I have never seen such a heavy duty straight razor.

That barber is a creepy SOB.

He wastes inordinate time prepping and not enough sharpening the razor. Shaving sounded like he was using a hacksaw instead of a straight razor. A really sharp razor is very quiet.

Did I mention the barber was creepy?
 
No barber is rubbing their fingers on my lips without gloves on and I am in no means a germophobe. Creepy.

Agree with jeffbird, that straight razor sounds like crap as well.
 
This is obviously a staged production. It doesn't look AI. I was a little suspicious of the new condition of the leather strop. I have watched too many ASMR shaving YouTube videos to pick up on the no-gloves thing. Check out HairCut Harry on YouTube. I have ID'd the straight razor. It is a Hart Steel 6/8 square-point razor.

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transmaster said:
I am totally ignorant about straight razors. What does 6/8, 7/8, 8/8, 10/8 mean?
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The height of the blade measured from the edge to the top of the spine measured in 1/8" increments. A 5/8 is 5/8" of an inch from the edge to the top of the spine.

The most common straight razors are 5/8" or 6/8". A 10/8 is extremely uncommon, likely as they are unwieldly.
 
transmaster said:
I am totally ignorant about straight razors. What does 6/8, 7/8, 8/8, 10/8 mean?
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The most important advice I can give you, and it may just be because it’s an ASMR thig and they want these weird sounds……if somebody comes at your face with a razor and at any point it sounds like that politely decline that shave because holy crap that’s bad haha.
 
Haircut Harry, Jason Rupp, and Nomad Barber are the best of the barber shop YouTube channels. From them, you learn that Japan and South Korea have world-class barbers. What is so interesting is the Japanese practice of women getting shaved. It is a whole face shave. It is done to facilitate the application of makeup.
 
transmaster said:
Haircut Harry, Jason Rupp, and Nomad Barber are the best of the barber shop YouTube channels. From them, you learn that Japan and South Korea have world-class barbers. What is so interesting is the Japanese practice of women getting shaved. It is a whole face shave. It is done to facilitate the application of makeup.
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The videos of barbers with big beards using straight razors always leaves me wary.

Try watching videos of guys shaving themselves with a straight razor. The differences are glaring.
 
I routinely see videos of street barbers in India using metal blades worn down to a shard giving perfect shaves and taking zero precautions.
 
I had a great barber here locally until he passed away at too young of an age a few years ago. A great shave at a great price and he used a traditional straight razor that is verboten in the US, pretty sure it's disposable blades only.

That barber is obviously a trained professional and I highly doubt he did anything that was unhygienic.

The sound of a razor largely depends on its geometry and grind. The more hollow the grind and taller the razor is will generally make it louder. There was even a vintage razor called a rattler.

The internet is full of bad and misleading information as well as good what is hard is separating the wheat from the chaff especially so when the bad information is backed up by convincing arguments.
That's just my view on things I read on the net.
 
garry3 said:
I had a great barber here locally until he passed away at too young of an age a few years ago. A great shave at a great price and he used a traditional straight razor that is verboten in the US, pretty sure it's disposable blades only.

That barber is obviously a trained professional and I highly doubt he did anything that was unhygienic.

The sound of a razor largely depends on its geometry and grind. The more hollow the grind and taller the razor is will generally make it louder. There was even a vintage razor called a rattler.

The internet is full of bad and misleading information as well as good what is hard is separating the wheat from the chaff especially so when the bad information is backed up by convincing arguments.
That's just my view on things I read on the net.
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One of my straights in the past was a 6/8” straight extra hollow grind referred to as a “Singing Hollow” due to the thinness making cutting more audible. Cutting is a bit more audible, but nothing like that video. Plus look at the thickness of the razor in the video. It is closer a 1/4 or 1/2 hollow at most. His short choppy strokes are another indicator of an edge struggling to cut. An edge that easily passes a hanging hair test will cut with long smooth passes. That is first hand experience from shaving with a straight razor every morning.
 
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jeffbird said:
One of my straights in the past was a 6/8” straight extra hollow grind referred to as a “Singing Hollow” due to the thinness making cutting more audible. Cutting is a bit more audible, but nothing like that video. Plus look at the thickness of the razor in the video. It is closer a 1/4 or 1/2 hollow at most. His short choppy strokes are another indicator of an edge struggling to cut. An edge that easily passes a hanging hair test will cut with long smooth passes. That is first hand experience from shaving with a straight razor every morning.

eta - went to take a photo of the Singing Hollow, but it was sold off along with a bunch of others.

fwiw - here are what remains in the stable in case it matters on my favorite Translucent Ark. The Wacker Chevallier with the black horn handle is the daily driver.

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Nice looking razors and expensive too.

I just use vintage I come across and gravitate to the older Sheffield's or heavier grinds with a little smile to them.

What's going on with the third one from the left? Is that blade cracked and did the blade come with those scratches from the factory?
 
Third from the left had some light rust in that area, so worked on it with some buffing compound. The scratches actually are from the rust particles catching in the buffing material and scratching. I had to be careful because the blade is thin in that area. So quit once the rust and slight pitting was removed. Did not want to push it. Maybe I'll work on it a bit more, but did not want to push my luck. It is a back up to the daily user at this point. The flip side of the coin is it was priced very well and makes a nicer user. The Wacker Chevalier with the black handle is by far my favorite and my daily user.

I had one Sheffield, which was nice, but just did not really resonate with me, but can easily see why they are so popular.

For thick blades, the Wacker 75th Anniversary on the right is a true wedge, but I've not used it. It is still NIB.

The only non-German blade in that photo is the Theirs Issard on the left.

At one point, I had more than twenty as I was testing out different shapes, sizes, and steels. The differences in feel on the face is really interesting. Once I tried the Wacker Chevalier, I was done. That was the last razor I bought and have used only it for several years now. The only downside is now I do not have the fun chasing and buying different ones any more, but I'm happy where things are now.
 
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