Trench foot, trench fever and trench mouth be dammed – the gallant fighting men needs to be clean shaven (so the respirators won’t leak, one has to presume). The implied horrors of the first world war notwithstanding, it is a rather nice period photograph I stumbled over on Wikipedia while looking for something unrelated.
This was one of the first things I posted on my blog… it still holds true today, and newer readers may enjoy it as well.
When our grandfathers shaved, they used the razor, blades, soap, and brush they could get in their local area. Perhaps they had a choice, perhaps there was just one to pick from. They would use it until they ran out of blades or scraped the last of the soap out of the bowl, and then go back to the same store and buy the same thing again. Efficient, but hardly exciting – even if the products probably were undeniable better than the canned foam and multi blade cartridge razors most stores stock today.
These days many of us live in a place where traditional shaving supplies are near impossible to get in local stores – the products have been squeezed out by the Big Name Multinationals multi blade cartridge system and pressurised dry foam in cans. The downside of that is not only that many of our friends and fellow men don’t know the joy of a good shave, but also that we must turn to the Internet to buy what we need for our daily ritual. And the upside of that is that we’re no longer restricted to the brands – or even brand, singular – that our local stores carry… the shaving products of the whole wide world is now ours to buy. The selection is staggering, and finding the right one is a daunting task for a newly converted wetshaver – from what I have seen in online discussion forums, it can be a daunting task even for those old hands who never succumbed to the lure of the multi-blade razors in the first place.
We’re lucky enough to live in a time when the whole world is easily – almost too easily – accessible from the comfort of our homes: anyone with an internet connection can within minutes find other people across the world who are passionate about the same things – in our case that thing is traditional wetshaving. We can to our hearts content discuss the finer points of making lather, or nitty-gritty details on how one brush compares to another. And – and this is where the danger of hoarding starts raising it’s head – you can easily be moved by glowing reviews of shaving products you never heard of before… be it brands from a different continent or something someone has lovingly crafted by hand on their kitchen counter.
Something else happened at (very) roughly the same time as the multi blade razors were pushed onto the marked: there was the growing realization (or perhaps the re-realization) that men – us big, burly, manly men – should be allowed, or even encouraged to be a little vain. Care about our looks a little further than checking for holes in our pants and scraping the stubble off with a bayonet… it is not without reason that the ads for the early multi blade razors emphasised the smoothness of the shave and how much the girls would like it. Suddenly boys growing into men were told that it was okay to use that nice smelling soap, rub some lotion into the cheeks and, y’know – smarten up a bit. Gets you a bit more positive attention from the girls too – or the boys, if you’re tastes run that way. Your Mileage May vary, as it does with so many things in shaving and life.
As mentioned, we live in an age of global commerce. Checking out that barbershop in Turkey is just as easy as checking that one in downtown Houston – even if you happen to live in Norway. And the almost scary part is that it’s all easy to place and order and have it shipped straight to your door. No more slugging barefoot through snowdrifts higher than your own head to buy a sorry piece of soap at the drugstore (uphill both ways off course, not that the youth of today would believe it), no more having to make do with the same old blade. Instead we can order new soap and new blades from anywhere we like, and while we’re at it we might well put that cream the guys at the forum were raving about in the basket… oh, and lets pick up a yet another sampler pack of blades as well…and that brush that I didn’t pick up last time…
The result? The box the poor postman has to drag through the snowdrifts (barefoot, uphill, etc) seems pretty huge when you finally receives it, and the contents can barely be fitted into your shave nook. And where did that new razor come from? The mysteries of online shopping is never more impenetrable than when you’re unpacking.
Exposed to fellow shavers and tempting shops online, it’s easy for a hoard to grow out of all reasonable proportions. Our forefathers are a testament to the fact that we don’t really need four razors, five brushes and seven different soaps and creams in order to shave – but it is nice to to be able to mix and match, try something new, select just the right fragrance before we go out and face the world. We can embrace our manliness by picking something that smells of the great outdoors, or get ready to woo the girl (or boy) in our life with a light rose scent… the only limits is the sky and the size of your cupboard. And that is why I have gotten to rather enjoy my Acquision Disorders; while it does cost me a bit of money (but not much more than buying into the latest fad from the Big Name Multinationals would cost) it gives me much pleasure – not just in the morning spa-experience that a good shave is, but also throughout the day – every day.
Embrace your hoard. Reconquer the bathroom and fill it with products that both you and your partner in life will enjoy. Celebrate your ability to be a manly man with clear skin and a pleasant fragrance. Revel in your Acquision Disorders – but don’t spend more than you can afford. And Pay It Forward or sell to a fellow wetshaver when you happens to find something in your stash that you can’t understand why you got in the first place – after all, that makes room for more new supplies!
I have recently bought myself a Kindle Paperwhite, and I am rather pleased with the device. For a lark, I checked out what Kindle books there is to buy:
Leisureguy’s Guide to Gourmet Shaving
I have this one in dead tree format. Recommended.
SAFETY RAZOR SHAVING: The Ins And Outs, Dos and Don’ts
Shave Like A Man: How To Save Money On Shaving Products And Get The Best Shave Of Your Life
Shaving Secrets Revealed: How To Shave With A Straight Razor And Get The Best Wet Shave Of Your Life
The Complete Beginners Guide To Shaving Brushes by Mens Shaving: Shave Great. Feel Amazing.
OLD SCHOOL SHAVING: Safety Razors, Straight Razors, Shaving Soaps, Shaving Brushes, Alum Blocs, Etc
All of these are unknowns to me… so for now they go on the wish list.
A rather interesting video showing making and shaving with obsidian flakes.
“I don’t advice you to try this without a good deal of prior experience… and lots of band-aids.”
This one, to be presice, even if not in that colour:
Unknown to many these days, it used to be common to have your shaving brush made out of horsehair. Horsehair for a brush makes sense on many levels, not the least of which is the fact that they are animal friendly – the hair is harvested as part of the normal grooming of the horse.
However, the horsehair brush fell out of favour around the Great War, since some suppliers were less than good about sterilizing their products. A bit of searching online brings to light some documents from the time:
Anthrax from Shaving Brushes (July 12, 1918)
Anthrax and the Sterilization of Shaving Brushes (May 9, 1919)
An Investigation of the Shaving-Brush Industry, with Special Reference to Anthrax (May 9, 1919)
Isolation of Anthrax Bacillus from a shaving Mug (November 1, 1922)
Well, they do call it a Baby Butt Smooth shave…
From the free (as in both beer and speech) ebook “The Perfect Gentleman” by Ralph Bergengren, downloaded from Project Gutenberg (which still is an awesome site for free books);
The world of shavers is divided into three classes: the ordinary shaver, the safety shaver, and the extraordinary-safety shaver, who buys each safety razor as soon as it is invented and is never so happy as when about to try a new one. To a shaver of this class, cost is immaterial. A safety-razor for a cent, with twenty gold-monogramed blades and a guaranty of expert surgical attendance if he cuts himself, would stir his active interest neither more nor less than a safety-razor for a hundred dollars, with one Cannotbedull blade and an iron-clad agreement to pay the makers an indemnity if he found it unsatisfactory. He buys them secretly, lest his wife justly accuse him of extravagance, and practises cunning in getting rid of them afterward; for to a conscientious gentleman throwing away a razor is a responsible matter. It is hard to think of any place where a razor-blade, indestructible and horribly sharp as it is,—for all purposes except shaving,—can be thrown away without some worry over possible consequences. A baby may find and swallow it; the ashman sever an artery; dropping it overboard at sea is impracticable, to say nothing of the danger to some innocent fish. Mailing it anonymously to the makers, although it is expensive, is a solution, or at least shifts the responsibility. Perhaps the safest course is to put the blades with the odds and ends you have been going to throw away to-morrow ever since you can remember; for there, while you live, nobody will ever disturb them. Once, indeed, I—but this is getting too personal: I was simply about to say thatit is possible to purchase a twenty-five cent safety-razor, returnable if unsatisfactory, and find the place of sale vanished before you can get back to it. But between inventions in safety-razors, the extraordinary-safety shaver is likely to revert to first principles and the naked steel of his ancestors.
I’m not saying he was right – but 95 years later we still have many people who will jump on the latest razor bandwagon… just to return to their old razors, disappointed. May I suggest they pick up a DE razor and some good soap instead?
Over at Project Gutenberg – which is an awesome site for free books, by the way – I found a gem from 1905:
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.
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.
