Straight razors? Before there were safety razors there were straight razors and I would guess that any boy?

Question

old enough to shave would have owned one. And yet in everything I have read about life in boarding schools and colleges back in the day I don't recall ever seeing anything about razors. It seems to me that straight razors in a dorm full of young men would be a bloodbath waiting to happen but I have never heard of a single razor related incident. Of course I am not widely read on the pre Gillette era and maybe someone else has heard of such an incident or can explain why it never happened.

No I don't boys intend to slice each other all the time. But I am familiar with situtations where someone loses his temper and grabs the nearest object to hurl or strike with. I Ithink I was imagining temper related accidents that might occur in a common bathroom where boys are competing for a limited number or facilities.

Answer 1

Anglo-Saxon youth of equal or similar station in life, believed it to be cowardly to resort to weapons. It was the Celts who introduced, the hidden weapon and use of weapons to settle youthful passions.

Most boys did not mature as rapidly as they do now. For the most part, they were beardless. Hence no razor. Besides that, razors were expensive and difficult to come by. It was not unusual for father to gift his razor to his son.

The pure deadliness of the razor is what caused most men to opt for beards and mustaches. It was not uncommon for a nick from a razor to cause a person to die of blood poisoning.

Answer 2

Don't get an electric. It will most likely be worse than the cartridge, and if it isn't, it will wear quickly and require equally expensive maintenance. I'd recommend a safety razor. A decent one is $40 and will last a lifetime. The blades are dirt cheap. I get an extremely close shave with a blade for about a week, so if you the math, 50 blades a year at 30 cents a blade is about $15- about what it costs for a 3-4 pack of Gilletes these days. I honestly haven't used a straight before but I know the advantages and disadvantages. They do have a slightly steeper learning curve. You'll probably nick yourself a bit while learning. You won't slit your throat or anything, though, don't worry. You also have to make a bit more of an initial investment: a good razor will cost more than $40 and you'll also need a strop. Advantage is though that you really don't have to buy much other than the razor and strop. I would really recommend a double edge safety razor. It really is quite simple to learn, and I think it gets the best shave. Make sure you pick up the supplies for a real wetshave though: a badger brush, and some quality shave soap/cream. Also make sure you buy a variety pack of blades to try. You'll end up throwing some out, but you'll probably find the brands you really like, then you can buy those in bulk. Good luck

Answer 3

Ulysses opens with a shaving scene. med school i think

High school kids don't shave a lot, a lot of people used barbers, and in the past most people carried pocket knives without using them on people. People only began to carry and use razors to cut other people, when they couldn't carry knives anymore, because a razor isn't that good of a weapon.

You might as well wonder why people didn't use clubs or fire in fights, it was a social custom to fight with your fists, not with weapons. Someone using a razor would be ostracized, even if he won.

Answer 4

Boys don't cut each other normally.
They would have fist fights maybe.
That "cutting" thing is very new, historically speaking. And pretty stupid, too...

Do you think boys are looking to slice each other all the time?



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Answer 5

That is why they invented the 'Stiptic Pencil', to stop the nicks from bleeding.

Answer 6

They say that's one of the tools Jack the Ripper used, so......