Shaving made easy - 1906 style

I found this link about a year ago and thought I would share it here.

http://ia360618.us.archive.org/2/items/shavingmadeeasyw0020th/shavingmadeeasyw0020th.pdf (opens a PDF file)

Pretty cool to see how language has changed over the past 100 years, but the methodology of shaving really hasn't. The only thing that I think is inaccurate, is the part that says soaps stiffen the beard versus soften it. But none the less a good read and good to keep in the shaving library.

Enjoy and good morning.

--Chris

I enjoy the scepticism over the untested technology that is the safety razor.

The rest was interesting. I had no idea how stopping works, or what the different grinds did, but this book covers it all. Before the internet, this book is how people learned about this stuff!

Saunterer said:

I found this link about a year ago and thought I would share it here.

http://ia360618.us.archive.org/2/items/shavingmadeeasyw0020th/shavingmadeeasyw0020th.pdf (opens a PDF file)

Pretty cool to see how language has changed over the past 100 years, but the methodology of shaving really hasn't. The only thing that I think is inaccurate, is the part that says soaps stiffen the beard versus soften it. But none the less a good read and good to keep in the shaving library.

Enjoy and good morning.

--Chris

Click to expand...

Great find!

Unfortunately the PDF did not quite work at my computer.
Which made me wonder what the Open Library has.

Here it is: Shaving Made Easy.

Cubits said:

I enjoy the scepticism over the untested technology that is the safety razor.

Click to expand...

Ha ha. I caught that also. I wonder if the author was skeptical of them horseless carriages and flying contraptions.

Cubits said:

I enjoy the skepticism over the untested technology that is the safety razor.

Click to expand...

It's worth noting, that the Double Edge safety razor as made by Gillette didn't come out until 1903, which was the Gillette Double Ring. They didn't gain a lot of momentum, and become extremely widespread until World War I (1914-1918), as each solider was issued a Gillette razor by the US Government.

This book lists it publication date as 1905. It indicates the Library of Congress received two copies in Jan 2nd of 1906. Books are not written overnight. It's not unreasonable to assume the writer spent two years writing this book (so he starts writing in 1903), therefore, the Safety Razors he is referring to predate the Gillette Double Edge Safety Razor.

This is further supported by his claim that:

"On the other hand, most of the safety
razors are difficult to keep clean and dry,
and therefore free from rust; and owing
to the difficulty of stropping them, it is
almost, if not quite impossible to keep
them sharp. It is also difficult to make
the correct stroke with them. Probably
a hundred thousand safety razors have
been sold in the United States within the
past few years and it is extremely doubtful
if ten per cent, of them are now in
use."

He talks about keeping them free from rust, and about stropping the blade of the Safety Razor as well. Clearly he is not talking about a Gillette DE razor, who's main selling point was "no honing, no stropping". No, he is talking about a Safety Razor like the Kempfe Star (1880) that used a wedge blade that required honing, and stropping just like a regular straight razor.

Gillette's early razors were less about a superior shaving method, and more about convince: "no honing, no stropping". In fact, history seems to indicate, that the early Gillette blades provided for a pretty rough shave.

Thanks for posting!