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Was canned goo a step forward?

Inspired by this thread asking why DE razors fell out of popularity, I'll ask a similar question about shaving soap. Why did the canned goo become popular? How bad was the lather people were using, if the canned stuff was better?

I've seen some old-time shaving brushes in the antique stores, and if the pathetic examples that I've seen were typical, we would all be challenged to work up a good lather. And the soaps themselves -- does anyone know how good, or bad, those were?
 
Step forward in comparison with what, exactly? Canned foam appears in the 1950s I guess, and canned goo in the 1980s. By the 1950s there were surely enough good shaving soaps and creams available that anyone who wanted to could make a fine lather. Now in the 1880s, making shaving lather might have been a crazy-hard chore unless you had a good soap maker nearby, and canned foam would probably have been (the "magic" aspect of pressurized cans notwithstanding) a blessing.

I think that the 1950s [American] milieu -- make all things disposable, neat, clean, quick, no fuss, and super-convenient -- contributed to the rise of the canned foam. And on a business trip or something, convenience counts, as does speed. On the other hand, a crappy shave doesn't help at all, even if it was convenient!

Even overlooking the environmental impact of the CFCs they used for propellant, the steel they threw away, the plastic, etc., I think canned foam wasn't superior, merely easier to use, and more profitable.

Jesse
 
Soapbox, my dear friend:

WHAT ARE YOU SMOKING TODAY? hehehehe

Obviously, it was not a step forward...but I guess I remember the days when it began to replace Williams in my dad's house. Honestly, I think it was simply whatever my mom found "new and improved!" at the local supermarket.

When I was a youngster, there were guys who sat and cut meat behind a counter. They were called butchers...they wore white coats, little paper hats with "Eckrich" "Oscar Mayer" on them, and they'd take your order. These meats would be arrayed under a glass window under a counter, with ACTUAL parsley forming borders between them. "I'd like 2 pounds of Round Steak," Mrs. Gillette would say, and the butcher (who knew she liked it a bit thinner for Swiss Steaks) would pick a piece, solemnly cut it just right, put it on the scale, she'd nod, and he'd wrap it with paper-- writing "ROUND STEAK...2lbs @ .47 a pound...$0.94. on it. He did the math in his head, and it was always right AND WE LIKED IT THAT WAY!

One day all these guys were gone...there was a meat department somewhere, but the big maple butcher blocks were gone, and all the meat was pre-cut, pre-wrapped in plastic. No more contact...she just picked (as we do today) the one she liked, and the cashier rang it up.

People used to buy oranges. There were two types, eating and juice oranges. Then it moved to frozen concentrate. Then along came "Tang" (drink it...the Astronauts do!") Then all manner of "Orange Juice from Concentrate", added pulp, less pulp, pulp free, pulp fiction...anything you want.

Coffee used to come in metal cans with a little key on the bottom that you could stick in a tab, and you wound this thing up, as it went "whooosh!" It ws SO cool!

In MY family, in my neck of the woods, it was because suddenly cans of Rise or Foamy or Colgate or Barbasol simply (as they do today) outnumber the soaps.

And...really...with a Trac II, who cares WHAT you put on your face...it just works equally...uh..."well" hahahahahaha.

There are still fine meat markets around, where the butchers cut your meat and wrap it. But you pay a little more. You often get better meat. You can still buy fresh Valencia oranges and squeeze your own great juice, and control the amount of pulp by how you squeeze it.

The other day I was shopping in the local supermarket, and saw Williams soap on sale for $.69 a puck. I grabbed it all, about a dozen, and an older guy behind me in line saw me dump them in the cart, where SWMBO was waiting for the checker and I said "I'll just run over and check the shaving aisle." The old guy laughed knowingly...but he just had some of Lynchmeister's Wisconsin Cheese and some summer sausage in the cart...

It's still out there, guys!
 
Canned foam appears in the 1950s I guess, and canned goo in the 1980s.

Are "canned foam" and "canned goo" different things? I thought that "canned goo" was shaving cream from an aerosol can. If there's really a distinction could someone please explain it to me?
 
I would succinctly suggest that canned foam be thought of as "Redi Whip", canned whipped cream in an aerosol can.

Canned Goo would resemble (in my mind) Welch's grape jelly in the squeeze bottle in that sits upside down in the refrigerator shelf.

THERE'S something...remember when it was "cool" to know that if you pounded on the "57" on a bottle of Heinz catsup, it would flow out of the top easier on the glass bottles?

HONESTLY...how many of you out there have anything but squirt Catsup bottles? I do. How and when did this happen? But it did. It's an illustration of how quickly things move from one form to another...like the steel beer can to the aluminum to the ones we have today...from Milk in bottles, to milk in waxy paper cartons with Zeni's picture "Have you seen this kid? Keep him!", to plastic jugs. (Like Pamela Anderson's)

It's always changing...sometimes packaging dictates the product, as in the case of Heinz Catsup or Welch's Jelly.

Hmmmmm
 
actually, it was a step forward, it took out the experimientation and mesurment out of making a decent lather, it took out the customization and added the propellent which dries out the mix, theres good canned goo out there, like nivea, which is basicly the best thing you can get in a can, it can compete with some of the low and mid range creams, but at the end of the day, a well mixed cream or a good soap will provide a better shave,
 
I'll quote this. It can, and should, be read again, it's that GOOD:biggrin::smile::w00t:


:smile:mace
Soapbox, my dear friend:

WHAT ARE YOU SMOKING TODAY? hehehehe

Obviously, it was not a step forward...but I guess I remember the days when it began to replace Williams in my dad's house. Honestly, I think it was simply whatever my mom found "new and improved!" at the local supermarket.

When I was a youngster, there were guys who sat and cut meat behind a counter. They were called butchers...they wore white coats, little paper hats with "Eckrich" "Oscar Mayer" on them, and they'd take your order. These meats would be arrayed under a glass window under a counter, with ACTUAL parsley forming borders between them. "I'd like 2 pounds of Round Steak," Mrs. Gillette would say, and the butcher (who knew she liked it a bit thinner for Swiss Steaks) would pick a piece, solemnly cut it just right, put it on the scale, she'd nod, and he'd wrap it with paper-- writing "ROUND STEAK...2lbs @ .47 a pound...$0.94. on it. He did the math in his head, and it was always right AND WE LIKED IT THAT WAY!

One day all these guys were gone...there was a meat department somewhere, but the big maple butcher blocks were gone, and all the meat was pre-cut, pre-wrapped in plastic. No more contact...she just picked (as we do today) the one she liked, and the cashier rang it up.

People used to buy oranges. There were two types, eating and juice oranges. Then it moved to frozen concentrate. Then along came "Tang" (drink it...the Astronauts do!") Then all manner of "Orange Juice from Concentrate", added pulp, less pulp, pulp free, pulp fiction...anything you want.

Coffee used to come in metal cans with a little key on the bottom that you could stick in a tab, and you wound this thing up, as it went "whooosh!" It ws SO cool!

In MY family, in my neck of the woods, it was because suddenly cans of Rise or Foamy or Colgate or Barbasol simply (as they do today) outnumber the soaps.

And...really...with a Trac II, who cares WHAT you put on your face...it just works equally...uh..."well" hahahahahaha.

There are still fine meat markets around, where the butchers cut your meat and wrap it. But you pay a little more. You often get better meat. You can still buy fresh Valencia oranges and squeeze your own great juice, and control the amount of pulp by how you squeeze it.

The other day I was shopping in the local supermarket, and saw Williams soap on sale for $.69 a puck. I grabbed it all, about a dozen, and an older guy behind me in line saw me dump them in the cart, where SWMBO was waiting for the checker and I said "I'll just run over and check the shaving aisle." The old guy laughed knowingly...but he just had some of Lynchmeister's Wisconsin Cheese and some summer sausage in the cart...

It's still out there, guys!
 
Soapbox, my dear friend:

WHAT ARE YOU SMOKING TODAY? hehehehe

Obviously, it was not a step forward...but I guess I remember the days when it began to replace Williams in my dad's house. Honestly, I think it was simply whatever my mom found "new and improved!" at the local supermarket.

I said 1880s, not 1980s guys. Compared to most of the soap available in the 1880s, shaving foam would be a godsend, I bet. But that wasn't the focus of my argument.
 
No. Absolutely not an improvement on anything. Not on any damn thing.

One of the reasons I stopped using the stuff is that they didn't have their ingredients listed. I remember reading someplace (and no, I don't remember where, but I do remember that at the time I found the source to be authoritative) that one of the ingredients in canned goo is local anesthetic. By numbing the customer's face, the customer things he gets a good shave even if he has given himself razor burn.

Now I don't know for certain that canned goo has anesthetic in it, I've not checked any ingredient list, but the possibility that there is such an ingredient in it stopped me from using the stuff.
 
for spits and giggles.... i am going to shave with edge sensitive skin-orange top- and a new mach 3 blade in the AM to see how good I have it now. How do you shave with a cartridge after 2 years? no pressure...right? this going to suck!
 
Canned shaving cream is BETTER than good old soap (from the 1880's...SORRY Soapbox!) at one thing I know...

It's easier to use a can of Barbasol to partially fill a water balloon than it is to whip up some VDH and cram it in there with a boar brush!

Signs of the times...no matter where you are in the country, there will be the Golden Arches, Target, Best Buy, Home Depot, Wally World, Starbucks, Applebees, Staples, etc....all built on farmland where folks would ride into town to patronize the local family owned General Store, or the local hardware store...local lumber yard or dry goods store.

Next time you leave your town and see some empty land, remember what it looks like, because 10 years from now, there will be a sea of chain stores on it, and you'll wonder the same thing..."how did it happen?!":w00t:
 
for spits and giggles.... i am going to shave with edge sensitive skin-orange top- and a new mach 3 blade in the AM to see how good I have it now. How do you shave with a cartridge after 2 years? no pressure...right? this going to suck!

Just remember that curiosity killed the cat.
 

OldSaw

The wife's investment
for spits and giggles.... i am going to shave with edge sensitive skin-orange top- and a new mach 3 blade in the AM to see how good I have it now. How do you shave with a cartridge after 2 years? no pressure...right? this going to suck!

Uh... try it with a Gillette DE. I wold imagine you can get a fair shave, especially if you do a good prep first. However, slap it on your dry whiskers and take a blade to it and I'll bet it is not so good as the commercials show.

Before I started using shave soap, twenty some odd years ago, I used to wash my face first and apply whatever can of crap I had on my wet whiskers and it always performed better than the way they showed them applying it in the commercials on a dry face.

I think they purposely showed the dry face application in the commercials, so they could then sell us the shave gel that is $ooo much better when applied to a dry face.
 

OldSaw

The wife's investment
for spits and giggles.... i am going to shave with edge sensitive skin-orange top- and a new mach 3 blade in the AM to see how good I have it now. How do you shave with a cartridge after 2 years? no pressure...right? this going to suck!

So how did this work for you?
 
Pathetic old brushes in antique stores? When your about 80 years old and an antique yourself we'll see what you look like eh?

people art too stupid to question what madison avenue forces down their throats. if its new it must be better.
 
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