--- title: "The Straight Razor Is Back, and It Still Bites" url: https://quietmenace.com/grooming/straight-razor-shaving-revival/ author: Quiet Menace Editors section: Grooming published: 2026-08-30 updated: 2026-08-30 topics: Grooming Essentials, Heritage Brands --- # The Straight Razor Is Back, and It Still Bites > Sheffield invented it, Gillette nearly killed it, and a Bond film brought it back. The cutthroat razor rewards men with patience. In Skyfall, released in 2012, Naomie Harris's Eve shaves Daniel Craig's James Bond with a straight razor in his hotel room. There is no gunfire in the scene, just lather and a steady hand. It still did something unusual for a Bond film. Retailers reported a jump in straight razor sales afterward, as men went looking for a blade their great-grandfathers had abandoned. ## From Sheffield to the scrap drawer The steel-edged folding razor is a Sheffield invention. Sheffield was making the first steel-edged cutthroat razors by 1680, and for more than two centuries the cutthroat was how most men got shaved, at home or at the barber's chair. By 1740 Benjamin Huntsman was making razors with hollow-ground blades of cast steel, using a process he had developed himself. The French adopted it first. English makers came round only after watching it succeed across the Channel. Then came the safety razor. King C. Gillette's double-edge design, with blades cheap enough to throw away, needed almost no skill, and it is the story we tell in our [safety razor and wet shaving guide](https://quietmenace.com/grooming/safety-razor-wet-shaving-guide/). Electric shavers took more ground from the 1950s. As men learned to shave themselves, the barbershop shave faded too, and the straight razor slid into the back of the drawer. It never vanished. Barbers kept using them, and a handful of European workshops kept forging new ones. ## Solingen and Thiers Two names carry most of the weight today. DOVO was founded in 1906 by two men named Dorp and Voos, in Wald, a town later absorbed into Solingen, Germany's blade city. It began as a pure razor factory, with its own forge and hollow grinding. Fritz Bracht took over shortly before the Second World War, and a small knight with sword and hammer became the company's mark. The [DOVO company history](https://dovo.com/en/about-dovo/) traces the rest, including the string of brands it acquired after the war. In France, Pierre Thiers founded Thiers-Issard in 1884 in Thiers, a cutlery town in the Auvergne. He joined his surname to his wife's family name. The company is known for an old lead-hardening process that French law allows it to keep using, and for its singing razors, hollow ground so thin that the blade rings when you pluck it. Gilles Reynewaeter bought the business in 1985. ![A black straight razor beside a beige ceramic mug and a shaving brush](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1524230616393-d6229fcd2eff?w=1600&h=1067&q=80&auto=format&fit=crop) *A brush, a mug of lather and an open blade. Photo by Josh Sorenson on Unsplash* There is a good argument that these razors belong with the other objects built once and built right. A DOVO and a [Rolex Submariner](https://quietmenace.com/watches/rolex-submariner-history/) share a basic truth. Look after them and they outlive you. ## What are you actually buying? A straight razor is a simple object with a surprising vocabulary. The handle is a pair of scales, held to the blade by a pivot pin. The tang is the small tail you hold while shaving. The spine runs along the back of the blade, the edge along the front, and the point at the far end. The heel sits where the edge begins, near the shank, and the toe is its front corner. Width is measured in eighths of an inch, usually from 3/8 to 7/8. A 5/8 blade is the most popular size, wide enough to hold lather and narrow enough to reach under the nose. Then there is the grind. A wedge or flat grind is heavier and stiffer, forgiving on thick beards. A hollow grind is thinner and flexes slightly, which gives more feedback and a closer shave but asks more of the shaver. The point matters for beginners. A round point, sometimes called a Dutch point, is the gentle choice. Square and spike points are sharper at the corners and easier to nick yourself with. If you are starting out, buy a 5/8 round point with a half-hollow or full-hollow grind, and buy it shave ready from a reputable seller. ## Strop, hone, repeat The blade is the easy part. The maintenance is where men give up. Before each shave, the edge is stropped on leather. Stropping does not sharpen. It realigns the edge, and it should be done with almost no pressure, spine always leading so you never drag the edge into the leather. Every so often, depending on how often you shave and how well you strop, the razor needs honing on a stone to restore the edge itself. Many owners send their razors out for a professional hone rather than learning it at home. Steel choice changes the routine. Carbon steel takes a keen edge and hones easily but will rust if left wet. Stainless resists corrosion but is harder to hone. Dry the blade fully after every shave and leave it open until it is bone dry. ![A tattooed barber using a straight razor to trim a man's hair](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1599351431202-1e0f0137899a?w=1600&h=1067&q=80&auto=format&fit=crop) *Barbers never stopped using the open blade. Photo by Agustin Fernandez on Unsplash* ## The shavette option If maintenance sounds like a second job, there is the shavette. It looks like a straight razor but holds a replaceable blade, and in some places barbers are required to use them for hygiene reasons, while other jurisdictions still allow traditional blades. Japanese maker Feather, founded in 1932 and producing blades in Seki, Gifu, is a common name here, with its Artist Club range. A shavette is a decent teacher, but it can be harsher than a well-honed traditional blade. Go slowly, keep the angle low, about 30 degrees, and never shave against the grain on the first few attempts. If your skin reacts with lasting irritation or bumps, our [beard care guide](https://quietmenace.com/grooming/beard-care-guide/) has dermatologist-backed advice, and a board-certified dermatologist can help if the problem persists. The [straight razor entry on Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straight_razor) goes deep on grinds and points. For more, browse the [Quiet Menace grooming section](https://quietmenace.com/grooming/) and our [heritage brands](https://quietmenace.com/topics/heritage-brands/) hub, or pair your shave with the [pomade and pompadour history](https://quietmenace.com/grooming/pomade-hair-styling-history/) that came with it. And when you buy your first razor, buy the strop the same day. A blade with no strop is just an expensive way to cut yourself. --- Filed under: [Grooming Essentials](https://quietmenace.com/topics/grooming-essentials/), [Heritage Brands](https://quietmenace.com/topics/heritage-brands/) Hero image: Photo by Antonio Reynoso on Unsplash (Unsplash License)