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Vintage Rawleigh's shaving soap

I just got this today, it's made by the W.T. Rawleigh Company from Freeport, Illinois. A friend of mine that grew up in rural Illinois was telling me that he remembers as a kid back in the 50's and 60's the Rawleigh man coming around and selling salves, vitamins, linaments etc. Said his Mom always bought some stuff. I searched and found a couple mentions of Rawleigh's, and it's listed in the tallow soap compendium but there's not a lot about it to be found.

Both pucks are wrapped in a heavy brown wax paper with a piece seperating them, and they still feel slick to the touch. There's a definite medicinal smell to them but it's not real strong. I'll grate one into a Ziploc container and give it a try next week. I love where it says "No puckering or smarting after shaving." in the instructions, and it's reassuring to know that competent scientists supervised the production.

Anybody else have any experience with Rawleigh's soap, or remember them travelling around and selling stuff out of a truck?

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We still have the "Rawleigh's man" here in New Zealand. Not something I grew up as only been in NZ for 10 years. Don't think they travel much but you do see the odd sign in the garden in small towns with "Here lives the Rawleigh's Man". Seems most people here associate Rawleigh's with their Medicated Ointment and Antiseptic Salve which are still sold in their original tins.

Just checked their site and they no longer sell a shaving soap :-( only a palm based body soap.

Nice catch.

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Robin
 
Thanks Robin. Yeah, I googled them and saw that they're still in business. My friend said his Mom used the salve for every ailment, condition or injury that came up.

We still have the "Rawleigh's man" here in New Zealand. Not something I grew up as only been in NZ for 10 years. Don't think they travel much but you do see the odd sign in the garden in small towns with "Here lives the Rawleigh's Man". Seems most people here associate Rawleigh's with their Medicated Ointment and Antiseptic Salve which are still sold in their original tins.

Just checked their site and they no longer sell a shaving soap :-( only a palm based body soap.

Nice catch.

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Robin
 
Competent chemists scientifically designing soap!

Awesome!

I guess you won't know for sure until you get into it but I have a feeling it's pretty incredible stuff. Love the box and the inside butcher-style packaging...so much cooler than fancy shiny boxes and shrink-wrap.
 
Finally got around to grating one of the pucks and used it this morning. It performed just as good as I suspected it would, typical of the vintage tallow based soaps that are some of the best ever made. Very easy to lather and the lather was fantastic so now the quest is on to find some more.
 
As a child the rawliegh man came to our house but for some reason the fuller brush man got more orders could it be he was my uncle??? Enjoy your shave !
 
Scored a couple more pucks of vintage Rawleigh soap The box is slightly different and the pucks are individually wrapped in wax paper and are darker than the ones above.

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As a child the rawliegh man came to our house but for some reason the fuller brush man got more orders could it be he was my uncle??? Enjoy your shave !

My Dad was a "Rawleigh Man" for many years, they made high quality products for the times. I still have tins of the "Medicated Ointment" blue tin and the "Medicated Salve" yellow tin. I made the rounds with him from age 8 until after high school. Wonderful way to learn a business and how to deal with the public. Better business education than I got at business school!

The shaving soap was not a big seller, as I remember. The second "score" puck is with the modern logo, which my Dad hated. He said it cut his sales by at least 25%, his customers did not believe it was the same product unless with the original logo.

I just returned to DE shaving after many decades using disposables. I would like to get a puck of Rawleigh original logo just for nostalgia. I probably would not use it.

Mitch
 
that is cool!!! i need to stop being lame and actually use my vinage soaps but i just want to preserve it goodness even longer. when the shavpocalyps comes maybe ill use it. i know im missing out on good stuff tho
 
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