I wanna try shaving with a straight razor PIF contest

[superbleu]

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

Well, it was a long and hard fought battle, but, as they say in Highlander, “There can be only one!”

Your Straight Razor Stewards (SRS) have spent many sleepless nights (Errr... one...) arguing, deliberating, procrastinating, and yes, mainly drinking, but we have a winner.

As you would suspect, three guys from different corners of the world had some pretty different ideas about which of these many entries was our favourite. But only one entry cropped up in all three short lists, and therefore THEY are the winner of the PIF.

Drum roll please....


The winner of the Straight Razor, I Am Man, Hear Me Bleed, PIF is....


Number 23, MattB!

You get all the glorious goodies spoken of at the beginning of the competition. Everything you need to get started shaving like a real man, in style. You also get the duty, no the honour, of providing us with a shave diary of your adventures, as you head down the slippery slope of straight razor addiction.

We would also like to make a special mention of a second entry, which we all thought really captured the essence of what it was to MAN UP, and take the bull by the horns. That entry was by #44, Fishaholic, for being enough of a woman to stand up to all of us, and telling us who's da man. We know you gals are da man.... :)

You will get a special “boobie” prize for your great entry. We are not sure what it will be yet, but we'll have a dig around and find something good for you.

So give the lucky winners a big pat on the back. The competition was fierce, but they are the ones left standing on the massive pile of LOSERS at the end of the day.*

Oh, and stay tuned if you live in a part of the world that was not allowed to play this time around. We are getting something together for you folks as we speak.





*(Just kidding, they were all great and we had a ball reading them. Thanks to everyone who took part and made this such an awesome competition. -SRS)

For those of you that didn't win, you can finally get off your duff, start prowling the BST for newbie straight sets or hit up the usual sources for beginner straights. It doesn't take a lot of money or blood loss to get started, so please join us in our enjoyment of straight razor shaving.




Competition time! The straight razor guys are taking over the forum and we are having a membership drive to swell our ranks. We know a lot of you have secretly dreamed of the day you would be ready to take the Safety out of your Safety Razor and start shaving like the big boys. Now is your chance.

To help you get started the Straight Razor Stewards (SRS) are going to give a lucky member a gift to get him started. A Freshly honed beverwyck straight razor donated by yours truly, a 2.5” bridal leather strop donated by Larryandro at Whippeddog.com, a cotton fabric strop I made myself pasted with 0.5micron CrOx from Handamerican.com, and a barber’s hone donated by member Natchez and fellow steward of the contributors corner, everything you need to make the manliness happen.
Razor

Strops

Barber’s hone



Donated from huck_1680

"Pure Black Badger 22mm TGN knot set in Elk antler
that was spun, sanded, polished and finished for a one-of-a-kind brush that should be handed down"





So what do you have to do to be worthy of such generosity? Compete, my friends! Compete for our entertainment!!

This competition is open to all CONUS members who have never shaved with a straight razor before. (Members in other countries, put your thinking caps on, there will be something similar for you soon.)

In your own words, tell us why you have always wanted to try straight razor shaving, but have thus far been too chicken. Extra points will be given for the originality and creativity of your answers.

The winner will also be expected to keep a shave diary in the straight razor section, so we can all see how he is progressing and laugh at his misfortunes... I mean give lots of encouragement.

Only one entry per member, so make it count!

The winner will be chosen by the straight razor stewards, and will be the person who seems most deserving to us. Deserving may just end up meaning amusing... but no correspondence will be entered into. We rock, and we are donating the prizes.

The competition closes on April 30th 2011 at 12PM pacific standard time and the winner will be announced in the straight razor section soon after, so get writing! This is your chance to finally Man Up and take the guards off your razor

Contest technical writing was done by Legion, I simply copied and pasted what he so patiently and carefully typed out

[insomniac]

This is a very generous PIF.

Everyone should try a straight at least once.

[Balcmeg]

I don´t qualify since I am both outside CONUS and have my first straight with accessories in the mail from Larry.

Wanted to say it is a very nice PIF to some lucky beginner!

[ggamyang]

"because my swmbo won't call me a 'bad azz' until I do straight!!!" :)

I am in just because I wanna hear my swmbo call me "oh baby!!! you are a bad azz!!!" :)

[bassmanlarry]

I would like to try straight razor shaving because I always admired the skill my dad's barber displayed when he gave my dad a shave when I was a kid. I've only had one straight razor shave when I first graduated HS 17 years ago. It was by a different barber and I had horrible razor burn, but I didn't have to shave for three days. Another reason I would like to try it is my wife says that I shouldn't because I may cut my jugular. I would like to prove her wrong, because she is always right. On second thought, maybe I shouldn't.

[Slivovitz]

Count me in if you please. I have been thinking of trying a straight. Thank you for the opportunity.

Why? Without going back to pieces of obsidian, or bronze half-moon shaped objects retrieved from the ruins of Pompeii, this is the most retro option open to me, and I'm a retro kind of guy. I've enjoyed learning to use some pretty retro safety razors already, so why not take it a step further?

It isn't that I really expect to get a better shave than I already get with the best SE and injector razors, but you never know.

What's been preventing me from getting one on my own? It's really not any perceived danger; I'm aware enough to go slowly, and pull back if I get into trouble. The problem is all the blade maintenance required on a conventional straight. It's one of the attractions for some people, but I'm not really sure that it will be my cup of tea. I've looked into the Feather AC, which takes disposable blades, but I've been spending a lot on shaving stuff lately, and am taking a breather. Still, it's likely enough that I'd get a Feather eventually.

Or, if I'm the lucky entrant here, I'm willing to give the whole blade maintenance thing a second look.

[Legion]

A good start here!

Come on lads! This is your chance to play with the cool kids, and it is on us!

Hold your fire if you are not in the CONUS. We'll have something for your part of the world soon.

[slugg77]

I'm in.

Why a straight you ask? Well, it all started with a bear. A Grizz actually. He came busting through the door into the house last week. This sometime happens, because I age my own elk here. The smell of 800 pounds of elk aging has a powerful scent.

I was busy distilling my new batch of whiskey in the copper still in the kitchen when I heard him. Big as a boxcar. He was madder then a walrus with shingles and ready to eat.

Most people would shoot the bear (I think shooting anything less then 1,000 yards away is too easy and not very sporting) but not his guy.

After engaging in hand-to-hand combat with the bear for several minutes, I got bored. I also had whiskey to attend to and an elk to begin to carve. Now, I am like most of you men here. I act like I shave with a razor, but I really use something else. A knife. A 9" custom made bowie to be exact. I wear it in a scabbard I designed that fits in my sternum. After dispatching the bear with the knife, I heard a familiar sound.

It was my wife. SWMBOBOSWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed By Other She's Who Must Be Obeyed). After she tossed back her majestic golden blonde hair and adjusted her ample assets, she demanded that I clean up the mess before I went to the lodge meeting. Even though I had to compete in the "Chop down a tamarack tree with your bear hands" challenge (must defend my title), I knew I was short on time. I hurriedly carved the bear into steaks for later and headed off.

Only when I returned home and began eating dinner did I realize that I left the knife in the bear. While I am sure I will be having some indigestion from eating the custom Bowie (I has happened before), the immediate concern is my lack of shaving gear. Send the straight my way and you know it will be used by a proper man.

people who know me might say that this is an un-adulterated fabrication and that my wife won't let me buy a straight because I am prone to bleeding and bawling like a calf, they are certainly only jealous of my prowess at masculinity and listening to them would be unfair

[Crockus]

Awesome PIF. Id like be entered.

I want to try a straight razor for 2 reasons. 1 When I was younger in my early teens I wanted to learn how to use one but my parents would never let me get one. So I gave up on it then. Then when I was grown up and out on my own the wife(now ex wife) thought it was too dangerous and not necessary. I just havent pulled the trigger on one yet.

[oc_in_fw]

It was last Saturday morning. I had just completed a BBS shave using an Ever Ready 1912 razor. My soap of choice- Arko. Why? Because the very name causes weaker soap users to quiver in fear. Once done, I slapped on the Veg (or did it slap on me? I am a bit hazy about what happened). So, I marched out into the world thinking- THAT was a manly shave. The dog agreed, as the manliness caused him to run away in horror, and was promptly run over by the mailman. As I approached the scene, the mailman immediately sensed my uber-manhood, as he was down wind and was treated to the Arko/Veg aroma. He prostrated himself before me (or passed out- again, not really sure). There is only one way that this amount of manliness could be pushed to the next level (and no, it isn't Williams). It would be the addition of this great PIF.

Oh, the following week I received a summons to court. Seems I am being charged with assault on a federal employee. Should I rock the Veg to impress the jury?

OK, I am not much of a writer, but count me in.

on edit: I forgot to include why I have feared the straight. Just read above, of course I don't fear it (well, maybe I fear the dent in the wallet<G>)

[DE_Dude]

Great PIF! Are shavette users eligible?

[retiredguns]

Very nice PIF! I have wanted to try a straight even before a safety razor but yes, this old Marine is putting it off for one reason or another. I need to be pushed a tad! Reasons I'd like to try:

-I've been thinking of having my adams apple surgically reduced but this might be cheaper.

-It will give me an extra 30 minutes in the den alone.

-I want to see if I can stretch my face to the point of tearing.

-Might earn me a 3rd shelf in the bathroom

-Want to see if Styptic pens really work!

-If all else fails I can use the strop to whoop the dogs!

[superbleu]

Great PIF! Are shavette users eligible?

Sure!!!! Shavette users are welcome to play.

[Sam4msu]

I just finished paying off the hospital for my recent back surgery. I can't think of a better way to help support my local emergency room staff than to be in there once a week or so to have them repair the damage that I would be able to cause to myself with a great tool like this!!!

[DadisDrunk]

When I first arrived on this planet I was worried about the violent nature of the human species. If I were to be found out, surely I would be captured and subject to experiments that resulted in my premature autopsy. It was a thrill trying to fit in with you. The threat of imminent danger created what you would call an “adrenaline” rush.

As you probably can imagine, once the thrill wore off I was sad and longing for some excitement. I have done some things that I am not proud of while seeking the rush once more. If you have to ask, though, you can’t afford it. Besides, those stimuli have since lost their effectiveness. I must move on to a new drug. I must bleed.

I plan to practice this “shaving” craft on my own face until the danger wears off. Once I no longer feel the rush of scraping sharp steel across my face, I will move on to shaving others. I live near a rail-yard frequented by unshaven hobos. Under the cover of night I will sneak into their camps. While they sleep, drunk under their newspapers, I will rid them of their unsightly beards. If I am discovered who knows what will become of me! Perhaps I will be gutted with the sharp lids of their empty bean cans.

I do not know how this journey ends. I do not know if you will want to hear it. I can’t take you inside my mind. Razors are all we have in common. Although we have a steel bond between us, I simply am not human in your sense of the word. But, you must believe me, I am on your side.

[Zeno]

Okay, I am definitely in. In fact, I was just thinking about trying my move to a straight razor, but I have been hesitant due to the fact that I have never tried one out of fear and for the protection of my livelihood.

While the rest of my face may make every child shriek at seeing my hideousness, every babe weep at my approach, and every woman cry out, "Dear God! What is that thing;" I shall always have my perfect Adonis upper lip.

See, I am a “labium superius oris model”. That’s an “upper lip model” for those of you not in the business. My upper lip has brought me wealth and fame beyond imagination. My upper lip has modeled for Men’s Health, Skoal, and numerous J.C. Penny catalogs. Many of you have most likely seen my upper lip in multiple ChapStick and cold sore commercials. My upper lip has received movie deals as a double for many a famous actor; or actress even! It is so famous that it got an Oscar nod in 1989 for its part in Dead Poets Society, only to loose out to the left foot in My Left Foot. I don’t want to go into that other than to say that I was robbed and that the Oscars are biased against body parts without digits!

I often ask myself in third person, “David, could your upper lip be more beautiful?” Obviously, this is followed by a hearty gaffaw. After catching my breath I think aloud, “David, are you really that incredibly shallow so as to think that your perfect upper lip can’t be even more perfect?”

Of course I already get BBS shaves from my GEM OCMM, GEM Junior, Fatboy, and others! Of course the insurance policy on my upper lip from LLoyds of London has exclusions for using a straight razor or kissing hairy lipped women! Of course I could slice off my philtrum! But could it just be that a straight razor can take my upper lip from fame and adoration to the stuff that legends are made of? I say, “Damn the weepers, stitches, and scars, I’ll do it!”

The way that I see it, outside of my upper lip the rest of my face is grotesque. So no real loss there if things go bad. Also, if the experiment fails and I severely disfigure my upper lip, I can rack up by turning my shave diary into a best selling autobiography. As long as I throw in some stuff about drug abuse and saving orphaned puppies, Oprah should be all over it.

Honestly, I haven’t been this excited since I scored the Triple Crown of body part movie deals. I know that some of you probably already know what I am referring to, but for the others, lets just say that next time you are watching Look Who's Talking, Look Who's Talking Too, and Look Who's Talking Now, check out the upper lips. Pure gold baby, pure gold.

[Legion]

Keep em coming.

[igloo]

What could possibley be more fun than cutting up my face like a Thanks Giving turkey and watching the stock ticker go up for Band Aid Brand products . Why the shock from the emergency room bill of course . But hey chicks dig scares right !

[martiniduck]

Please count me in.

Simple answer: Strait Razors are Johnny Mother F**cking Cash Cool!!!

[Crag]

I'm in!

The reason that I have not used a str8 is that my children have a way of sneaking up on me when I'm shaving and grab onto my naked legs with their icy cold hands and it makes me jump.....I have a scar on my forehead...yeah, MY FOREHEAD, from my 2-yo son doing that...Okay, okay...I was trimming my eye brows, yes MY EYEBROWS...and then wham! Those ice cold fingers on my er...um...thighs....AHHHHHHHH!!!!

You see...My eyebrows grow like Henry Kissinger or Leonid Brezhnev...

No stitches were needed, but I didn't trim my eyebrows again until he was around 4!