Category Archives: Hygene

Sarah’s View: What Happens With Your Body When You Die?

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by Sarah Adams -

Death happens. Death happens to all of us, once you are born you will die. Being prepared means being prepared for all aspects of life, and that includes death. And preparing for death includes what happens after death. It’s not a fun topic, in fact it is rather uncomfortable, but having a plan for your body after death relieves your family of at least one decision during a difficult time. Because what happens to your body is definitely a decision they will be asked to make.

One of the things that makes us human is the respect we show for the body after death. For most (all?) of human history there have been rituals surrounding the care and processing of a body after death. These rituals are not universal, they vary with time and culture, but that there is a ritual is universal.

There are many many options available to us today – cremation, embalming, burial in a casket, entombing, donation. What you choose might depend on your religion or family or culture. Do you know how you’d like your body cared for after your death? Does your family know what your wishes are?

Now, since we’re preppers, we need to ask how many of those would be available or practical in a collapse situation?

Coffin-crematoriumA cremator generates temperatures between 1600-1800 degrees Fahrenheit. As far as I know, there’s no way to generate that kind of heat with easy to gather fuels. Modern embalming solutions include formaldehyde, methanol and other solvents. Not only would those materials be difficult to locate in a collapse situation, but people with the skills required to embalm without modern equipment and electricity are few and far between. Even burial is a challenge without modern excavation equipment — think about digging a deep enough hole by hand, now imagine doing it during a collapse. Many of the options we take for granted today would not be practical in a collapse situation.

burialplatform-curtis

So what options should we consider in a collapse? My suggestion would be to look at what native peoples indigenous to your region may have done. Their traditions were probably adapted to the locale. If you live near the coast an ocean burial may be an option. There are also the famous mounds of the Native Americans of the Mississippi River where bodies were “buried” in a mound of dirt instead of in a hole in the ground. Here in the Pacific Northwest it was common to practice “above ground burial” where a body was placed on a scaffold and left for the elements and animals.

I, personally, am a fan of some sort of exposure. In a pre-collapse world I’d like to be donated to the Body Farm; I would like my body to provide some use for science. In a post-collapse world, above ground burial or simple exposure in the forest works for me; my body is put to use, recycled into the circle of life.

The key, as always, is preparation. What do you want? Is it in writing? Does your family know?

 

Momma Bear: Thoughts On The Flu

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My worst-case SHTF scenario: Facing a global pandemic. A pandemic that cuts all supply chains, destroys public services (electricity, water, medical, and government) and throws civilization into uncontrolled chaos.

sick w fluUnless you have had your head in the sand this past month, you are probably thinking about, and watching, this current flu epidemic. I took this as an opportunity to study up on the biggest global bout with the flu, known as the Flu of 1918 or the “Spanish Flu”. We’ve all heard how tons of people died from this flu (it killed 20 to 50 million people — 1 to 3 percent of the world’s population at that time). But there were three giant facts that surprised me:

  • This flu actually lasted two full years (1918-1920), and had three specific “waves” of infection at a time when the world population was not very mobile.
  • It killed quickly (in some instances only one day of symptoms)
  • It killed healthy people in the 20-40 age group (not the norm for flu related deaths).

We are a million times more mobile, as a population, than we were in 1918 so our transmission rates are much higher. Although we have modern medicines, we are also starting to see resistance to those medications. A pandemic is a very believable SHTF scenario.

stop the fluOur family got hit with the flu over the long holiday. Because we instituted some severe tactics, only two of us got moderately sick, one was minimally ill, and three escaped unharmed. When the first person became ill, it started quickly with chills, 102+ fevers, and a croupy, nasty cough. Initially thinking it was just a severe cold, he didn’t go to the doctor right away so he missed the two day window for Tamiflu but he did test positive for flu. The first thing we did was to isolate him to his room. When he wasn’t in his room he wore a mask, hand sanitized multiple times, did not touch any food/cupboards/fridge to serve himself, only used disposable plates and cups, and we sanitized the counter area where he ate. Medications he took, to treat the symptoms, were ibuprofen and MucinexDM (12 hour doses of guaifenesin and dextromethorphan) with moderate success (but he still felt crappy). The second person, our daughter, became ill by accidentally drinking from the first person’s cup. Like the first person, we isolated her at home and treated her with the MucinexDM. Unfortunately she got the vomit portion of the flu and she DID have to go to the emergency room for an IV to treat the dehydration migraine and vomiting. The last person to become ill only suffered from cold symptoms and chills. In all three cases, the people have suffered from a long term dry cough that has taken weeks to go completely away.

Isolation is the best method for treating a big flu outbreak. But in America that is something we just aren’t good at. We are very mobile and we insist on working, shopping and doing pretty much everything while we are sick (all the while spreading our germs as we go along). In Japan though, when we had a big flu outbreak, it was routine to close a public school down (or businesses or whatever) for a week and decontaminate it; while allowing the virus to, hopefully, work its way through the population AT HOME. What a great way to keep from infecting more people!

Medical masks are also key in reducing contamination rates in a mobile population but most people misunderstand how they work. When sneezing or coughing, germs can travel in the air up to six feet or so and remain active for hours. Masks are primarily used to keep an infected person from spraying their germs outward, NOT to prevent a person from breathing in germs. When you see pictures from Japan of people wearing masks, those are the sick people going about their lives while limiting their illness from transferring to others. This is a culture that is centered on being considerate and concerned with how their behavior affects others and it is considered rude to cough and hack in public and NOT wear a mask. Masks are available everywhere in Japan, including a big section at the dollar store where they come in all different sizes, colors and cartoon characters. But here in America you rarely see anyone cover their cough with a mask and most often that masked person is looked down on as being some sort of germaphobe. Our own cultural norms work against us when it comes to how we deal with illness.

mask & sanitizerIn a medical study testing the efficiency of masks at preventing an infected person from spraying their germs, it was found that N95 masks had the same effectiveness rate as a plain medical mask at suppressing the passing of germs into the air through coughing and sneezing. So the good news is that you can stock up on the plain and less expensive masks! You certainly can choose to wear a mask in an effort to prevent breathing in germs, though the masks are not air tight and germs can enter from the sides. You are also still susceptible to any surface contact with germs; they can live up to eigh hours on surfaces so it is important to wash your hands regularly, use hand sanitizer and clean any and all surfaces touched by an infected person. Similarly, most people are contagious with the flu for a day or two prior to experiencing symptoms. If you go out in public, mask or not, you are going to come in contact with the virus.

Our bout with the flu was by no means what I would term as a severe case because in both instances the fever was reduced by medications and overall the symptoms were manageable at home. My daughter suffers from recurring migraines so we do not necessarily consider her ER visit an acute occurrence of the flu. All that said, we were prepared to treat the flu here at home for an extended period of time if necessary, but how many “average citizens” have a stock pile of food, meds, masks, and sanitizer in their closet? Keep up the good preps folks, and cover that cough!

 

Sierra Kate: Reusables, Self-Reliance & Feminine Hygiene, Part 2 – How Do They Perform?

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Last week I wrote Part 1: Options, about alternative reusable menstrual products from a prepper perspective. However, potential users of a new alternative feminine hygiene product will also want to know how well it performs/functions. That is what I am here to discuss this week.

FIRST – OUR CHOICES:

Disposables

  • Pads & Tampons – semi-synthetic rayon
  • Pads & Tampons – cotton
  • Menstrual Cups – elastomer

Reusables

  • Pads – cotton
  • Tampons – natural sea sponges or cotton
  • Menstrual Cups (bell-shaped cup used internally) – natural latex rubber or medical-grade silicone

Let’s compare our options, shall we?

Reusable Menstrual Pads

Reusable Tampons – Sea Sponges

Reusable Menstrual Cup

 

SECOND – REVIEWING PERFORMANCE:

1. Comfort

  • Interior winner – Menstrual Cups. No internal options are felt, but cups win because they are non-drying and do not interfere with one’s healthy and natural lubrication or secretions.
  • Exterior winner – Unclear. It’s a trade-off; next to sensitive skin the winner is probably the more bulky cotton pad that is soft and breathable. But some prefer the thinner, less breathable rayon,  but it does have potential irritants.

2. Convenience

a) Capacity

Winner – Menstrual Cups. The 1-ounce cups have double the capacity of a max-absorbency tampon. That means half the bathroom trips!

b) Portability and Active Living

Winner – Menstrual Cups. You only need one cup at any time, they are easy to clean and there is no trash to hide. Cups are popular with outdoor enthusiasts, including wilderness backpackers. Also, the non-drying cup can be put in the day before you expect your period.

3. Cost

Winner – Menstrual Cups. Both reusable cups and pads last at least 5 to 10 years. A cup costs about $30 to $40; a commercial set of reusable pads about 2 to 3 times that. A set of two sponges costs $13 and last 3 to 12 months.

4. Health

a) Hygiene 

Winner – ALL. No menstrual products are sterile; however they are all sanitary with proper care.

b) Harmful Substances

Winners – Reusables. Processing rayon requires a lot of chemicals that are potential toxins or irritants that may leave traces in the final product.

c) TSS and Microbes

Internal Winner – Menstrual Cup. The cups smooth surface does not lend itself as easily to microbial growth; tampons, especially high-absorbency, seem to be associated with TSS, along with causing micro-abrasions.

d) Odor

  • Internal winner – Menstrual Cup. The menstrual fluid is not exposed to any air, which eliminates odor.
  • External winner – Cotton pads. Cotton allows moisture to evaporate, which reduces odor.

5. Environmentally friendly

Winners – Reusables

6. Anatomical Fit Concerns

For cups a good rule-of-thumb is if the person (this includes virgins) has no problems using tampons then they should be able to use cups. If you can’t use disposable tampons, but dislike pads, consider trying sea sponge tampons. At the bottom I’ve included a link to a positive review of them by a women affected by pelvic organ prolapse.

7. Learning Curve

Cups are more hands on, and require you to be comfortable, or willing to become so, with your body and intimate anatomy. Most users say it takes 2-3 cycles to get the hang of easily inserting and removing them.

8. Customer Service

Winner – Reusables. Companies of reusables are knowledgeable and helpful. They have to be, they mostly advertise by word of mouth.

9. Care, Cleaning, and Storage

Reusable winner – Menstrual Cup. The cup’s smooth surface is simple to clean. It is also easier to care for away from home than the reusable absorbent options. In a pinch, after emptying, if both the cup and your clean hands do not come into contact with anything else then it isn’t necessary to wash the cup before reinserting.

10. OKAY, but are they pretty?

Really…? Sigh. Yes! They have cute pouches. Many pads do come in awesome colours and patterns. A few cups come in bright pretty colours. Sponges, I think, already look decorative. And then you can make your own pads, tampons or carry pouches as beautiful as you like. What I find beautiful is how well reusables work. The disposable synthetic products, to me, are a disappointment, not just environmentally but from a health and performance point of view.

 

Disclaimer: I claim no special medical knowledge. I wrote from my personal experience with rayon products and menstrual cups; most of the rest was obtained from Internet research.

 

RESOURCES

Disposable 100% cotton pads and tampons:

Disposable menstrual cup: http://www.softcup.com/faqs

Reusable cloth pad brands:

Pads4Girls: http://lunapads.com/about-us/donate-pads

To make your own cloth pads:

Reusable sea sponge tampons

Reusable menstrual cups

Lastly, the following is a link to a story with a very rare concern with tampons that is not about rayon, dioxins, chemical irritants or even TSS bacteria. Open at your own risk of being utterly and horrifyingly grossed out: http://www.wfaa.com/news/consumer/Test-Results-Confirm-Mold-on-Tampon-147404735.html

 

Sierra Kate: Reusables, Self-Reliance & Feminine Hygiene, Part 1 – Options

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Contributed by Guest Blogger: Sierra Kate

Question: What can make you self-reliant for longer that uses up less space and money? Answer: Using reusable items instead of one-use disposables. I am here to discuss a much-neglected category under disposables: Menstrual Products. <Crickets>. Humour me for a moment and contemplate this, I read about one family that had an estimated seven years of tampons stocked. You want an idea better than that right? Consider reusables menstrual products. Believe it or not reusables are better in many ways, but that is literally a whole other post.

Pads, tampons, and menstrual cups all come in reusable forms. Reusable cloth pads are typically made of cotton, a breathable absorbent fabric. Commercial cloth pads are about $10 per pad. Many people make their own pads to reduce costs; there are plenty of how-to instructions on-line (see Momma Bear’s post: Home-Made, Reusable Sanitary Napkins). Cloth pads last 5 to 10 years. Commercial cloth tampons, or patterns to make them, are much harder to find, but they are out there. One non-cloth option is reusable tampons made from natural sea sponges, a 2-pack is $13, and they can last 3 to 12 months.

I favour the reusable menstrual cups. They are bell-shaped and are typically made from natural latex rubber, or silicone. About the size of a shot glass, they sit internally and collect menstrual fluid instead of absorbing it. They cost about $30 to $40 and last 5 to 10 years. You can easily increase your self-reliance by stocking up. Doing the math, 4 to 8 individual menstrual cups (or sets of cloth pads) could last a woman until menopause.

What about being able to make them yourself and be truly self-sustainable? Most people wouldn’t consider it on this matter, because it requires a lot of research and hard work, and the above options for self-reliance don’t take up a lot of space. But, out of curiosity, “what if”?

If you are interested in self-sufficiency when it comes to menstrual products you have a few options. Start with growing a natural fiber. Cotton (a sub-tropical bush), soft and absorbent, is the best option. The second best would be low-THC hemp (wide geographic range), however daft legal issues currently abound on this topic. Natural sponges have been harvested for millennia as luxury items; however this is dependent on a viable sponge population living nearby (such as Florida). Lastly, ones made from rubber. Natural latex rubber has many uses, and is created by curing latex, a milky plant sap. A tropical tree is used commercially; other sources of latex are guayule and common dandelions. Silicone rubber is made from silica (a sand used in glass-making) and other compounds and has been produced for about 60 years. You can find rubber mold-making-kits if you want to tinker, as rubber has all sorts of uses. The Native Americans made latex rubber for millennia but theirs may not have had the quality or consistency of modern rubber production.

Ironically, there are many other good uses for disposable tampons after TEOTWAWKI. There are a total of ten(!) survival uses in this article: The Swiss Army Survival Tampon – 10 Survival Uses.

So from a  self-reliance prepper perspective, stocking reusables is great. But perhaps you, or a fellow prepper, are not convinced. If you are wondering if this will work well from a user perspective, I use menstrual cups and I’ll tell why it is better in next week’s Part 2 post.

Sierra Kate’s Bio
Kate currently lives in small-city Canada and has just come across the world of prepping. What initially grabbed her interest in prepping is how well it fits in with her own intellectual inclinations and desires for a healthy lifestyle that has sustainability, self-reliability, utility and minimalism in mind. She enjoys solitude and her hobbies include reading and biking.

 

Momma Bear: Women’s Maladies

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Sometimes being a woman is really the pits. I imagine it will be even worse in a post-SHTF society where our modern, quick-fix, take a pill for it remedies are no longer available. I’m talking about those dreaded conditions that are almost exclusively “women’s ailments”: yeast infections, vaginosis, vulvitis, UTIs, hemorrhoids, leaky bladders, migraines and menopause. Bleck! So what is the best way to prep for these lovely maladies? Like other areas of preparedness, we need to tackle this with a multi-step approach.

Knowledge: Know your body. You need to be able to recognize the warning signs of an impending ailment so that you can attempt to prevent a full-blown illness. Know your genetic predispositions and history. Ask your mother, grandmothers, and aunts about what female health conditions run in your family. Heredity is a funny thing and frequently cannot be avoided. While you may maintain a painstakingly rigorous “healthy lifestyle,” sometimes nature still throws that heredity-curveball at you. You might be young enough that many of these have not yet happened to you, but at least study up and be prepared to recognize and treat them if they occur (to you or others). In my family we get three main conditions: hemorrhoids, leaky bladders, and menstrual migraines. The first two can normally be treated by surgery and the last can be controlled by using birth control pills and prescription meds. But what will we do without access to routine medical care and medications?

Prepare: If there are medications you can get that you might need someday, GET THEM and stock up. You might never have had a yeast infection in your life, but if you live someplace hot and humid and suddenly your life has no A/C, infrequent baths and changes of clothing (because you are washing everything by hand!), you might have a serious run in with a yeast infection. Stock up on any OTC meds that you can. The other way to prepare is to not put off those elective surgeries (this seems to have been mentioned in plenty of other articles). These days both leaky bladders and hemorrhoids can be treated with surgery, but they are not ones that most of us would rush right out to get. I think you will find that surgery is preferred over living with the problem in a post-SHTF world. Last, maybe cleanliness IS next to godliness. Keeping clean and dry will prevent some of these conditions from starting in the first place. The military has been doing this for years…with feet. Every time they stop, they change their socks because it prevents a plethora of foot ailments. I say every time you sweat too much, change those undies. If you can’t stay cool, at least stay dry.

Take your knowledge a step further: None of these ailments are new. How did they treat these ailments in the past? Or how do they treat them now in third world countries? Look for “old school” remedies. Read up, research, ask someone very old who grew up in a rural environment what they did. For instance, yogurt is a common treatment for yeast infections (and I am not talking about eating it). And here I mean all natural, home-made, BASIC yogurt, not the flavored variety they carry in the grocery stores today. Culturing your own yogurt at home is actually pretty easy to do, but few Americans do it. Drinking cranberry juice works well for treating UTIs. There are “alternative” treatments for a number of ailments, but most of us have grown up in a society where these remedies have become obsolete due to our easy access to medications.

It will take time to research and practice these remedies before the SHTF. But it’s better to practice it now when you don’t need the remedy desperately.  Like other types of medical care, it is best to study up long before the SHTF!

(Friday: What We Did This Week To Prep)

Hand Washing Laundry

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We’ve decided that our next prepper goal is to be able to hand wash laundry. Washing machines require lots of power and lots of water, if you’re without either of those doing laundry gets much harder. Though we now do laundry every week, in a collapse it will not be as high of a priority or done with that frequency. But cleaning clothes and linens will still be important because they will last longer, keep us healthier, and overall improve moral and make life feel more “normal”.

We’ve never hand washed laundry before, so I began doing research on the process and what equipment we would need. There were several variations of the basic idea:

  • Use a washboard to scrub off stains. Apparently, contrary to popular opinion, washboards are smooth and won’t damage the fabric. They’re said to be a relatively easy way to remove stains.
  • Fill a tub full: This could be anything from a bathtub, a kitchen sink, a 5-gallon bucket, or an old fashion washing tub. Fill with cold, warm, or hot water as needed.
  • Add soap: From my reading I’ll probably just use a small amount of dish detergent. If you use laundry detergent use a very small amount; if it’s powder detergent dissolve it first in water before adding. Historically a bar of soap was grated into the water. You need to find the balance of enough soap to clean the clothes while avoiding too much soap that will be difficult to rinse out. Let clothes soak for at least 30 minutes before washing.
  • Agitate the clothes in the water: It looks like the easiest thing to use would be a clean (preferably new) toilet plunger. We found a ‘Tin-Plated Steel Washer’ in the Lehman’s catalog which looks like a metal plunger. Lehman’s states, “Just plunge up and down to force soap and water through clothes and linens — it’s that simple.”
  • Rinse the clothes, probably more than once. Soap left in the clothes will break down the fibers.
  • Wring the water out of the clothes: This can be done by hand, or much more efficiently with a hand wringer. Again in Lehman’s they state their hand wringers “. . . remove up to twice as much water as a spin dry.”
  • Hang the clothes to dry: This can be done either outdoors on a traditional clothes line, if weather and temperatures permit, or inside on drying racks. (Remember to get clothes pins for outdoor drying.)

So that’s the process. Our plan is to buy:

  • A washboard (Lehman’s $16 – $23)
  • Two galvanized wash tubs (about $40 – $50 each), they’re a good size and easily portable, plus they also have many other uses.
  • A Tin-Plated Steel Washer (Lehman’s $18.95).
  • A hand wringer (wide range of prices and quality).
  • A large indoor drying rack. Living here in the Pacific Northwest we’ll probably have to dry inside most of the time.

Once we get everything we’ll give it a few test runs and, of course, I’ll post about how those go.

Momma Bear: Home-Made Reusable Sanitary Napkins

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Just because the SHTF, the monthly cycle will still continue. Sooooooo… what are the ladies in your family going to use for their long-term feminine hygiene needs? Sure, you can stockpile a lifetime worth of sanitary napkins, but what are you going to do with the used ones? They do not compost, and because they are both plastic and filled with blood borne pathogens, you cannot burn them. It is a much better idea to have something reusable ready. So what the heck does that mean???

I found two options: First is something called a “menstrual cup” which comes in both a disposable and reusable form. I am sure from the name you have an idea of what it does, but I had never heard of it before. Ladies can research for themselves to see if that is something they would like to try.

The second option is the old school idea of reusable/washable sanitary napkins. What I was amazed to find out is that people are making these already and selling them on ebay, and other crafting websites, for a RIDICULOUS amount of money (around $10 for one washable pad)! I am here to tell you that anyone with a sewing machine or the patience to hand sew can make their own for a fraction of the cost. They can also be made by recycling old towels and flannel sheets, thus reducing your cost to nothing but thread and labor.

I recently sat down my 13 year-old daughter and broke the “reusable pads” idea to her. It was a great teaching opportunity. I started with a simple question and answer; asking her what she thought ladies did back before plastics, mass manufacturing, and easy access to stores. I explained that if there was a true emergency, resulting in a long-term power outage, we had to go with something washable. I was surprised that she was so open to the idea. So we hit the internet and found Tipnut.com, it’s a great site with MANY different kinds of tutorials on making sanitary napkins.

Because we don’t have surplus flannel sheets, we opted to hit up Wally world for some fabrics. We picked out some nice flannel for close to our skin (a yard for each of us) and something thick, fluffy, and cotton for the inner layers (three yards for the two of us). You can see from the photos that we are using the basic “wings” style pad with a snap for the underside. These are a two-part napkin consisting of the outer “liner” and then an inner “pad” for absorption. Although we used a pattern off the internet, you can just as easily trace what you have in the cupboard.

First, we made copies of our pattern and compared them to the store-bought stuff. In this case the top layer of the liner is one solid piece with wings, and then there are two bottom layers which are about 2/3 of the top pattern each with one wing. This is so that those two pieces (on the bottom) will overlap, allowing you to insert your inner absorption pad. These top/bottom layers are stitched together with the flannel (fuzzy sides) facing each other, then they are turned right side out, ironed, then overstitched again all around the edges. I also stitched an extra line around the pad area, to provide a crease point right about where the wings flip down, thus ensuring the pad wont slip around. Last, we added snaps to the wings.

After sewing all the liners we made the pads. These are anywhere from two to four layers of padding just sewn all together to make a firm rectangular pad. These are the interchangeable inner pads (this would be towelling or absorbent fabric) that are made in different thicknesses for the different levels of flow (*in the photo the opening to insert the inner padding is face up, but this would normally be face down toward the inside of the panty). While we opted for removable inner pads, there is no reason why you couldn’t just make them part of the liner and stitch the whole thing together. We just liked the idea that we could add more pads or take them apart for a more thorough washing. Because of the snaps these are foldable into little square packets for easy storage.

I personally do not sew on a regular basis and found curvy type napkins difficult to make, hence ours look kind of rectangular. I will also caution any novice sewers to make sure they wash and iron their fabrics, before beginning this project, because cotton shrinks. I have to admit that I had trouble with that stupid “snap kit” (and I lost my patience); instead opting to hand sew old school snaps on. Also of mention, we made multiple sized pads because 13 year olds and moms don’t necessarily use the same size of anything. I think in total we spent $23 on fabric and snaps and made ten liners for each of us and 30+ inner pads of different thicknesses. This was a pretty simple project over all that anyone can make.  No insanity required.

(Friday: What We Did This Week To Prep)

Trace’s Note: Be sure to also read our follow up posts by Sierra Kate: Reusables, Self-Reliance & Feminine Hygiene Part  1- Options, and Part 2 – How Do They Perform?

An Introduction to Straight Razors

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Never Buy A Replacement Blade

I concede that in a collapse situation, personal grooming won’t be a top priority. But just because it’s TEOTWAWKI doesn’t mean you won’t want to be able to shave. Maybe you will choose to grow a beard. But wouldn’t it be nice if that was your decision, not one made because you ran out of disposable razor blades? Also you ladies–you need to decide–how important is having shaved underarms and/or legs to you?

Alexander the Great’s shaven image on the Alexander Mosaic, 2nd Century BC

People have been shaving for a long time. Razor blades, made of copper, were first used around 3000 BC. Alexander the Great was a strong advocate of his soldiers shaving (in the 4th century BC) to avoid “dangerous beard-grabbing in combat”, and because he believed it looked tidier.

The ‘modern-day’ folding straight razor has been around since 1680. It was used from that time until the early 1900s; then, in 1901, Mr. Gillette invented the disposable safety razor. By the end of World War I (after millions had been issued to the troops) most men were shaving with a disposable razor. In the 1920s, women too began using the disposable razor; shaving their legs when dress hemlines began to rise and show more skin.

I had thought about trying a straight razor for a some time. Last year I read a post on TSP form, How to get out of a consumer marketing trap with a straight razor, and finally decided to go ahead and do it. Sarah thought I was crazy, but she was supportive; she watched me the first night, phone in hand, ready to call 911 in case of severe bleeding. There were several nicks in the beginning weeks, until I got the hang of it, but nothing serious. The honing and stropping were a hassle for me to figure out; I finally realized that I had to hold the razor at a flatter angle than I do when sharpening a standard knife. Now, almost a year later–though I still have to concentrate more–it takes no longer than a disposable razor, and is routine and smooth (pun intended). I strop the edge each time before I shave, and hone it each month.

Why use a straight razor?

  • It’s the ultimate self-sufficient shaving tool
  • The nostalgia of using a traditional method
  • The larger blade covers more surface with greater control
  • You don’t have to rinse as much and clean up is easier
  • It prevents skin razor bumps that are caused by multi-edged razors
  • Once you master it, you’ll feel very cool

To get started you’d need (as shown clockwise in the photo): the straight razor, a leather strop, a boar bristle shave brush, a bowl (or mug) for the soap, and the shaving soap. (The above links are to the items I own; they were suggested on TSP forum post as a good basic starter set).

Many resources are available to help you learn how to use your new razor; it does take effort to become proficient. I like this YouTube video, he narrates it well and uses the right hand/right side, left hand/left side technique that I think works best. The Art of the Straight Razor is a good written resource.

Anciently, before copper razors were available, hair was sometimes removed using two shells to pull the hair out. So if you still want that clean look if the SHTF, either invest now in a straight razor or stock up on those shells.

(Friday: What I Did This Week To Prep / What I’m Thankful For)