Shave of the day 17th January

Razor: Shick G4
Blade: Proraso Injector
Brush: Wilkinson Sword Badger
Pre-Shave: The Lavish Gentleman Natural Strength Oil Cleanser
Lather: Prairie Creations Walter
Aftershave: BullDog Original Aftershave Balm
Additional Care: Alum Block, & BullDog Original Beard Balm, & Pereira Shavery Boomerang Beard Comb

Another axilla razor – from 1920

In 1920 Mary M McCaffrey filed a patent for a safety razor for shaving armpits – the earliest such patent I’ve found that has been filed by a lady. Like the underarm razor patented by Joseph J Schermack in 1931 – and the Shermac he later manufactured – Mrs McCaffrey’s razor was round, and for a good reason:

To shave hair from the armpit or any depressed portion of the body with the ordinary straight edge safety or. other razor is more or less unsatisfactory, therefore provide a safety razor which will effectively and safely do such work, and to this end use is made of a circular blade so constructed that it may be flexed as desired.

A lot of the patent goes on to describe the special blade – that could be flexed as desired due to a number of  of elliptical openings placed around the centre – and the slot in it that had to be protected with a guard so the corners didn’t cut. Or as the rather verbose wording of the patent text tries to explain it:

Blade 3 is best illustrated in Fig. 4;, and is provided with a slot 6 to permit greater flexing and also with elliptical openings 12 placed radially in blade 3 to prevent buckling when being made and to assist in allowing appropriate flexing when pressure is placed means of screwing handle 1 on stem 5, which flexing is produced by slightly raised circular, portion 16 on head 2 (exaggerated in drawing) fitting into depressed circular portion 13 on cap 4 (also exaggerated) The center of the raised circular portion 16 on head 2 passes when in position over elliptical openings 12 slightly beyond the wide portion of said openings radially placed producing thereby an even flexing of blade 3, and thus eliminating to a great extent the tendency of circular blades to break on the outer edge thereof.

Clear as mud, as many patent texts are, but the drawing is at least easy to understand.

Judging by the apparent lack of success that McCaffrey’s razor, and the blade of the slightly more successful razor later patented and marketed by Shermack, I suspect that the blade of this razor was overly complicated – making the manufacture of the blades complicated and expensive.

For those who missed the last post i made about an old patent, axilla is the anatomical term for armpit.

Shave of the day 15th January

Razor: Shick G4
Blade: Proraso Injector
Brush: Vie-Long #14033
Lather: Mike’s Natural Soaps Orange, Cedarwood & Black Pepper
Aftershave: Barber No3 Marmara
Additional Care: Alum Block, BullDog Original Beard Oil, Pereira Shavery Boomerang Beard Comb

A 1917 armpit razor patent

Ever since society started shaming women into shaving their armpits (around 1915 or thereabouts, as mentioned in a previous post), guys have invented razors for just that use. This is one of the earliest I’ve found, applied for in December 1917 by Mr Oswald T Fleury.
As he states in the patent text:

The practice of removing hairs from the axilla is, at the present time, becoming more predominant and,.in order to accomplish this purpose, he ordinary safety razor is sometimes ’employed but has been found more or less unsatisfactory owing to the fact that access ca mot readily be obtained to the curvature o the arm pit to remove the hairs therefrom with the straight edge blades commonly used.

If you’re not steady in anatomical latin, axilla simply means armpit.
The invention itself isn’t too complicated; a semicircular single edge safety razor with a curvature shaped to fit the armpit – however it is interesting in that it has no top cap, but uses two tabs fitting in corresponding slots cut in the blade and bottom plate to hold the blade secure, and a cup or ring to hold two halves of the handle together. Hopefully that is clearer from the drawing than from the text.

…having a handle with threaded orifice, a flexible slotted circular blade provided with slot with parallel edges and a series of elliptical openings placed radially in said blade, a circular head provided with guard teeth and special guard portion integral therewith to cover slot in Blade, a slightly curved circular raised portion, and an elliptical raised portion all integral therewith, a circular clamping cap member provided with a slightly depressed circular portion and a threaded stem for screwing into threaded orifice provided with handle, substantially as described.

A quick look online finds no indication that this patent ever turned into a marketable product, but there have been a veritable flood of specialised razors for armpits since… some successful, but most not so much.

Shave of the day 13th January

Razor: Shick G4
Blade: Proraso Injector
Brush: Vie-Long #13051M
Pre-Shave: The Lavish Gentleman Natural Strength Oil Cleanser
Lather: Pereira Oud
Aftershave: Nivea Cooling After Shave Balm
Additional Care: Alum Block, Gentlemen of Sweden Original Beard Oil, Pereira Shavery Boomerang Beard Comb

Shave of the day 10th January

Razor: Schick “Lady Eversharp”
Blade: Proraso Injector
Brush: Omega #10048
Lather: Arko Shavestick
Aftershave: BullDog Original Aftershave Balm
Additional Care:   Alum Block, BullDog Original Beard Oil, & Pereira Shavery Boomerang Beard Comb

Shaving creams go back a long way…

Did you know that a rudimentary form of shaving cream was documented in Sumer around 3000 BC – or almost five thousand years ago, give or take a few decades?
Like the Babylonians in the northern region of Mesopotamia, men in the Sumerian civilisation at the time used a mixture of animal fat and wood alkali (i.e.: wood ash) to prepare beard hair for shaving.
While it likely was an improvement on not using anything at all, I think I’ll stick to my stash of modern shaving soaps… just saying.

Shave of the day 8th January

Razor: Schick “Lady Eversharp”
Blade: Proraso Injector
Brush: Semogue TSN LE 2012
Lather: Asylum Shave Works Frankincense & Myrrh
Aftershave: Asylum Shave Works Frankincense & Myrrh
Additional Care:   Alum Block, BullDog Original Beard Oil, & Pereira Shavery Boomerang Beard Comb

Shaving Apparatus

Today I have a very new patent for y’all – so new it’s still technically just a patent application – for a cartridge razor that will get your stubble both coming and going!
Invented by Appiah Kwadwo and applied for in June 2019, this break through in shaving technology is based on cartridges… but very advanced cartridges!

The cartridge includes at least two sub-cartridges connected to each other in a rigid connection or a detachable connection. Each of the sub-cartridges includes one or more blades extending outwardly at an acute angle relative to a face of the sub-cartridge and projecting generally away from a central longitudinal axis of the cartridge. The blades of a first of the two sub-cartridges are parallel to the blades of a second of the two sub-cartridges and positioned in a direction that opposes a direction of the blades of the second of the two sub-cartridges.

Clear as mud? Perchance the patent drawings will make it clearer… or perchance not.

Safety razors and shaving implements were initially made for the purpose of reducing the skill required for injury-free shaving, thereby eliminating the everyday need for a professional barber. As such, several designs have been made over the years to improve the ease of use of shaving implements. From the initial single blade straight edge safety razor design of the 18th century to the more recent triple blade or four blade razor cartridge design, the contemporary razor has undergone several design changes resulting in improved ergonomics, reduced injury risk, and enhanced ease of use.

Well… King Gillette pretty much nailed the idea of making every man his own barber back in 1901 when he applied for his safety razor patent , and I think I’ve shown with my posts on shaving related patents over the years that a lot of inventions that promises to make shaving easier, safer and requiring less skill tends to be evolutionary dead ends and too often much to complex to be easy to manufacture. And if the modern razor cartridge has enhanced ease of use and reduced risk of injuries, to me and many others that comes at the cost of poorer shaves, shave burns, and irritation.

However, the two or more sets of blades included in most safety razor cartridges are unidirectional, for example, angled downward relative to the cartridge. Such a design permits a user to only shave in a single direction necessitating additional maneuvering of the handle, for example, flipping the handle and/or twisting the handle, to shave in an opposing direction, thereby reducing ease of use. A shaving implement, which is designed to allow a user to shave in multiple directions, is therefore desired.

Short answer? No, it is not desired. By pushing on the razor – as opposed to pulling on it – the skin on your face will bunch up and be pushed into the blade, not being pulled taught so the hairs stands out. To me this means that the blades pointing in the other direction will be much more likely to slice you open than the exposed blade tabs on some double edged razors ever will.
On the upside, Mr Kwadwo also includes a drawing showing his new cartridge mounted shavette-style.

If you’re curious and want to read the whole description and look at all the drawings, the patent application to search for is number US20190375122A1.