Colgate shaving cream, had, according to this 1916 advertisement, five star points.
Continue readingColgate’s star points
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Category Archives: Vintage
Combined three positioned shaving brush and lather rubber…
Retractable brushes is nothing new. A combined multi-position shaving brush with a built in lather rubber device? That’s more unusual.
Patented by Leon Tobias in 1920, the brush was – of course – touted as a new and improved shaving brush. In the words of the patent:
Continue readingThis invention relates to improvements in shaving brushes, an object of the invention being to provide a shaving brush equipped with the ordinary bristles for forming and distributing lather and also provided with means for rubbing the lather into the face to soften the heard, the parts so constructed and arranged as to permit either the bristles or the rubbing device to be exposed for use at the end of suitable handle.
From US patent 1,358,597
A 1902 shaving stick
Remember the abandoned patent application I shared with you last week? Remember how I said one reason for the abandonment might be the existence of a lot of prior art? Well, I found one piece of prior art; Dyer T Kendrick’s 1902 patent for a push up shave stick.
Continue readingLefavour’s shaving brush
I’ve discussed various self loading brushes before. But all of them, including the one from 1849 as well as the Brush Plus from the eighties, used soap that was either liquid or semi-liquid. Woodburry P Lefavour’s shaving brush patent from 1890 is the first I’ve seen that used a solid soap.
Inventions are – when all is said and done – solutions to a problem or an improvement to the state of the art. Lefavour claimed that his brush was a new and useful improvement to the humble shaving brush.
Continue readingWilliams’ Political Shaving Soap, 1896
As some of y’all are hurtling towards an election, lets examine a political conundrum from the 1896 election…
Why do men of all parties vote for Williams’ Shaving Soap? Or at least, why did they one hundred and twenty eight years ago?
Continue readingOld Norwegian Gillette enamel sign
These days, advertisement posters and signs are cheap, cheerful, and on paper. Here today, gone tomorrow. Use and discard. Back in the days however, signs promoting wares could be more durable. Meant to last a long time.
Continue readingShave of the day 2nd February
- Razor: Mergress “Bling”
- Blade: Lord Classic
- Brush: Vie-Long #13051M
- Pre-Shave: Proraso Pre Shave Cream
- Lather: B&M Latha Oceana
- Aftershave: Barber No3 Marmara
- Additional Care: Alum Block
A fine Friday shave gets me on the mood for the weekend. Just a shame I have a full workday ahead of me first…
GEM khaki kit – 1918 vs 1919
The Great War – which gave us such things as the ComfyKit,1 the smooth shaven soldier, and body shaming the ladies – ended in November 1918. Interestingly enough, that almost immediately prompted a change in how razors were marketed. As an example, I have two advertisements for the GEM khaki kit for you today. One from 1918, and one from 1919.
Continue readingLook sharp, be rock and roll sharp
How are you fixed for blades? I linked to one commercial asking that question a little over ten years ago, but today i found that Gillette updated the ad after the rock and/or roll craze hit.
Continue readingThe safety razor of Gustavus Rein
The origin of the term ‘safety razor’ is a little unclear. As documented over at razors.click, the term did not originate with the Kampfe brothers as so often claimed. But no matter who came up with it, or when, it was in common enough use by 1887 that Gustavus Rein explicitly used it both as the title and in the body of his patent. Which is interesting enough, but what really caught my attention is that the razor that Gustavus Rein patented was a twofer. Not only was it a hoe-style wedge razor, but it could also be used as what we today would call a shavette.
Continue reading