gives you total control over your shaving experience. While most razors are made one-size-fits-most, the straight razor is truly flexible. Sensitive skin? Curly hair? Kevlar growing out of your face? Your technique, angle and pressure can be modified for the ideal shave without having to change products or pay extra, and being able to take care of your own straight razor lets you know for sure that it is clean and sharp before every shave. A straight razor is a product that will treat you well if you treat it respectfully and responsibly, and taking good care of it will prolong its life and improve the quality of your shaves for years to come.
Other Sources Cited:
"Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) in the United States: Facts and Figures." EPA. Environmental Protection Agency, n.d. Web. 30 Dec. 2014.
Clarke, Arthur C. "Solid and Hazard Waste." Solid and Hazard Waste. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Dec. 2014.