Category Archives: VintageRazor

Shaving made easy – a free ebook

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Over at Project Gutenberg – which is an awesome site for free books, by the way – I found a gem from 1905:

Available of reading online, or to download to a Kindle or other ebook reader, it’s a keeper. A little thin on the subject of DE- razors for some strange reason*, but covering the straight edge well as well as touching upon the strop, the brush, the soap, and other supplies. Has some sage advice too, that has not changed in over a century, such as:
Next to the razor, the most important article of the shaving outfit is the soap. In its proper use lies the real secret of easy shaving.
And:
If you desire a really clean shave, you must go over the face the second time.

It’s a highly enjoyable read, and I urge you to take a few minutes to grab a copy.

*) The first DE Gillettes went on sale in 1903 – so when this booklet was written they were very much the new kid on the block.

How about a bronze age razor?

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Or, more correct, a reproduction of one?

Ravn Forhistorisk Støbeteknikk (Raven Prehistoric Casting Technique) offers many neat reproductions for sale, and this bronze age razor (13-1200 BCE) caught my eye. One can be yours for just 44€ – cheap all things considering. If I was into straights, I would be ordering one right now – but even if I’m not I can show of a shiny piece of workmanship.

My quintet of ‘other’ razors

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YUMA – Wilkinson Sword Classic – Parker 22R – Lord Racer – Gillette ’58 TV Special

My quintet of Merkur razors

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Bakelite slant* – 39C Slant – 985CL Open Comb travel razor – 25C Open Comb – 45C Bakelite

*) Based on style and markings, most likely a Merkur product

Military style shaving

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A little less than a hundred years ago, Europe was aflame – and since Europe ruled the most of the world back then, so was the world. Due to the introduction of chemical warfare, and with it the respirators, the poor sods in the trenches couldn’t just let their beards grow – so Gillette saw a market and decided to fill it.

Give away enough free razors, he figured, and suddenly millions of soldiers is going to buy blades for it… a stroke of genius and luck – after all, a huge war came around just when he needed it – and the rest is history.

I would love to get my hands on an original or reproduction WW1 razor kit – it definitely blows the plastic box with a Sensor, four carts and tiny can of goo I was given in boot camp, courtesy of Gillette Norway.

Dear Santa, I would like…

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…at least I think I’ve been a good boy so far.

Open source and shaving supplies

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I was reminded of a post I wrote last september, on the subject of walled gardens…

If you embrace traditional wetshaving, you are using what is – for all intents and purposes – an open source system of grooming: all the relevant patents and so forth is fallen into the public domain, which means anyone is free to start making razors and the blades for them. The only thing you need to achieve success in the marketplace is a good product at a good price… which means a lot of small scale artisans and manufacturers has to be in it for the sake of the customers, since the return on investment will be low.

P&G and the other big multinationals wants us to use their proprietary hardware (and software), which gives them control of the supply and therefore the cost – to the benefit of their bottom line (as should be expected, since they are in business to make money). New cartridges and other gizmos will be introduced regularly, to keep the buyers in the walled garden… by hook or by crook.

Or in other words, people who start a business to create products for the traditional crowd – and I’m thinking the hardware side of things – can often be compared to the people who write open source software. They want to create (and sell) a great product that people with special interests will use.

On the other hand the people who runs a business aimed at the ‘modern’ shaver – and again I’m thinking about the hardware – can be compared to such entities as Microsoft, Apple, and SAP AG… they are in it to make money – and there is nothing wrong about that.

A Real Man Shave

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…in my opinion the Gillette is optional and might easily be swapped for a Merkur, a Parker, a Cadet, a Lord, a Yuma, a Feather, or any other DE razor.

But you DO need water and lather for a Real Man Shave!

Really vintage razors

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Since roughly the time we came down from the trees, humans have been worried about how other people see them – in short, how well groomed we are. And while the standards we been holding each other to in regards to hair care and general hygiene have fluctuated over the ages, it seems that the desire men have to scrape the beard off is timeless.

Perhaps it has to do with perceived status – by taking the time to trim your beard you showed everyone who saw you that you had an excess off time; which presumably translated into having an excess of resources in general. And since fashions spread quickly, soon everyone was wanting to take their beard off – creating a market for clam shells, finely made obsidian blades and some time later metal blades made expressly for dragging across downy cheeks.

A early bronze razor from the Hallstatt culture which seems to me to be modeled on a flint blade with a handle – a wonderful piece of craftsmanship

Presumably the first metal razors were status objects by themselves; it seems several of them had holes so they could hang on a string or necklace. The proles still probably used flint blades or went unshaven… possible either complaining loudly or claiming just as loudly that the ones who could afford to shave were a bunch of pansies. Human nature change very little…
Later, as razors got more common they also got more utilitarian. If everyone own s one there is no need to flaunt the fact, so it seems to me that razors got reduced to the bare essentials; a half moon shaped blade:

A more utilitarian bronze razor (and nail trimmer) from the Hallstatt culture.
Slightly more fancy half moon razors – Italy, 8-7 century BC
Or more fancy axe shaped ones – like this ancient Egyptian razor from the Harageh tomb 661, dating to the First Intermediate Period – approx 2181 to 2055 BC
The shave of a Pharaoh – an evolved axe shaped bronze razor from the time of Amenophis II or III – approx   1426 to 1353 BC
How about a Scandivian bronze razor from the 2 century BC – the depicted ship on it a clear predecessor to the Viking longships?
As metallurgy progressed we got the steel razors, then the cut throat razor and finally the modern safety razor… but I still can’t help to wonder what it would be to pick up an bronze instrument like one of these to get the stubble of my face.
I wonder if anyone sells working replicas… ?
This post contains pictures from Wikipedia and other online sources.