# How does Superman shave? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 1, 2000, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-superman-shave/35207 "2000-10-01T02:13:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Inky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7feea3/32.png) [@Inky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inky_1)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2000, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-superman-shave/35207/1 "2000-10-01T02:13:06Z")
This question came up last night at dinner (The pitcher of Margaraitas probably helped). We came up with the following speculations: (1) Tungsten Carbide mining wedge (My contribution, and I’m very proud of it). (2) Industrial diamond coated shaping wheel. (3) He uses his own heat vision and bounces it off mirror (fails to explain how he might trim the hair on the back of his head in my opinion). (4) Kryptonion men don’t grow beards (If so, what a crummy plot contrivance). (5) The subject has been politly overlooked by the writers (probably the only answer). So, anybody know the scoop? Got a better suggestion? ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2000, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-superman-shave/35207/2 "2000-10-01T02:15:15Z")
In one issue of _Man of Steel_, he “shaved” using a highly-polished piece of metal taken from the craft that carried him to Earth. He used it as a mirror to reflect his heat vision, burning his whiskers off. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2000, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-superman-shave/35207/3 "2000-10-01T02:39:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Max Torque \* > In one issue of _Man of Steel_, he “shaved” using a highly-polished piece of metal taken from the craft that carried him to Earth. He used it as a mirror to reflect his heat vision, burning his whiskers off. This is also how he did it back in the good old days before he died and came back as this wussified Superman the kids have today. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2000, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-superman-shave/35207/4 "2000-10-01T02:47:55Z")
He still does it this way except he uses a regular mirror. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2000, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-superman-shave/35207/5 "2000-10-01T03:13:13Z")
His razorblades are coated with kryptonite. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2000, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-superman-shave/35207/6 "2000-10-01T03:19:13Z")
On the TV show, the bad guys would blaze away with their pistols at Superman. S would puff up his chest, smile at them and the bullets would bounce off. When they were out of ammo, the bad guys would throw their guns at S. \* Who would duck! \* WHY? ---
**Author:** ![Ankh\_Too](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3ab097/32.png) [@Ankh\_Too](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ankh_Too)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2000, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-superman-shave/35207/7 "2000-10-01T03:33:22Z")
Although it’s probably been mentioned a few times already, the problems of Superman’s hygiene pale in comparison with the probles inherent in his sex life. [http://www.blueneptune.com/~svw/superman.html](http://www.blueneptune.com/~svw/superman.html) “Man of Stee, Woman of Kleenex” ---
**Author:** ![Inky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7feea3/32.png) [@Inky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inky_1)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2000, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-superman-shave/35207/8 "2000-10-01T03:58:51Z")
Ankh\_Too, I went to the web site you offered, and am so pleased to know that there are not only people wasting their time with questions every bit as lame as my own, but do so in graduate-school quality thesis format. Nifty! ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2000, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-superman-shave/35207/9 "2000-10-01T04:37:32Z")
I seem to recall that Supe’s beard doesn’t grow under the yellow sun, only under the red sun of Krypton (or equivalents). Therefore, he only needs to shave in cases where he doesn’t have his invulnerability, and an ordinary razor would work. (This memory pre-dates the wussified Superman that KneadToKnow refers to.) ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2000, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-superman-shave/35207/10 "2000-10-01T17:39:21Z")
I vaguely remember one of the “red kryptonite” plots from the 1960s…Supes caught a dose of RK, and it caused his hair and beard to grow the full length they would have growed if they ever HAD growed on Earth. The implication being that his hair did NOT grow under a yellow sun. He was of course completely upset that he couldn’t change back to Clark Kent without giving away his identity. I think he shaved them off with the heat-vision/mirror trick alluded to above. Or maybe the kryptonite just wore off. ---
**Author:** ![Crunchy\_Frog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ebca7d/32.png) [@Crunchy\_Frog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crunchy_Frog)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2000, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-superman-shave/35207/11 "2000-10-01T17:43:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by KneadToKnow \* > \*\* . . . back in the good old days before he died and came back as this wussified Superman the kids have today. \*\* Actually, Superman developed all those extra powers over the course of the comic. Originally, Superman didn’t even fly - that’s why they say he can _leap_ tall buildings in a single bound.