Gillette started marketing his razors early in the last century. And while it may seem obvious to us today how a three piece safety razor works, he actually had to explain it in his advertisments.
I think that impresses me most – beyond the nicely detailed drawing of a two-ring Old Typerazor – is the absolutely awesome goatee the shaver has.
Old advertisements can be head scratchers at times.
I mean… who in their right mind wipes their razor off on the good towels in the first place?
There are times the title of a patents makes me stop and wonder if I actually read what I thought I read. The patent title of “automatically ignited and extinguished hot water shaving brush” by William G Frazier was definitely one of those times. I had to read it more than twice, if I’m to be honest.
Continue readingPossible a little out of the ordinary for this blog, but it made me smile when I found it.
Continue readingIn the early 30’s, the patent for the Gillette three hole blade was about to expire. This inspired Gillette, Gaisman, and others to come up with blades that could both be used in the old Old Type razors and also a new razor that would not accept the old Gillette blades. As we know now the Probak won, but for a while it was open for everyone to try. And one of the ones who tried was John Holzman.
Continue readingOld movies can be fun to watch at times. This short one features – as the title suggest – a quick shave and brush up. And that is about it… more or less.
Continue readingMany a good razor has been cast aside as useless and good for nothing, till pro bono publico, a fact; or, proof positive. Step’d forward, to give ease to the cheek, comfort to the upper lip, a pleasant familiarity to the chin and an uncommon agreeable surprize to the bearded physiognomy which takes place by a razor being strop’d or sharpen’d on Packwood’s new invented razor strop…
A spooky repost from two years ago.
After coming across a meme on the internet, I recently spend some time tracking down the patent for what I can only think of as the Crime Skeleton. It is a perfect example that the line between genius and insanity is blurry at best. I’m not quite sure which side of that line Helene Adalaide Shelby’s invention falls under, but I am inclined to go for “genius”. And a somewhat spooky and misguided genius at that.
So let’s take a short break from weird shaving patents and look at a plain weird patent.
Continue readingShaving is saving, the advertisement promises, as long as the shaving is done with a Gillette. And in 1906 this might have been true… today? Buying the current offering from Gillette or the other big multinationals is a sure way to spend money – carts are expensive, when compared to the good old double edged blade.
Continue readingThere are different things that gets my attention when I browse old razor and blade advertisements. Sometimes it is an interesting picture. Sometimes it is a razor that is unknown to me. Sometimes it is hilarious claims in the text.
And sometimes… it is the bright colour.
Continue reading