Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Grooming
  3. Evergreens

The Best Straight Razors for Men

The Manual may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site.

You can view straight razors through the lens simple, old-fashioned saying: practice makes perfect. Although it offers the closest shave you’ll ever achieve, a straight razor blade isn’t for the faint-hearted. Straight razors are extremely sharp and therefore increases your chance of nicks, cuts, and, possibly, serious injury. After all, there’s a reason barbers go to school to perfect their craft. If you’re feeling up to the task of learning how to shave with a straight razor, using the best straight razors will get you started on the right path.

The pinnacle of shaving for men is a straight razor shave. It’s sort of a lost art that we only seem to experience at a barbershop if we opt for the hot towel luxury. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Recommended Videos

It might take some time to test the technique and patience to familiarize yourself with a delicate task, but once you’ve mastered the art of shaving with a straight-edge razor your face will never look or feel better. Maintaining your whiskers with a safety razor offers a more precise shave and a reduced risk of ingrown hairs, skin irritations, and infection.

Here are the best straight razors to help you on your journey towards a refined and successful at-home coiffeur.

Utopia Care Professional Barber Straight Edge Razor

Utopia Care Professional Barber Straight Edge Razor
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Utopia Care is dedicated to delivering stark utility to licensed barbers and hairstylists, and its professional-grade straight edge razor follows suit. The blade is constructed with a durable, 430-grade Japanese stainless steel and a matte-black finish for added rust resistance. Its design sports a moveable blade cover that offers easy functionality for a safe and secure shaving experience that will leave your face feeling smoother than a fresh jar of Skippy.

Equinox Professional Straight Edge Razor

Equinox Professional Straight Edge Razor
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Maintaining your whiskers with a multi-blade razor is safe and effective, but it can present its own disadvantages in regard to irritating your skin, too. If you’re just getting your feet wet with a straight razor blade, the Equinox Professional straight razor is a high-quality and effective option that’s perfect for beginners. It’s crafted with a stainless steel design that’s built to last, a user-friendly frame for stability and comfort, and an easy opening blade guard for quick and safe blade replacement. To top it all off, it’s delivered with 100 top-of-the-line, single-edge blades from Derby.

Feather Black SS Folding Handle Razor

Feather Black SS Folding Handle Razor
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Feather crafts all of its razors in Japan with high-quality materials and craftsmanship. Its folding Black SS straight razor is both beautiful and hard-working, boasting an ultra-comfortable resin handle for added grip, a heat- and rust-resistant stainless steel blade, and a spring-mounted blade head that makes deploying, cleaning, and changing the blade as easy as refilling your glass of scotch.

Bryan Holt
Former Former Digital Trends Contributor, The Manual
Bryan Holt is a writer, editor, designer, and multimedia storyteller based in Portland, Oregon. He is a graduate from the… Read Full Bio
Why ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky Is Dead Wrong About Pedicures — and the Late Kobe Bryant Would Agree 
Accessories, Formal Wear, Tie

If the name Dan Orlovsky rings a bell, you probably know him for two things. He’s the quarterback who infamously ran out of the back of the end zone in 2008 as a member of the Detroit Lions. The move is considered such a bone-headed move that when Cody Kessler did the same thing in 2016, pundits wrote that Kessler pulled a Dan Orlovsky. The name also might ring a bell because of his takes as an NFL analyst on ESPN.

It turns out that there’s now a third reason why the name rings a bell. Earlier this week, Orlovsky said he’s completely against men getting pedicures. The subject came up after football fans learned that Florida Gators football coach John Sumrall, a no-nonsense tough guy, loves getting pedicures. Orlovsky appeared on Mike Greenberg’s Get Up show and made his feelings known.

Read more
The art of the summer scent: Smelling good in the heat with an expert
Person spraying cologne on their neck

I am a fan of a good scent. I write about cologne all the time and became a little obsessed with stacking fragrances and diving deep into the notes that build all my favorite scents. The top notes you smell right away, the heart notes that form the core of the fragrance, and the base notes that stick around the longest. As a matter of fact, Kevin Keller, co-founder of Fulton & Roark is who sent me down the obsessed path when he introduced me to the concept of stacking colognes a few years ago when I interviewed him for a different article on how to select the right cologne. So, now that summer is in full swing, I have been a little focused on what makes up a summer scent and how to keep it strong in the heat and humidity. So I reached out to Kevin and he hit me with some knowledge.

I don’t believe in hard seasonal rules. Fragrance is personal. If you love a dark, smoky scent, you should wear it, even in July. You might just want to go a touch lighter than you would in the winter months. – Kevin Keller, Co-Founder, Fulton & Roark

Read more
Dean Bell hits the road and talks men’s grooming
Adult, Male, Man

Dean Bell is a guy many people know from The Bachelor and The Bachelor in Paradise. He has since updated his image as an influencer searching for adventure. That search has led him to partner with Chevron this summer in celebration of the country’s 250th birthday. In addition to helping many drivers keep their engines in top shape this summer with his support of the gas, he is teaching us something he is adopting this season: Men’s grooming and skincare. As he gets a little older, he is figuring out, with the help of his wife (like most of us), the importance of taking care of his skin. But how is he doing that on the road this year? And how can we learn from his experience?

That’s what grooming is at the end of the day when it comes to skincare. You are basically keeping to your skin as youthful as you possibly can. – Dean Bell

Read more