18th century shaving
- Thread starter neostyles
- Start date
Many, if not most men, didn't shave at all back then.
George Washington looks BBS in every image of him I have seen.
Great question. I've often wondered when manufacturing was more primitive what manufactured products were like.
I found this on wikipedia:
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaving_cream
I found this on wikipedia:
A rudimentary form of shaving cream was documented in Sumer around 3000 BC. This substance combined wood alkali and animal fat and was applied to a beard as a shaving preparation.[2]
Until the early 20th century, bars or sticks of hard shaving soap were used. Later, tubes containing compounds of oils and soft soap were sold. Newer creams introduced in the 1940s neither produced lather nor required brushes often referred to as brushless creams.[3]
Until the early 20th century, bars or sticks of hard shaving soap were used. Later, tubes containing compounds of oils and soft soap were sold. Newer creams introduced in the 1940s neither produced lather nor required brushes often referred to as brushless creams.[3]
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaving_cream
Or they went to a barber.
My great-grandfather was born in 1895 and used shaving creams and soaps if he received them as a gift, but from what I've heard he mostly used regular bath soap.
Most paintings I've seen from the Eighteenth Century make it seem that being clean shaven was the norm. Here is a quotation from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
"Human felicity is produc'd not so much by great pieces of good fortune that seldom happen, as by little advantages that occur every day Thus if you teach a poor young man to shave himself and keep his razor in order, you may contribute more to the happiness of his life than in giving him a thousand guineas. The money may be soon spent, the regret only remaining of having foolishly consumed it, but in the other case he escapes the frequent vexation of waiting for barbers and of their sometimes dirty fingers, offensive breaths and dull razors, he shaves when most convenient to him, and enjoys daily the pleasure of its being done with a good instrument."
Which is off the original topic, I know. I wonder not just about the Eighteenth Century, but other earlier periods when shaving was common. Does anyone know of any books on this?
Washington and Franklin were hardly the common man.
You really think farmers of that time shaved every day? Not a chance. They were lucky to get a bath once a week.
You really think farmers of that time shaved every day? Not a chance. They were lucky to get a bath once a week.
Good ole Ben was such a wise chap.
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