Category Archives: History

Professor Modevi’s beard generator – grooming quackery

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In the second half of the 1800’s a beard was considered not only considered masculine, but actually considered good for your health.
This was the age of heroic exploration; and as rugged adventurers began to tackle the terra incognita of far-flung continents, they would immerse themselves in wild nature, letting their beards grow thick. The beard became a symbol of rugged manliness and men began to emulate their bewhiskered heroes.
At the same time doctors were beginning to encourage men to wear beards as a means of warding off illness. The Victorian obsession with air quality saw the beard as a sort of filter. A thick beard, it was reasoned, would capture the impurities before they could get inside the body. Others saw it as a means of relaxing the throat, especially for those whose work involved public speaking. Some doctors were even recommending that men grew beards to avoid sore throats – better to prevent than to cure later I guess.

Off course, this meant that if you couldn’t grow a proper beard, you looked for solutions both to improve your masculinity and your health. Enter from the left; the quacks!
Patent medicine was big in the late 1800’s… some harmless, some deadly, all useless for what they were supposed to cure.
The beard crazy died for good during the Great War; given a choice between a smooth shave and a horrendous death, it was no real choice.

A 1908 machine for sharpening razor-blades

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Want to eek out a little more life from your double edged blade? Recoup a little bit more on the investment as it were? To us today that don’t make much sense, since we’re just paying pennies per blade, but back in the day blades were more costly; about equivalent to the cost of a razor cartridge today per blade!

Much like you today can find sharpeners for cartridge razor, there was a market for DE-sharpeners back in the day. One of the earliest that I found a patent for was granted in March 1911, and was submitted by Eleazer I Rains. As far as I can tell it is Mr Rains’ only shaving related patent.

The machine he patented is simple enough in principle, but the actual execution might leave a little something to desire… it’s not a handle little device you can keep in a drawer, it’s a fairly big lump of machinery you bolt to your bathroom counter.

The device consists of two geared sharpening rollers (which could be made adjustable) against which a blade could be pressed by a spring… and that is about it when you come down to it. This is a principle which several other sharpeners adopted later, in various forms.

In Mr Rains’ own words, the machine is

comprising a sharpening roll, `means to rotate the same, a spring pressed blade support adapted to press the blade yieldingly toward the roll, and movable “bodily toward and from the roll, and guides in which said support is loosely guided

I don’t know if this sharpener was ever built, manufactured or sold, but as far as I can tell from the drawings it should work as intended. The major failing I can see with the design of it is the sheer bulk and the need to bolt it to a countertop.

Happy 17th!

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I don’t care where you are; today is Norway’s Constitution Day – so happy 17th everyone! I hope you enjoy the day regardless of who and where you are!

A bit more explanation:
For those few who don’t know it yet, the Seventeenth of May is Norwegian Constitution Day! We got the the oldest single-document national constitution in Europe – the second oldest in the world – still in continuous force… Go us!
For those a little shaky on early 19th century Norwegian history, the story basically goes as follows: After the middle ages Norway found itself in a union with Denmark (Sweden was originally part of it too, but choose to bail out for various reasons). During the Napoleonic wars, the British decided to steal the Dano-Norwegian fleet (being one of the very few fleets who they considered a threat), thus forcing Denmark-Norway into the war on Napoleon’s side. And when Napoleon lost, the Powers that Be – or rather Was – decided that Norway should be handed over to Sweden in 1814, to compensate them for their loss of Finland (which Russia had grabbed back in 1809, if my memory serves me correct).
Needless to say the Norwegians wasn’t too thrilled about this, a reaction thats pretty natural when you consider that the Swedes had a history of attacking Norway stretching back a few hundred years at this point. And if Norway couldn’t get back into a union with Denmark… the logical steps to take was declare our Independence, write a Constitution and set out on our own!! Woot!! Go us!!
The constitution that was drawn up and signed at Eidsvoll on Seventeenth of May 1814 was a radical document for the time… drawing on the French constitution from the French Revolution, as well as the US Constitution and Bill of Rights. Based on the guiding principles of Freedom, equality and brotherhood it separated the Executive, Legislative and Juridical powers, established the freedom of speech and curtailed the powers of the King fairly severely. Pretty hot stuff, considering the time it was written.
Sweden on the other hand wasn’t too thrilled by this development…. and as they had done more than a few times in the centuries leading up to 1814, promptly invaded. The Norwegian Army was understaffed, untrained and undernourished after years of British blockade of Norway still put up a pretty determined fight, giving at least as good as they got and holding back the Swedish advance long enough to stave off the possibility of a forced surrender.
After negotiations held in Moss (my home town), Norway and Sweden entered a union; but it was a union of two independent nations under one king, and not – as the Swedes had no doubt intended – a union making Norway a part of Sweden. Norway retained it’s own government, it’s own armed forces and most of the other trappings of an independent country – only sharing a king and forgein policy.
As the years went past, the Norwegians started to celebrate the Constitution Day, at least in part in order to rub it in with the Swedes that Norway was in fact it’s own country. This didn’t go over too well with the Swedish, resulting – among other things – in the infamous Battle of the Square (17 May 1829), in which mounted cavalry and light infantry routed a more or less peaceful demonstration.
Later during the 19th century things calmed down a bit, even if Norwegians celebrated the Seventeenth more than ever. After a few years the tradition of children’s parades was initiated (originaly started on the basis that the Swedes wouldn’t sink as low as to attack children), and has become an enduring symbol of the day in Norway.
While we’re no longer in a union with Sweden – we broke out of that in 1905 – we still celebrate the 17th as Norways Birthday… and like most birthdays, it’s mostly about the children. Childrens Parades, ice cream and hot dogs, flaggs all over the place… it’s been described as the day Norwegians stop acting like Norwegians in order to celebrate that we’re Norwegians.
So Happy 17th to each and every one of you!!

A bit of history; the barber-surgeon

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You need a shave? A haircut? How about a tooth pulled, a bone set, or a lit of blood-letting to restore the balance of your humours? An quick amputation or trepanning?

In medieval times your local barber-surgeon was your one-stop-shop for all those things, and more. A doctor wouldn’t sully his hands with blood or gore (and certainly not with poor people), so a person who knew how to use a sharp blade was a handy person to know.

While doctors went to universities for their theoretical education, the aspiring barber-surgeon was apprenticed to an experienced practitioner for hands on training – dealing with both lather and blood.
As medical science slowly improved, surgeons gradually became more specialised and the two trades parted ways… until we today only have one remaining reminder of the barber surgeon: the traditional red and white barbers pole.

Is the thrill of wetshaving gone?

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There is an ongoing, though provoking thread over at my favourite shave forum discussing if the thrill of wetshaving is gone… to quote Phil (thread-starter and owner of BullGoose Shaving):

Nobody gets excited about anything anymore. After several years of in your face hucksters churning out new products at a dizzying pace, wet shavers as a whole (which is still a fairly small market) have simply grown numb to it. There is no longer great anticipation for a product release and nothing seems to move the needle anymore.

I haven’t made up my mind yet, still weighting the arguments people have given for both sides, but I do recommend giving it a read.
 

Mad patent; Combination razor and shaving brush

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Very often a patent description starts out with a claim stating something along the line of “…have invented a new and improved…” or “…certain improvements to…”. The patent we’re looking at today on the other hand do NOT start with such a claim, and it is quite telling.

Instead George R Harvey – when he filed his claim in April of 1932 – simply starts with a very short description of what it’s all about: “Combination razor and shaving brush in advance of the razor.”

Wait.. what? In advance of? What do that even?

Well… the logic isn’t too far of the so called “lube strips” on certain modern cartridge razors, even if Mr Harvey’s design probably did more for lubrication and skincare.

The key to the invention, as far as I can tell, is that the single edge razor have a hollow handle you can fill with shaving cream. The bottom of the handle is a plunger, much like a syringe, which forces the cream out through a nozzle onto which there is mounted a short brush. The drawing makes it easy to understand:

How would this rather clumsy looking device be to use? In Mr Harvey’s own words:

In the operation of the device the compartment 3 being charged with a soap or other emollient, the brush 9 is first dampened and the plunger 14 is then rotated so as to-cause the desired amount of the material to be discharged through the slots 13 onto the tufts of the brush. The instrument is then drawn over the face of the user so as to cause the brush to travel in advance of the cutting edge of the blade, the brush applying the material to the face and the razor then performing its function in a manner which will be readily understood.

I strongly suspect that Mr Harvey had a mustache…  there is no way this contraption would both lather and shave the upper lip without both cutting your nose while lathering and getting a taste of shaving cream while shaving.

Seventy four years ago today…

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From the Home Front Leadership
Our fight is crowned with victory
Norway is again free
Our minds are filled with joy, our hearts of gratitude toward those who fell in battle and towards all who were struggling to win the victory.
The enemy has now surrendered, and soon we will again fully be in control of our country. But remember: Capitulation is not the same as peace. The enemy still has weapons.
Let us in the midst of celebration preserve peace, dignity and discipline. Do not provoke the beaten enemy, and do not take the law into your own hands.
The duties of war are completed, the duties of peace await. They demand that we put everything in place to restore our democracy and rule of law.
The peace we have now won shall commit us as strongly as the war and the necessity tied our will to the fatherland’s cause. Together we will rebuild the country as a better, happier home for everyone.
God bless our precious fatherland!

 May 8th. Victory Europe Day, and the Norwegian Liberation day… when five years of occupation (more or less, depending on where in Norway you were) ended.

Some titbits from the liberation:

  • On May 8th, Norwegian Resistance units quickly and peacefully took control of administrative centres, radio stations and transport hubs.
  • The German forces were – with a few exception – were happy to give up, and were put in “house arrest” until POW-camps could be organised.
  • On May 9th and 10th Norwegian “police troops”* trained in Sweden arrived in selected Norwegain cities to assist taking control over the large mass of German prisoners.
  • The first allied forces started arriving by air on the 10th as well, including a fair number of intelligence specialists to take control of any advanced German military equipment.
  • On May 14th enough of the government in exile had returned for the resistance to officially hand over the governing of the country back to the elected officials.
  • On June 7th King Haakon VII returned to Norway, five years to the day after he went into exile rather than surrender.
Major Josef Nichterlain (centre) and his aide-deecamp hauptmann Hammel (right) surrenders Akershus Fortess – the location of main German military head quarter in Oslo – to 2. Lt Terje Rollem (left) of the Norwegian Resistance in accordance with the German instrument of surrender. Legend has it that Nichterlain felt disrespected and insulted by having to surrender to low ranking officer who were not in uniform, and didn’t carry rank insignia.

*) To avoid breaking Swedish neutrality, the Swedes could not train Norwegian military personnel… however, they could train a “police reserve” to help preserve peace in Norway – and since there were “foreign elements” in Norway that might “resist the police”, such a police force must be trained and equipped with the necessary equipment; i.e.: infantry small arms, anti-tank artillery, anti-aircraft artillery, mines, radios, etc… Had the war continued, there would even have been a unit of “police paratroopers” fully trained.

Eclipse Red Ring advertisement

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A 1957 Gillette Toggle advertisement

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As a point of reference, 10$ in 1957 is about 91$ today when inflation is taken into account. Not too bad considering the complexity of the design.

Black and white shaving in colour?

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There is a lot of old black and white photos of people shaving out there, photos that give us some idea of what shaving was like back then but which could tell us so much more more if they were in colour.

Enter colourise.sg – a deep learning colouriser prototype for old photos. Old Singaporean photos specifically, which may explain some of the odd colour choices…

I don’t believe the american dough-boys of the Great War wore blue uniforms, but overall not a bad effort.

German uniforms during the Great War were – at least when issued – feldgrau; a light grey-green, though there were variations of the shade ranging from greys to browns. Even with the blue-tinted uniforms and green sandbags, the recoloured image have a lot more life to it.

In this image from the Vietnam War, there is still a blue tint to the flak vest, although the rest of the fatigues are much closer to real life. The sandbags are a natural brown, and the lather looks white and inviting.

Or how about a nice straight razor shave, taken from the book Shaving Made Easy? There isn’t much for the software to take clues from in this image, but it still do a pretty good job making the shave looks like a faded colour photo.

Now this is the way to have your daily shaves… the colouriser have made a good one of this one, probably due to all the available clues in the photo.

How about an old fashioned barbershop? A few artefacts from the software, but the shave looks so much more inviting in colours.

Wrapping up with a still frame from The Great Dictator, one of Charlie Chaplin’s bests films. The shave scene was filmed in one go, and is well worth finding and watching.

While not perfect, I enjoyed coming a little closer to what shaves looked like back then… check it out for yourself if you got a favourite image you want to see re-colourised.