What's new

Appropriate Razor For Mum (1930)?

I'd like to get a razor for my mother. She will be 80 years old in October of next year. Despite her age, she still shaves her legs and under her arms.

Something British, of course! My Mum is British, as was her mother. So, what might her mother have used back in October, 1930 on the eve of my own mother's birth?

Barring that, what might a then young, British woman have used for a razor in a faraway African colony back in the Fifties? What might my mother have used for a shaving soap/cream? Something by Yardley? By my Mum's own account, it wasn't a canned goo. I have a hunch that the razor and soap was whatever the "Old Man" used.

I suppose the options of razor and shaving soap/cream combination would apply to any British colonial woman that lived anywhere in a hot climate from Lagos to Singapore to Hong Kong back in the Fifties.

Considering this forum, the above questions intrigue me from a historical perspective, if nothing else.

I really would like to get her something nice and special by this time next year. What should I look for?

You know, after all these years (51) I still love to listen to the way my Mother speaks. I just can't get enough of her English accent!

I know that I had better enjoy it while she is still around.

Anyway, I am looking for something special.

Any suggestions?

Warmest Regards,

David
 
Last edited:
Of course the obvious choice is a Lady Gillette in one of its lovely shades, but for my Mum, of blessed memory, I would try to find her a stunning, undated Super Speed from the late 40's.
 
Mark:

Why won't the Lady Gillette work?

1. Not of British manufacture?

2. Not imported/readily available to British women residing in the colonies of the Empire/Commonwealth during the 1950's?

I look forward to your input.

Again, the razor that I want to purchase for Mum must be of British manufacture or one easily and commonly available to British women during the 1950's. Either through the Crown Agency or some other such mercantile interest that made whatever razor available to British colonial women.

I KNOW that there were, as a minimum, various British Gillette razors manufactured and available throughout the Empire during the Fifties. Which ones were they? Please, give me a clue as to what was available. The razor that I have in mind doesn't have to be terribly fancy, just something that my Mum would have had access to.

Regards,

David
 
Last edited:
Mark:

Why won't the Lady Gillette work?

1. Not of British manufacture?

2. Not imported/readily available to British women in the Empire/Colonies during the 1950's?

I look forward to your input.

Again, the razor that I want to purchase for Mum must be British or easily available to British colonial women during the 1950's either through the Crown Agency or some other such mercantile interest.

Regards,

David

1. I don't know if they made British Lady Gillette's.
2. Your OP says 1930 in two places so I assumed that was the year you were looking for.

Since it is the 1950's, then there should be some British Rockets or similar razors available.
 
1. I don't know if they made British Lady Gillette's.
2. Your OP says 1930 in two places so I assumed that was the year you were looking for.

Since it is the 1950's, then there should be some British Rockets or similar razors available.

Mark:

Either one would work.

Just looking for something authentic that either my Grandmum might have used in England in October, 1930 when Mum was born, or something that Mum might have used during the Fifties in British East Africa.

As to the Fifties, I'll look for a British Rocket.

Regards,

David
 
Would you consider a British Made Ever Ready single edge razor?

Yes, I would, assuming that the razor would be authentic to the 1950's/early 1960's British colonial era.

I do vaguely remember my mother quickly slapping a blade into some sort of razor and then hacking away, with a will, at her legs and underarms when I was a very young boy in Kenya (perhaps Dad was coming home after several days out on the ranch property?). It must have been a single edge, because you just can't simply and quickly "lock and load" a double edge blade into anything, other than a TTO - and I don't ever recall my mother slapping a blade into a TTO.

If only I could remember what type of soap/cream she used. I still swear it was some sort of Yardley dreck! I say dreck, because it seemed that everybody in the Colony used some sort of Yardley shyte. God, but I am really thinking hard on this one, and going way back to about 45 years, but that seems to be the case.

Must have been some sort of Yardley milled soap, because it seemed to be something hard, yellow-tan, and had a musty odor (odour) like rotting roses in the Old South. Decaying and dying, I suppose, just like the British Empire. Well, at any rate, that is what it smelled like to me, as a young boy.

If you have ever smelled the afore-mentioned fragrance/aroma; especially in Savannah, GA or Charleston, SC in the middle of summer you will know exactly what I mean! Think of rotting roses, jasmine and honeysuckle (throw in a touch of lavender) and you will know EXACTLY what I mean; especially when all those fragrances had a chance to distill by 2 o'clock in the morning!

Regards,

David
 
Last edited:
around 1930 I know only this beauty - but it´s more a collectors item and hard to find :wink:

proxy.php
 
For 1930, there would be the Gillette New Improved, maybe NEW, and the gold plated Big Fellow intro'd as the NEW Big Boy Deluxe...

If she still has any siblings, you could ask them what they may have been using around the time in the 50's you are targeting, and get some ideas from them.
 
Top Bottom