Question for the "older" shavers

[HBK42581]

Can you guys enlighten me? What were the "go-to" creams and soaps back in the day? Let's say from 1940-1960?

[jakespoppy]

That might be going back a little too far for most of us here to get a large response. Folks who started shaving at age 15, between 1940 and 1960, would be 66 to 86 years old today. But maybe there will be some, and also maybe some folks will know what some of the soaps and creams were even if they weren't shaving yet then.

[Wingnut]

At least into the 1970's there was Noxzema cream to be had in a tube in just about every store in the US. Wish THAT were still so, it was GREAT stuff!

[Sparafucile]

I can answer for the later 50s.

I think that what was available depended upon where one lived then.

I lived in NYC, started shaving with a brush and cream and shopped at Bigelow and Caswell Massey (which was an actual pharmacy back then). I remember buying Coates, T&H, Trumpers and Harris. Caswell also had a large selection of tubed shaving creams like Erasmic - I can't remember names of others, but I do remember a large selection of creams being on display in the store. I also remember buying Proraso back in the 60s...

Likewise, I bought my first "good" razor at Hoffritz - a Merkur Progress, and good brush (a Simpson Chubby stamped with the Hoffritz name) in the early 60s...

[ackvil]

At least into the 1970's there was Noxzema cream to be had in a tube in just about every store in the US. Wish THAT were still so, it was GREAT stuff!

Yes, Noxema cream in a tube was wonderful.

Others that come to mind (and keep in mind I am going back to what I used from 1958 on and what I recall my Father used) are Gillette cream in a tube; Williams; Old Spice, Burma Shave; Colgates made a shaving powder, stick, and cream; Molle; and a product I used in the 1960s whose name escapes me. It was a menthol shaving cream that came in a tube with black and gold lettering on it. I used to put it in a shaving mug and fill the mug with hot water. After a minute or so the cream would almost become watery and I would put it on the brush and then face lather with it. The result was a warm shave.

Them were the good old days! :scared:

[mandoman]

that's way to far back for me but i would say Williams

[smalltank]

Colgate I am sure was around

[Sledgehammer39]

It's really cool to read the feedback on the yester-years selections. :thumbup1:

[DanOK]

I started shaving in the mid 60's and like most used what Dad had in the bathroom. I products I remember getting the most usage were Old Spice and Williams shave soaps with Colgate and Gillette creams around for a little variety. I don't think manufactures change formulations much and men found something they liked and remained loyal to the product for years. One of my Grandfathers used a straight razor his entire life and I don't think his shave mug ever had anything but Old Spice soap in it.

[Face&Head]

Grew up with my dad & grandad. They were products of the depression and bought whatever was the cheapest. For Christmas we gave them "Old Spice Sets". My dad could whip a decent lather with a few bath soap slivers thrown in a cup. He used an old boar that was barely more than a stub. When I started shaving in 1965 or so I used whatever was in the house. My other grandfather gave me a nice badger for my 16th birthday. My family was the only one I knew that wasn't using canned foam in the mid-60s.

[mikey]

My father's two DE razors were from the mid 1950s and he only used Old Spice soap from then until it was discontinued in the mid 1990s. I still remember him telling me he could no longer find it. I looked high and low for it one Christmas but ultimately gave him a can of Old Spice foam as the soap was nowhere to be found.

Thanks,
Mike

[HBK42581]

Great stuff, guys. Your answers and the stories that come with them are enjoyable to read. I never paid much attention to what my dad shaved with when I was growing up in the 80's. I just know that he always splashed on some Old Spice before he would head to work the cruiser. My older brother, now a cop himself, does the same thing. It's that clash of scents between the leather jacket they both wore/wear and the Old Spice that really conjures up great memories. I remember peeking into my grandparents medicine cabinet a few times back in the day and seeing the familiar red tube of American Palmolive lather cream. I made sure to snag a tube for myself when I started my wet shaving journey about 5 or 6 years ago. It got discontinued right around that time. I've still got half a tube left but I can't bring myself to use it that much because it's just about all I have left to remember my grandfather by. He passed when I was very young. Good stories guys. Thanks. Keep 'em coming.

[Jim]

Barbersol in the can, Old spice soap, Williams soap lots of brush and brush less creams in tubes. Yardley and some of the fragrance house soaps where easily available in the middle markets like A&S and Macys.

[john parker]

Burma Shave, Barbasol, Colgate, Old Spice are ones I remember.

[johnnypipe]

While growing up in the late 40's early 50's my Dad always used either Williams or Colgate soaps. He always love Christmas and birthdays as he would usually get some Old Spice soap and a can of Prince Albert pipe tobacco. I did not know what a can of foam was until some fool engineer and marketing guy at Gillette came out with the multi-blade razor. Thank God for the Internet and all the great choices we have for wet shaving today.

[JCinPA]

My grandad (born 1898) used to use either Barbasol or Gillette Foamy in a can with his Fatboy, believe it or not. I asked him about that in the early 70's when I started shaving and he said he felt the canned creams did not dry out as fast as soaps and he liked them.

I started shaving with the Schick Injector--the Track II had yet to be invented, although it came along pretty quick. I discovered Pinaud canned foam shaving cream and it was the best canned foam ever made, IMO. I turned Gramps onto it and he was really, really impressed. Unless you've had a chance to try the Pinaud foam you have no idea how much better foam can be, although I'd never give up the brush and mug now.