# Can you strike a match on your face? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 14, 2010, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-strike-a-match-on-your-face/528977 "2010-02-14T18:45:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2010, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-strike-a-match-on-your-face/528977/1 "2010-02-14T18:45:14Z")
The grizzled marine places his boot on the chest of the fallen, reaches for a cigarette, and lights it by striking a match on his jawbone. His meditative gaze surveys the battlefield. War is Hell. Classic Holywood war film image. But can you strike a match on the stubble of your face and have it light reliably? Anyone make a habit of doing this? ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2010, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-strike-a-match-on-your-face/528977/2 "2010-02-14T19:25:33Z")
It MIGHT be possible if you have strike-anywhere matches and some very coarse stubble but I have never seen it done and I have seen people try just about everything when it comes to fire. However, you can light a match by flicking it quickly through the bottom of your front teeth. That requires strike-anywhere matches as well and takes some skill but it works and I have done it myself many times. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2010, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-strike-a-match-on-your-face/528977/3 "2010-02-14T19:57:43Z")
I cannot, no. Yes, I’ve tried before. I don’t know what prompted me to do that, but there it is. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-strike-a-match-on-your-face/528977/4 "2010-02-15T04:16:33Z")
I wonder if in the old day (40s movies) matches were made differently. Seems to me it’s was a lot easier to light a match when I was a kid in the 70s. Maybe they make them differently now? ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-strike-a-match-on-your-face/528977/5 "2010-02-15T04:37:04Z")
It doesn’t seem like the skin would be firm enough or create enough friction. You can light strike-anywhere matches with your fingernail though. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-strike-a-match-on-your-face/528977/6 "2010-02-15T05:11:06Z")
Wouldn’t it depend on the thickness of the beard and the stubble? I mean my beard is pretty pathetic, I can almost get away with shaving every other day. So the beard would have to be very thick and so you’d have to shave it to get lots of stiff stubble. ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-strike-a-match-on-your-face/528977/7 "2010-02-15T05:12:02Z")
> [@Fubaya](#): > > It doesn’t seem like the skin would be firm enough or create enough friction. You can light strike-anywhere matches with your fingernail though. Would this resemble the thing Blondie does in the Man With No Name series of Clint Eastwood movies? ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-strike-a-match-on-your-face/528977/8 "2010-02-15T05:16:32Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > I wonder if in the old day (40s movies) matches were made differently. Seems to me it’s was a lot easier to light a match when I was a kid in the 70s. Maybe they make them differently now? You are probably talking about the difference between strike-anywhere matches versus safety matches. Strike-anywhere matches can be lit by swiping them against lots of hard surfaces. This has caused some safety problems before so you usually see safety matches these days. They are designed so that they only light when quickly swept along the friction surface that they come with. I haven’t seen strike-anywhere matches around in a while but I haven’t actively looked for them either. I assume they are still made but it would take that type of match to make the question in the OP even remotely possible. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-strike-a-match-on-your-face/528977/9 "2010-02-15T05:41:45Z")
Hmmm… Given that I’ve had a couple of shots of vodka and I have a good stubble on _and_ I have some strike-anywhere matches, I gave this a try. Didn’t come close but now I’ll have to wear my B undies tomorrow. [Ford Fairlane] Clint Eastwood? I fucked him. [/FF] ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-strike-a-match-on-your-face/528977/10 "2010-02-15T05:54:46Z")
You wouldn’t try lighting the original matches on your face. They were very volatile and unstable. People carried them in a vesta case. They were made of metal and could contain any unplanned fires. Vesta cases are very collectible these days. > **[Vesta case](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesta_case)** > > A vesta case, or simply a “vesta”, is a small box made to house wax, or "strike anywhere", matches. The first successful friction match appeared in 1826, and in 1832 William Newton patented the "wax vesta" in England. It consisted of a wax stem with embedded cotton threads and a tip of phosphorus. Newton named his matches after Vesta, the Roman goddess of fire and the hearth. Small containers to house these friction matches were introduced shortly afterwards (in the early 1830s), to guard agai Th... [http://www.sladens.co.nz/vesta.php](http://www.sladens.co.nz/vesta.php) > [@](#): > > But friction matches were hazardous (they could explode in one’s pocket) so they required protection in a fire-proof container that could be easily carried. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-strike-a-match-on-your-face/528977/11 "2010-02-15T07:07:48Z")
According to [this site](http://everything2.com/title/Strike+anywhere+matches) it can be done but the match would need to be a volatile one with lots of phosphorus. > [@](#): > > That white tip on strike anywhere matches contains phosphorus, usually sulphide P4S3, which eliminates the need for the phosphorus in the striker. This is why you can strike them on almost any rough surface; rocks, a zipper, your teeth, or even very rough beard stubble (though that takes a volatile match with a lot of phosphorus.) ---
**Author:** ![wedgehed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8edcca/32.png) [@wedgehed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wedgehed)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-strike-a-match-on-your-face/528977/12 "2010-02-15T10:28:31Z")
I seem to recall William Holden striking a match against Neville Brand’s face in _Stalag 17._ ---
**Author:** ![Gbro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Gbro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gbro)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-strike-a-match-on-your-face/528977/13 "2010-02-15T12:40:15Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > I wonder if in the old day (40s movies) matches were made differently. Seems to me it’s was a lot easier to light a match when I was a kid in the 70s. Maybe they make them differently now? Yes much differently now. When I lite my sauna stove I need a handful of those cheap strike anywhere matches as they just are not like the ones from years ago. We used to bring some from Canada \<15\> years ago when they were not on the store shelves here. Remember the match thrower made with a cloths pin?😃 ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-strike-a-match-on-your-face/528977/14 "2010-02-15T13:14:06Z")
So if you can’t strike a match on your face, how did they do this in the movies? ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-strike-a-match-on-your-face/528977/15 "2010-02-15T13:50:51Z")
You light the matches with your finger nail. Zippers work well. I would think the older movies were showing the older varieties they don’t make any longer, because they were dangerous to the people that made them and used them. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-strike-a-match-on-your-face/528977/16 "2010-02-15T14:02:15Z")
> [@wedgehed](#): > > I seem to recall William Holden striking a match against Neville Brand’s face in _Stalag 17._ Yeah, but we’re talking heavy duty stubble there. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-strike-a-match-on-your-face/528977/17 "2010-02-15T15:09:36Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > So if you can’t strike a match on your face, how did they do this in the movies? I can’t recall an example (at least in live-action film) when the detail of the match rubbing on the stubble was made visible - it seems that it normally takes place on a cheek turned slightly away from the camera - in which case, there’s probably a small bit of sandpaper stuck on there, out of sight. Interesting bit of not-really-related trivia: You can strike safety matches on a pane of glass - if you sweep them rapidly across it and press near the head with your finger - the glass is slick enough that the match doesn’t get worn away, but just grippy enough that friction heats the match and ignites it. (it does sometimes leave a permanent mark on the glass, BTW). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-strike-a-match-on-your-face/528977/18 "2010-02-15T20:29:46Z")
Scar tissue on the face might help, as well. ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-strike-a-match-on-your-face/528977/19 "2010-02-15T21:12:01Z")
Did with my thunbnail back in the day, but gave it up the one time a bit of match head stuck under my thumb nail while burning. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-strike-a-match-on-your-face/528977/20 "2010-02-15T21:33:29Z")
> [@Busy\_Scissors](#): > > The grizzled marine places his boot on the chest of the fallen, reaches for a cigarette, and lights it by striking a match on his jawbone. Sgt. Stryker? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-strike-a-match-on-your-face/528977.md?page=2)