Looking For Descriptions Of Authentic 1950's Shaving Techniques From Those Who Did It. Gents Over 80, I am Asking You!

[AshleyC]

Guido75 mentioned the "Gillette Slide", which is an old time technique. I think there are videos demonstrating this. If you think of a wtg up and down pass as having a "chopping" effect on the stubble, the slide is a way to add more of a "shearing" effect.

Another old time technique is "J-hooking". I use this on my neck, but only with mild "cruising" razors (I can cruise all over my face without fear). Like a Tech, Super Speed, or Gamechanger.

A 17 year old YouTube video, but a good demonstration of the techniques.

 

[Psychtec]

As an interesting footnote to that, in something I recently found out, was that DE razors were rationed in the US from 1942.

The War Production Board limited blade purchases to 4 a month beginning on the 25th March 1942.

Washington, not Paris, dictated fashion during World War II with rationing and restrictions - Newspaper Columns by Jim Blount - https://sites.google.com/a/lanepl.org/jbcols/home/2015-articles/washington-not-paris-dictated-fashion-during-world-war-ii-with-rationing-and-restrictions

So one carbon blade would have to do a week.

Sir

Back in the day did they use the abbreviations we use today to describe their shave: DFS, BBS, etc.

I am a 70’s baby.

 

[VBH37118]

Sir

Back in the day did they use the abbreviations we use today to describe their shave: DFS, BBS, etc.

I am a 70’s baby.

I doubt it very much

 

[musicman1951]

My father had a heavy beard. He used an electric razor for the first pass (for reasons that are beyond my understanding) and a Gillette adjustable with brushless shave cream for the next two passes. He was a frugal man, but I think he missed one of the best parts of shaving by going without a brush.

 

[Alex Jr]

My father had a heavy beard. He used an electric razor for the first pass (for reasons that are beyond my understanding) and a Gillette adjustable with brushless shave cream for the next two passes. He was a frugal man, but I think he missed one of the best parts of shaving by going without a brush.

My father does the exact same thing. Electric before shower and a fusion ATG in the shower, no cream or soap, beast mode.

Works for him.

 

[Chaucer]

Here are the instructions to which I think you refer and I have always interpreted them as suggesting a single pass shave, either with, or against, or across the grain. It is also possible it is intended to describe a single pass with a combination of with/against/across strokes to suit the beard growth in the particular area being shaved. I do not interpret it as describing three or more passes, certainly not with relathering between passes.

Does anyone actually remember three or four separate relathered passes being commonplace in the 1950s? I suspect not but I could be wrong.

View attachment 1494085

This is a nice piece of mid-20th century American English prose, with complete sentences and logical paragraphs and no misspelling or bad grammar that I saw. No one would write product instructions like this now--more's the pity!

The instructions seemed sensible until I got to burning used blades "in the stove or furnace where the heat will destroy them." That's a new one on me. When I was a kid, the apartment house we lived in had a coal furnace for heat and hot water. If you put used blades in that thing, I suppose they'd just disappear. But now?

 

[Alum Ladd]

This is a nice piece of mid-20th century American English prose, with complete sentences and logical paragraphs and no misspelling or bad grammar that I saw. No one would write product instructions like this now--more's the pity!

I think it's far older than that. Sounds and looks like it's one of the earliest Gillette advertising and info instructing potential customers and users.

Concepts such as good hydration, prep, direction of growth and what would be seen as a sound 'modern' lather were well understood.

Dates from 1908 I think.

 

[Chaucer]

I think it's far older than that. Sounds and looks like it's one of the earliest Gillette advertising and info instructing potential customers and users.

Concepts such as good hydration, prep, direction of growth and what would be seen as a sound 'modern' lather were well understood.

Dates from 1908 I think.

Now that I look more carefully at the razor in the instructions, I'm sure you're right that it's older than mid-20th century. Is the razor an Old Type, a New Type, or some other model? Regardless of vintage, I'll stay with my kudos to the writer--again, except for the idea of burning used blades.

 

[VBH37118]

Now that I look more carefully at the razor in the instructions, I'm sure you're right that it's older than mid-20th century. Is the razor an Old Type, a New Type, or some other model? Regardless of vintage, I'll stay with my kudos to the writer--again, except for the idea of burning used blades.

Looks like a single ring old type?

 

[Darth Scandalous]

Yeah, the Gillette instructions above were for what we call a "Single Ring Old Type" from around 1908. You can see the full thing on the Mr Razor site. Hard to say if they envisioned a multi-pass shave or just shaving in the direction that worked best for you. Given that they don't call it out specifically, one might assume they weren't thinking of multiple passes as much as cleanup strokes in different directions.

The concept of a second pass was not unheard of, though. It's mentioned in some of the old barber manuals. In Mark Twain's rant "About Barbers" he writes: "I do not like a close shave, and would not let him go over me a second time." Which implies it was common enough in the late 19th century.

My own dad was doing two passes in 1960, three if he had time or it was a special occasion. I don't mean to suggest that was common practice, but at the same time, I don't think he heard about it on Badger and Blade. There's no doubt that three-pass shaves got popularized on forums like this one, but I think it would be silly to assume that no one ever thought of it before the internet age.

 

[HoosierTrooper]

Floyd the barber says he gave Otis a twice over shave before he left town in an episode of The Andy Griffith Show, that’s pretty authoritative.

 

[Salty_Shaver]

I remember my great-granddad; he was a WW-1vet all-American Division. He had a strop and straight razor that he used every day till he died at the age of 99. He would use his brush and mug to heat up water, place a hot towel on his face, and brush the lather on. My dad is well into his 80s, and he only ever used a safety razor, a hot towel, and either Gillette Foamy or Barbersol cream. I am sure that old Gunny, my dad, would probably tell me if he saw all my soaps, "You don't need all that froofroo stuff. Use Barbersol and a hot towel, then a splash of old spice! You have 1 minute to be ready."

 

[shaveandleather]

I asked my father today this question, he is 78. he looked at me like I was semi-retarded. He said, "put some foam on face, drag razor across it a few times, rinse off foam with water, dry with towel, go do something useful for society." I guess it wasnt a lifestyle for him as it is for us.

 

[RRGGMM]

When I was a kid, I spent a lot of time with my grandfather, born in 1907. My early shaves were with my grandfather's setup until I started using Gillette Good News disposables and the Atra Trac IIs. He had a slim adjustable, although it could have been a Fatboy. If I remember correctly, he had a brush that was probably boar and some cream soap in a tube, probably Proraso. He also used Old Spice aftershave.

My grandfather was a commercial salmon fisherman (a trade I picked up until my early 30s), and I spent my summers on his fishing boat. I started at ~five years old and was on his boats until I started fishing in Alaska on my uncle's boat at fourteen. From age 5-14, I was around my grandfather's crew all summer, a mix of young men and men from the former Yugoslavia in their 70s. The boat was ~60 feet long, with a crew of five.

There was a tap of hot and cold water at the back of the cabin on the boat, next to the galley door, with a porcelain steel wash basin about as wide as a dinner plate and 3-4" deep. A mirror was attached to the cabin above the tap, and the men would shave outside on the deck with the wash basin full of hot water to rinse the razor. Most had shaving cream in a tube like Proraso and face lathered the cream with a brush. One guy in particular, a Serbian guy with a very heavy, dark beard, would do a two-pass shave. I remember thinking that was silly because I only remember my grandfather doing a one-pass shave. My grandfather always had and used a styptic pencil. One of my grandfather's crewmembers was in prison in Yugoslavia under Mussolini, and all of these men worked hard their entire lives. Some of our fishing trips would last a couple of days where nobody shaved, but everyone cleaned up and was clean-shaven as soon as the fishing period was over. On the off days, all the men were clean-shaven every day. At least the older men. This was in the 70s, so some of the younger men were scruffy, wore beards or mustaches, and were not as traditional. But the old Slavic men shaved daily with DE razors, most likely Gillette. The one Serb I mentioned was the only guy I can recall who did a two-pass shave.

My dad was always clean-shaven, born in 1938, except when he wore a mustache. My parents divorced when I was young, and I don't remember much about my dad's shaving kit. I do remember Old Spice Musk aftershave from his kit. My dad was always into the latest thing, and I am pretty sure he used cartridge razors as soon as they were available. When I would shave at my grandfather's house and use his adjustable Gillette, I always got a great shave. In my teens and onward, when money was tight, and before I got back into wet shaving, I used to push a disposable razor or cartridge as far as possible. I vividly remember some horrendous shaves where it felt like the dull cartridge was almost pulling the hairs out instead of cutting them!

 

[blethenstrom]

When I was a kid, I spent a lot of time with my grandfather, born in 1907. My early shaves were with my grandfather's setup until I started using Gillette Good News disposables and the Atra Trac IIs. He had a slim adjustable, although it could have been a Fatboy. If I remember correctly, he had a brush that was probably boar and some cream soap in a tube, probably Proraso. He also used Old Spice aftershave.

My grandfather was a commercial salmon fisherman (a trade I picked up until my early 30s), and I spent my summers on his fishing boat. I started at ~five years old and was on his boats until I started fishing in Alaska on my uncle's boat at fourteen. From age 5-14, I was around my grandfather's crew all summer, a mix of young men and men from the former Yugoslavia in their 70s. The boat was ~60 feet long, with a crew of five.

There was a tap of hot and cold water at the back of the cabin on the boat, next to the galley door, with a porcelain steel wash basin about as wide as a dinner plate and 3-4" deep. A mirror was attached to the cabin above the tap, and the men would shave outside on the deck with the wash basin full of hot water to rinse the razor. Most had shaving cream in a tube like Proraso and face lathered the cream with a brush. One guy in particular, a Serbian guy with a very heavy, dark beard, would do a two-pass shave. I remember thinking that was silly because I only remember my grandfather doing a one-pass shave. My grandfather always had and used a styptic pencil. One of my grandfather's crewmembers was in prison in Yugoslavia under Mussolini, and all of these men worked hard their entire lives. Some of our fishing trips would last a couple of days where nobody shaved, but everyone cleaned up and was clean-shaven as soon as the fishing period was over. On the off days, all the men were clean-shaven every day. At least the older men. This was in the 70s, so some of the younger men were scruffy, wore beards or mustaches, and were not as traditional. But the old Slavic men shaved daily with DE razors, most likely Gillette. The one Serb I mentioned was the only guy I can recall who did a two-pass shave.

My dad was always clean-shaven, born in 1938, except when he wore a mustache. My parents divorced when I was young, and I don't remember much about my dad's shaving kit. I do remember Old Spice Musk aftershave from his kit. My dad was always into the latest thing, and I am pretty sure he used cartridge razors as soon as they were available. When I would shave at my grandfather's house and use his adjustable Gillette, I always got a great shave. In my teens and onward, when money was tight, and before I got back into wet shaving, I used to push a disposable razor or cartridge as far as possible. I vividly remember some horrendous shaves where it felt like the dull cartridge was almost pulling the hairs out instead of cutting them!

Thank you for sharing.