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I was given the opportunity to author a four part newspaper article about shaving, and I jumped on it. I like to support print journalism and my local community in any way I can. I honestly had to break it into 4 parts or it would have consumed the entire newspaper. While I spend my fair share of time reading and critically thinking about the subject in the articles I read online, I am becoming a fan of what is known as "long form journalism". Instead of quippy one liners and bold unsupported statements with glittering generalities, I have an appreciation for articles that support their position with facts and information from a third party. This unpaid task I accepted was challenging in that, in contrast to a report or an essay, I found it challenging to be specific, yet general in the same aspect. So I could have been quite wordy and over explain everything, I didn't want to lose a reader's attention with a wall of text about razor blades, or tallow and vegan soaps. It goes without saying that everything about wetshaving it YMMV. Knowing this it is very challenging to write an informational article about shaving without violating another persons perception of fact, without insulting them. With that in mind, please understand that this article is meant for the general public as informational and introductory, but not a guide on daily shaving routines. My hope was to get people to consider alternatives ways to shave that they hadn't considered. The general public doesn't spend a few hours a day on DFS (like us) so this article may seem a bit generic to the regular DFS member. Also, I have to note, this newspaper doesn't post their print articles on line so I cant direct you to an online version. I am about to post the longest post in DFS history, for your viewing pleasure.
A week after my last article ran I asked the editor/owner if he had gotten any positive feedback and if it was well received. His response was "I haven't gotten any complaints about it at all. In fact, I never hear anything unless people are complaining, so it must be all right with them."
The article was titled Retro Shave
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Article 1
I am being allowed to author a column with successive follow-ups that could possibly conclude after the fourth column. I have given the editors at the Pinckneyville Press full authority to edit or modify my writings to best fit their paper. In full disclosure, I do not own stock in any of the products or merchandise I will discuss in my column. In addition, my articles to the Pinckneyville Press are free and I am receiving zero compensation for them.
My articles are meant mostly to inform you of a uniquely different world of shaving using forgotten practices that were once common in the times of our Grandfathers and Great Grandfathers. Many men and women today prefer a clean and sharp appearance but are limited by the sticker shock of purchasing the razors and accompanying cartridges to feed them. Then there are the multitude of razors from differing manufactures vying for your money in the shave section of any pharmacy and shopping center. Not to be outdone, you have a choice between a can of blue gel or foam. It makes no difference the label on the front as they all smell and perform exactly the same.
Many people have different reasons for shaving. Men in the military are forced to shave on a daily basis. Police and firemen may do it for a clean image or safety’s sake to allow a good seal in their oxygen mask. Then there are professionals that prefer a clean shaved or well groomed appearance as they are in the public eye. That leaves the rest of us that have the choice to shave to maintain a particular image, or a personal standard of grooming. Regardless of our motivation to shave, we are all faced with the same sticker shock when we go to purchase the replacement cartridges (“carts” for short) at the cheapest place we can find them. Problem is, there isn’t a cheap place to buy them.
Proctor and Gamble, the parent company or Gillette will receive the greatest amount of ire from me. They will not reveal their cart manufacture methodology, nor the cost to produce them citing intellectual property rights. A court case in the European Union against P&G and the price gouging on carts reveals that it costs them $.50 or less to manufacture a single cartridge, yet they sell them to us for prices ranging from $4.75-$5.25 a piece. Or, about $30.00 for a pack of 5. It’s no wonder Jeff always has a 3 day shadow. To understand why we are at this point today, you have to understand King Gillette’s original business model from 1910.
King Gillette designed his razors to be purchased cheaply, yet owned the patents and proprietary knowledge on the blades. From the beginning, blades were designed for the trash, at elevated prices to the consumer. Many startup and established businesses try to replicate this business model, to create an army of return customers for something they can’t get anywhere else. An example today would be the Keurig coffee cups, toilet bowl scrub pads, and printer ink cartridges. This business model had been pretty effective up until the 2008 recession. Gillette took a huge hit when Americans decided to trim back their discretionary spending. When their analysts decided to study how and why we weren’t buying $50.00 in carts every other month anymore, they found men and women just continued to use their existing razor until it was utterly dull and painful. So based on these findings Gillette now markets a single cartridge head can last for a month while you camp, canoe and mountain climb. In reality, users were just holding out to the bitter end to buy new carts. Gillette attributed the lack of purchases to longevity, when in fact it was due to their high priced carts.
I tell you this business model to show you the power of their marketing and how Gillette can obsolete one “system” and spur you to buy into another, more expensive method, while never being more effective in hair removal than the last. Gillette spends millions on market research. It will not release or market a new system into a market unless they think the market has the disposable income to support it. This is why many poverty stricken and less developed areas of the world have never seen anything fancier than a disposable single edge Bic razor. Their market just can’t bear it.
I know this sounds like one persons rant against a seemingly unchangeable fact of life and progress. But it is more to remind you of the power of the marketing forces that have changed our society and got us to begrudgingly accept $50.00 cartridges as normal. But let’s skip back to King Gillette and 1910 where it all began. This is where I spend my nightly activities shaving. My own personal male spa where I treat myself to wonderfully close shaves with a multitude of scents. In following articles, I will discuss and explain the different types of vintage razor designs using double edge and single edge blades, the shave soaps, creams, and brushes used to generate and apply the lather, the techniques to achieve the smoothest of shaves, and the wonderful world of dime store and up market aftershaves.
Article 2 Retro Shave
To continue the discussion of shaving, I will start with a short history on the progression of the types and methods from inception to present day.
In the beginning, men used sharpened flint, then steel to shave and remove body hair. This was later refined to the straight razor. Throughout the 18th century, specially trained men were the sole source for a clean shave, and maybe a haircut if desired. This also reflected the socio-economic reality of the times. Men of means could afford more and frequent shaves reflecting their status, while the working class had to settle for the occasional shave as income allowed. As this system evolved, self taught men began to shave themselves in their own homes, nearly obsoleting the purpose of the wet-shave barber. Interesting fact: only a licensed and state certified barber can legally lay steel to skin and shave your face. No other profession can make that claim.
Enter King Gillette. He devised a system of razors that used a patented blade that only he produced. Beginning about 1910, his company produced thousands of various razors types that only used one style of blade, the Double Edge. To further cement Gillette’s market share, Gillette received a government contract to produce double edge razors for issue to all military from 1917-1919. This meant that thousands of young men were indoctrinated to a single way of shaving during their service and thereafter. Other manufacturers saw this and attempted their own proprietary blades, but the marketing and supply chain of Gillette proved too strong. This spurred further development and refinement of different types of razors, initially the Single Edge, then later, the Injector, led by companies named Gem/Eversharp and Schick.
When razor manufacturer’s realized that they would surely fail at designing and marketing their own patented proprietary blades, they accepted King Gillette’s Double Edge blade design as the standard, and began designing their own razors to fit his blade. While not as profitable for them initially, it did come to fruition in later years after King Gillette’s patent on his blade design expired. This created an arms race between razor and blade manufactures to provide the best, most durable, and most cost effective blade to the consumer. This culminated in the 1970s with a double edge blade made by Personna as a tungsten steel blade called the Personna 74, or P74 for short. It has been reported that a single P74 blade could last for over 30 plus shaves before it began to show signs of being dull. While this was fantastic news to us consumers, it was quite upsetting to the manufacturers. There was zero profit motive for them to make such a long lasting and durable blade, as it didn’t perpetuate the return customer they were targeting. Today, these P74s are highly sought after by collectors and users of double edge razors. Even while demanding extremely high prices, they pay for themselves as a blade that never seems to go dull.
A thorough explanation of the different blades helps to understand the razor types that use them. A standard Double Edge (or DE) blade has 2 cutting edges. It is .004-.0042 inches thick, or as thin a piece of paper. A Single Edge (or SE), was developed prior to the DE and is a bit thicker at .009 inches. They are what you would commonly think of as a paint scraper blade. In fact, the paint scraper was designed to further use a blade that was already manufactured and on the market. The blades look identical but you shouldn’t use paint scraper blades from Home Depot in your SE razor. SE shaving blades are commonly found in most pharmacies and drug stores and will have .009 stamped on the blade spine, on the package, or both. Injector blades are also referred to as an SE, but most all come in an injector tool that hold anywhere from 7-20 blades. They are .010 thick, but look nothing like the other two types of blades. They have almost exactly the same cutting edge width, but are only about a quarter inch wide. The injector has a “key” that inserts into the razor and a thumb slide injects a new blade into place, pushing out the old one. More on blades later…
Concerning razors, you have 3 types, and they are designed for the 3 different types of blades mentioned, and the blades are not interchangeable.
The DE razor will be a twist-to-open (or TTO), a 3 piece, and a less common 2 piece that resembles the 3 piece. The TTO wins in its simplicity. The user twists a knob at the bottom of the handle and the “doors” open to expose the blade for removal and replacement. Close the doors and it is ready for use. The 3 piece is comprised of the handle, the base plate, and the top cap. Unscrewing the handle separates all 3 pieces. The DE blade itself is sandwiched between the top cap and base plate. The 2 piece disassembles essentially the same, only the base plate is fixed to the handle.
The SE, being older, is a much simpler design to load for operation. One type has a spring loaded top cap that simply flips open and closes on the blade locking it in position. Another type operates identically, only as a TTO. Others have an internal locking mechanism with the cap release on the back of the handle. These are called “Push-Button” razors.
The injector razor operates as described above. The injector tool safely injects a blade into place and the razor is ready for use. The injector is a favorite of cartridge shaving converts as the angle of the blade and head lends itself intuitively to cartridge style shaving.
Blades. The most subjective topic of discussion for traditional wet shaving. A quick search reveals at least 12 manufacturers of DE blades worldwide, with only one U.S. based manufacturer in Verona Va. Each of these manufacturers can put out multiple brands of varying quality and workmanship. To put it another way, vehicle drivers may state that a certain brand and grade of fuel runs best in their car. A baker may claim allegiance to one specific brand of baking powder or flour that creates the desired results. In traditional wet shaving, no single brand of blade will perform the same across the spectrum of individual razors, and individual users. If you are holding a Mach 3 handle, you only have 1 choice of blades to buy. You have to like it because that all you can get. With DE shaving, the number of different razor and blade combinations is infinite. It is in this exploration, looking for the perfect blade/razor combo that fuels the nightly quest to find the perfect pairing.
Personna, located in Verona Va., makes DE, SE and injector blades. The DE blades cost about $13.00 for 100 blades on Amazon, and I personally use each blade 4 times. (read: $0.13 per blade) Their injector blades are a bit harder to find, but Schick markets their brand in drugstores and can be found for about $6.25 for 7 blades at Stotlars. One injector blade can easily last well over 20 plus shaves. When considering converting to DE or SE wet shaving, it is always recommended to buy a sampler pack of different blades to find the right blade, in your razor, for your skin. The choices for DE blades are seemingly limitless but choices are a bit constrained for the SE consumer, yet the blades available are quite respected for their quality.
To conclude, the most common responses I hear about this type of shaving is “I didn’t know they still made blades for those”, and “Aren’t those razors dangerous?”. The first statement, yes of course. The internet can be used for more than just Facebook. As to their safety, they were referred to as Safety Razors when they were initially introduced, as they were far safer than the straight razor they were replacing in household bathrooms. Also, considering their run in the marketplace from 1903 to about 1985, the American public used them as their sole source of hair removal. DE only became dangerous when new razor marketing sought to move us to a new system of shaving called cartridges.
Article 3 will cover my favorite part of shaving, shave soaps/creams, and their best friend, the shave brush.
Retro Shave Article 3
Soaps and brushes. Sounds simple right? Nope, it’s a maze of complexity you never knew existed till I came along.
I can remember a time in my primary school that our teacher asked the students to bring their parents’ “jar of bacon grease” to school. Then the teacher proceeded to combine all of our grease together, she added lye, poured it out in a cake pan, and after drying, we all got to take home a chunk of our very own bacon grease bath soap.
Today there are small businesses that make bath, body, and shave soap. Sometimes they call themselves artisans, other times the consumers and industry apply the name. Since the term is cliché, I will just call them soapers. These soapers have studied the art of making many different types of soap, and in our interest shave soap. There are 2 primary varieties of shave soap, vegan and tallow. Most soapers concentrate their efforts to one, the other, or both. The good ones have a mastery of both. A tallow based soap is much like I described in my opening paragraph, the main ingredient would be an animal based fat of beef, lard, or sheep tallow. Each fat having its own particular properties that the soaper is looking to exploit. Then there are the vegan soaps, so named because their main ingredient starts with a fatty plant material for example coconut oil, palm oil, avocado oil, olive oil, and kokum butter. The soaper would start with their tallow or plant based fatty concoction and add lye. The ensuing chemical reaction is called saponification. This is when the correct proportions of fat and lye have reacted to create soap. Of note, a soap advertising “organic materials” is misleading as we just learned 2 products go through a chemical reaction to form a third chemical, a chemical cannot be “organic”. The soaper will then adjust the recipe to get the desired results wanted. Super-fatting is adding a touch more fat to the recipe than the lye will saponify. Some soapers add bentonite clay powder. Others will add lanolin, a substance squeezed from sheep wool to give the soap extra skin care qualities. As the soap is undergoing its saponification process, soapers will add their various essential and fragrance oils to create the scent they are looking for. There is a third type of soap called glycerin. Glycerin is a byproduct from many cosmetic and industrial processes and therefore can be purchased in bulk quite cheaply. There are soapers that buy glycerin in bulk melt it in the microwave or double boiler, at some scent, then sell them in 4 oz. containers. I personally find glycerin type soap sub-par in performance and lacking in creative ingenuity so I don’t use them, but they are available to consumers.
As you can see it’s a little more in-depth than adding lye to bacon grease. I believe it is the science and imagination of the “artisan” soaper that appeals to their users as well as the superior performance and wide range of scents that set soapers apart from the can of blue gel or canned foam currently sitting in your cabinet. My 2 personal favorite choices for small business shave soaps are Barrister and Mann, and Catie’s Bubbles. Barrister has developed and continues to innovate both tallow and vegan formulas, sometimes combining both for outstanding performance. Catie’s Bubbles has perfected the vegan soap in a spectacular way. Soapers are free to name their soaps anything they want and the names are meant to impart the scent that the soap has. Here are some examples; Waterlyptus—watermelon and eucalyptus, Limon—lemon, Saturday Morning Shave—fruit loops, Bascilica--balsamic myrrh and smoky frankincense, Arctique—hypermentholated, Iced Key Lime—menthol and lime essential oil, Fouet L’Orange—modeled after the scent of orange creamscicle, and Rosee Du Matin—french for “morning dew” but smells exactly like Mountain Dew. These are just a small sample of the scents available from 3 US soapers. There are dozens more U.S. and European based manufacturers, thus delving into factory made soaps. These soaps that I just described are all hard to semi soft. Then there are the creams. They can come in tubes like toothpaste or in 4-8 oz. tubs.
It important to note that shave soap is designed to soften the hair and to provide glide for the razor over your skin. That is its sole purpose. I must scold some males and especially females (I will refer to as leg shavers) that use something other than shave soap to shave. Leg shavers are the worst. They will reach for the bottle of hair conditioner or whatever bar of body soap is within reach to use as a shave soap. TSK TSK. The leg shavers in my life can’t be bothered with the time it takes to build a lather to shave with. (this will be discussed further down) To this end I have provided them with all of the shave cream they can use. C.O. Bigelow makes a cream sold in Bath and Bodyworks for about $5.00 a tube and it lasts almost 6 months for 2 of them. When you realize that a detergent bar is nothing more than a concoction of different chemical cleansers the FDA is permitting to call soap, it becomes much clearer. It is not soponified fat created to clean or shave with. Shaving with anything other than true shave soap leaves your skin dry, flakey, itchy, and can cause foliculitis (shave bumps) due to an inferior shave. Other name brand creams are Proraso (who makes the C.O. Bigelow cream) and Arko. Merely apply a snurdle of cream on your hand and smear it over the wet areas to be shaved and proceed to shave. The results are far better than hair conditioner.
So, how to get all of that awesome shave soap we discussed on to your face to shave with? The ubiquitous shave brush of course! There are 4 types of shave brushes made of different material, boar, badger, synthetic, and horse. The boar is made of true hog hair, usually collected at butcher time. Badger hair is collected much the same way. A synthetic is man-made bristles that are designed to act and operate like natural hair shave bristles, and horse hair brushes are made from mane and tail trimmings from race and show horses. Each type of brush has a particular quality a user is looking for. Any brush can be used on any soap, and applied on any face or surface, giving the user choices they never had while smearing blue goo over their face by hand before a shave. Regardless of brush type, there are 2 techniques used to generate lather; mug lather and face lather. Mug lather is the most self explanatory as the soap is pressed into the bottom of the mug, a wet brush is then used to generate the lather. To face lather, a wet brush is swirled on the soap until a soap paste is generated, then the brush is swirled on the wet surface to be shaved, building lather there. Drops of water are added as the lather is built. You might ask, “Why would anyone want to face lather?” The action of building the lather on your face combines the many attributes of lather into a single step. It gives more time for the hair follicle to absorb water, and it helps isolate and separate skin from the hair follicle. So while not actually exfoliating per se, the added benefits of the skin conditioning qualities of the soap are realized. Some cream users will use a badger brush and a snurdle of soap in a large bowl (called a scuttle) and create the lather there, then apply the area to be shaved. Most shave soaps are now sold in small 4-8 oz. tubs and leave zero room to mug lather. It has forced users like me to learn the face lathering technique as that seems the only way to use it effectively.
A word on brush longevity, on all but synthetic always soak them or let them sit for a few minutes in water. This softens the natural hair bristles to prevent breakage during use. And never leave them in the mug to dry bristle down. If you ever see vintage brushes for sale, they will have a windswept effect like a tree in strong wind from being left to dry in the mug. Always rinse and stand them on the handle or hang them from their handle to dry between uses. With these steps, they will maintain their like-new shape and last almost indefinitely.
To conclude, the lather you generate is far and away many times more superior and different than the canned product you are accustomed to buying. You can expect a thick, creamy, yogurt like consistency with the sweet aromatics of the soap filling the room. After a week or so you will notice less irritation, softer skin and a reduction or elimination of foliculitis. The performance gap between tallow and vegan soaps is now almost non-existent and most users can’t even tell the difference unless they are told. But as with all things subjective, you won’t know the advantages of one soap over another or a brush type over another unless you try them side by side or back to back to form an opinion. And that opinion can be as polarizing as the Ford vs GM vs Fiat argument. My next and possibly final on shaving article will cover shave technique and aftershave.
Retro Shave article 4
In the fourth and final article I will combine what we learned about razors, blades, soaps, and brushes with additional information on proper techniques and the world of aftershave lotion and balms.
In the current world of cart shaving, method doesn’t matter. In the realm of DE and SE shaving, it really does. With a two day stubble I want you to take a close look at your beard growth in the mirror. If you read with glasses, now is the time to put them on. Every person’s facial hair will grow in a different direction in different parts of their face. Note the direction the hair grows in each portion of your face and neck, especially around the Adam’s apple. The neck area is a MAJOR source of irritation for all male face shavers. Here are some terms I will use, and they are important when discussing the approach you develop for your personal shaving routine. With the Grain (WTG). Across the Grain (XTG). Against the Grain (ATG).
If you have mentally taken note of your hair growth direction, this is called mapping your face. Now, you will shave your face using some or all of the above techniques. It is also important to note that in DE and SE wet-shaving, more than one pass is usually required for a smooth result. If you have only allocated yourself 1.5 minutes to shave, you might as well postpone shaving till you have time to do it properly. Cartridge manufacturers touted 2-5 blades as a timesaving breakthrough when it was just a reason to collect more money from their users while creating more irritation.
With your soap of choice, and your preferred brush, prepare your lather. As noted previously, face lathering your soap promotes healthier and softer skin. As your hair follicle absorbs moisture, it makes it much easier for the blade to cut it. Scientists have found that a male facial hair follicle is as dense as a copper wire of the same diameter. The goal is to cut this hair while leaving the skin unscathed. After applying your lather, using your DE or SE razor, make your first WTG pass. Some people rinse between passes, some do not. For people entering this realm of shaving it is recommended to only make two WTG passes and stop. Over the next day or so, you should look for any skin reactions to improper technique or skin reactions to ingredients to the soap. After a few WTG shaves, it is time to step up your game. For pass #2, shave XTG, that is, across the direction of follicle growth. If you feel comfortable at this stage, for pass #3, you can go ATG. Now admittedly, most men cringe at the thought of shaving ATG, but rest assured, it is quite easy with a quality blade, soap, and razor of choice. Remember, you are using a blade that costs between .10 and .15 cents. Blade preservation is not your goal, pain free and super smooth shaves are. This is where blade preference really comes into focus. The ATG pass should be effortless and absolutely pain free without tugging or pulling. If not, your search for a quality blade continues. Then you have what some call the “clean-up pass” where in you only lather up the parts and patches that need attention or that you missed. On a personal note, I can only make WTG and XTG passes on my neck. Anything more aggressive invites irritation.
For the leg shavers among us, their hair follicle is much thinner, more disperse, and they generally shave ATG with every pass. So the razors and blades they prefer may last much longer. Generally speaking, a blade may last 4-6 shaves on the face, or 6-10 on the legs. Of course this is subjective and different for every person. Head shavers find blades only last 2-4 shaves or less due to the density of the hair on the scalp. Also to note, a razor does not know the surface it is shaving. The time honored practice of a leg shaver stealing a face shaver’s razor for the night should become a thing of the past. With the low cost of blades, a razor could be shared without secrecy.
The shave is now over, but it’s time to cap off the routine. It is time to apply an aftershave or balm, sometime called milk. When looking online or in the store, you will see the term “aftershave lotion”, and this is decidedly a misnomer as it has the consistency of a very viscous liquid. The milks and balms are as the name implies, thick and creamy. You have the choice of alcohol and non-alcohol based aftershaves and they all have attributes based on the affect you want or desire. Alcohol based after shave lotions, or ASLs have the combined effect of displacing water from your skin and sterilizing it at the same time. Some skin irritation that people believe to be foliculitis is really an infection of the pore. Alcohol based splashes tend to correct this for some people. Others find alcohol to be too drying and stick with balms. People like me switch aftershave types based on weather conditions, like during the winter months when dry cold air can be harsh, a balm is better for me. Some of the small business soapers have branched out into this market as consumers began to demand an aftershave lotion or balm that matches the soap they used. Soapers haven’t disappointed as most all now have matching soaps and aftershave pairings. Soapers have even created specially designed balms for the leg shavers. But let’s not overlook the quality ASLs available to us at drugstores and dollar stores.
Dollar General sells a Barbasol brand that is effective and economical. Most Walgreens stores carry Pinaud Clubman that is the exact ASL that your barber uses when he is done shaving your neck. Family Dollar (not to be confused with Dollar General) sells a Spice aftershave that closely matches the 1980s Schulton Old Spice, now reformulated and sold by Proctor and Gamble. Aqua Velva and its many copies are still on the market, but my favorite by far is Skin Bracer by Mennen. It has high amounts of alcohol, menthol, and glycerin for the perfect cool/burn aftershave feel. Glycerin in ASL is there to help counteract the drying affects of the alcohol. Some ASLs are strongly scented like Clubman, and can double as cologne. The fun of the dime store aftershave is the ability to do the sniff test in the aisle before you buy. It also helps to get the leg shaver’s opinion, as that could be the ultimate opinion that truly matters. The market is ripe with aftershave choices, much more than the shave soaps that are available. I have personally gravitated to some ASLs made overseas, namely Floid from Spain and Vitos from Italy. They provide the skin conditioning qualities I prefer, and not so strong as to announce my presence in a room before I walk in. Also, in terms of menthol, Osage Rub is a pure face freeze delight, and I sometimes mix it with my Skin Bracer. Osage rub is made by Pinaud and is usually the green aftershave in the bottle next to the Clubman at the barbershop. Mr. Fine, a U.S. based aftershave producer makes a menthol ASL called Snake Bite. It has 3 components, alcohol, menthol, and water, and it is virtually scent free once dried.
To conclude, I have discussed almost every facet of shaving. My most important point though is shaving doesn’t have to be expensive or painful. It doesn’t have to be as routine as brushing your teeth or tying your shoes. Shaving using methods and razors 100 years old is perfectly acceptable and economical. Never pass an antique dealer as they may have a razor sold as a curio, but still perfectly usable. As much as I dislike cartridges, I will concede they do have a use for some people or when shaving sensitive areas. Atra and Trac II razor handles can still be found and the Dollar General store sells their brand cartridges for a reasonable $1.75 for 6. It can be difficult to introduce this method of shaving without making subjective statements yet provide information purely from an educational standpoint. As in-depth as I went on many aspects, there is always more to be learned and explored. I would like to invite anyone looking to gain more information on any aspect of wet-shaving to a free website I frequent daily. It is called damnfineshave.com . Members are encouraged to ask questions and discuss any topic related to shaving, and some that are not. Many small business soap makers are members of this site and answer customer questions daily. There is even a classified section for members to buy and sell shave related items. I hope I have brought attention to an aspect of daily life that should be enjoyed rather than performed and broadened your knowledge base on a topic most never give a fleeting second thought to. Until next time, see you at the barbershop!
A week after my last article ran I asked the editor/owner if he had gotten any positive feedback and if it was well received. His response was "I haven't gotten any complaints about it at all. In fact, I never hear anything unless people are complaining, so it must be all right with them."
The article was titled Retro Shave
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Article 1
I am being allowed to author a column with successive follow-ups that could possibly conclude after the fourth column. I have given the editors at the Pinckneyville Press full authority to edit or modify my writings to best fit their paper. In full disclosure, I do not own stock in any of the products or merchandise I will discuss in my column. In addition, my articles to the Pinckneyville Press are free and I am receiving zero compensation for them.
My articles are meant mostly to inform you of a uniquely different world of shaving using forgotten practices that were once common in the times of our Grandfathers and Great Grandfathers. Many men and women today prefer a clean and sharp appearance but are limited by the sticker shock of purchasing the razors and accompanying cartridges to feed them. Then there are the multitude of razors from differing manufactures vying for your money in the shave section of any pharmacy and shopping center. Not to be outdone, you have a choice between a can of blue gel or foam. It makes no difference the label on the front as they all smell and perform exactly the same.
Many people have different reasons for shaving. Men in the military are forced to shave on a daily basis. Police and firemen may do it for a clean image or safety’s sake to allow a good seal in their oxygen mask. Then there are professionals that prefer a clean shaved or well groomed appearance as they are in the public eye. That leaves the rest of us that have the choice to shave to maintain a particular image, or a personal standard of grooming. Regardless of our motivation to shave, we are all faced with the same sticker shock when we go to purchase the replacement cartridges (“carts” for short) at the cheapest place we can find them. Problem is, there isn’t a cheap place to buy them.
Proctor and Gamble, the parent company or Gillette will receive the greatest amount of ire from me. They will not reveal their cart manufacture methodology, nor the cost to produce them citing intellectual property rights. A court case in the European Union against P&G and the price gouging on carts reveals that it costs them $.50 or less to manufacture a single cartridge, yet they sell them to us for prices ranging from $4.75-$5.25 a piece. Or, about $30.00 for a pack of 5. It’s no wonder Jeff always has a 3 day shadow. To understand why we are at this point today, you have to understand King Gillette’s original business model from 1910.
King Gillette designed his razors to be purchased cheaply, yet owned the patents and proprietary knowledge on the blades. From the beginning, blades were designed for the trash, at elevated prices to the consumer. Many startup and established businesses try to replicate this business model, to create an army of return customers for something they can’t get anywhere else. An example today would be the Keurig coffee cups, toilet bowl scrub pads, and printer ink cartridges. This business model had been pretty effective up until the 2008 recession. Gillette took a huge hit when Americans decided to trim back their discretionary spending. When their analysts decided to study how and why we weren’t buying $50.00 in carts every other month anymore, they found men and women just continued to use their existing razor until it was utterly dull and painful. So based on these findings Gillette now markets a single cartridge head can last for a month while you camp, canoe and mountain climb. In reality, users were just holding out to the bitter end to buy new carts. Gillette attributed the lack of purchases to longevity, when in fact it was due to their high priced carts.
I tell you this business model to show you the power of their marketing and how Gillette can obsolete one “system” and spur you to buy into another, more expensive method, while never being more effective in hair removal than the last. Gillette spends millions on market research. It will not release or market a new system into a market unless they think the market has the disposable income to support it. This is why many poverty stricken and less developed areas of the world have never seen anything fancier than a disposable single edge Bic razor. Their market just can’t bear it.
I know this sounds like one persons rant against a seemingly unchangeable fact of life and progress. But it is more to remind you of the power of the marketing forces that have changed our society and got us to begrudgingly accept $50.00 cartridges as normal. But let’s skip back to King Gillette and 1910 where it all began. This is where I spend my nightly activities shaving. My own personal male spa where I treat myself to wonderfully close shaves with a multitude of scents. In following articles, I will discuss and explain the different types of vintage razor designs using double edge and single edge blades, the shave soaps, creams, and brushes used to generate and apply the lather, the techniques to achieve the smoothest of shaves, and the wonderful world of dime store and up market aftershaves.
Article 2 Retro Shave
To continue the discussion of shaving, I will start with a short history on the progression of the types and methods from inception to present day.
In the beginning, men used sharpened flint, then steel to shave and remove body hair. This was later refined to the straight razor. Throughout the 18th century, specially trained men were the sole source for a clean shave, and maybe a haircut if desired. This also reflected the socio-economic reality of the times. Men of means could afford more and frequent shaves reflecting their status, while the working class had to settle for the occasional shave as income allowed. As this system evolved, self taught men began to shave themselves in their own homes, nearly obsoleting the purpose of the wet-shave barber. Interesting fact: only a licensed and state certified barber can legally lay steel to skin and shave your face. No other profession can make that claim.
Enter King Gillette. He devised a system of razors that used a patented blade that only he produced. Beginning about 1910, his company produced thousands of various razors types that only used one style of blade, the Double Edge. To further cement Gillette’s market share, Gillette received a government contract to produce double edge razors for issue to all military from 1917-1919. This meant that thousands of young men were indoctrinated to a single way of shaving during their service and thereafter. Other manufacturers saw this and attempted their own proprietary blades, but the marketing and supply chain of Gillette proved too strong. This spurred further development and refinement of different types of razors, initially the Single Edge, then later, the Injector, led by companies named Gem/Eversharp and Schick.
When razor manufacturer’s realized that they would surely fail at designing and marketing their own patented proprietary blades, they accepted King Gillette’s Double Edge blade design as the standard, and began designing their own razors to fit his blade. While not as profitable for them initially, it did come to fruition in later years after King Gillette’s patent on his blade design expired. This created an arms race between razor and blade manufactures to provide the best, most durable, and most cost effective blade to the consumer. This culminated in the 1970s with a double edge blade made by Personna as a tungsten steel blade called the Personna 74, or P74 for short. It has been reported that a single P74 blade could last for over 30 plus shaves before it began to show signs of being dull. While this was fantastic news to us consumers, it was quite upsetting to the manufacturers. There was zero profit motive for them to make such a long lasting and durable blade, as it didn’t perpetuate the return customer they were targeting. Today, these P74s are highly sought after by collectors and users of double edge razors. Even while demanding extremely high prices, they pay for themselves as a blade that never seems to go dull.
A thorough explanation of the different blades helps to understand the razor types that use them. A standard Double Edge (or DE) blade has 2 cutting edges. It is .004-.0042 inches thick, or as thin a piece of paper. A Single Edge (or SE), was developed prior to the DE and is a bit thicker at .009 inches. They are what you would commonly think of as a paint scraper blade. In fact, the paint scraper was designed to further use a blade that was already manufactured and on the market. The blades look identical but you shouldn’t use paint scraper blades from Home Depot in your SE razor. SE shaving blades are commonly found in most pharmacies and drug stores and will have .009 stamped on the blade spine, on the package, or both. Injector blades are also referred to as an SE, but most all come in an injector tool that hold anywhere from 7-20 blades. They are .010 thick, but look nothing like the other two types of blades. They have almost exactly the same cutting edge width, but are only about a quarter inch wide. The injector has a “key” that inserts into the razor and a thumb slide injects a new blade into place, pushing out the old one. More on blades later…
Concerning razors, you have 3 types, and they are designed for the 3 different types of blades mentioned, and the blades are not interchangeable.
The DE razor will be a twist-to-open (or TTO), a 3 piece, and a less common 2 piece that resembles the 3 piece. The TTO wins in its simplicity. The user twists a knob at the bottom of the handle and the “doors” open to expose the blade for removal and replacement. Close the doors and it is ready for use. The 3 piece is comprised of the handle, the base plate, and the top cap. Unscrewing the handle separates all 3 pieces. The DE blade itself is sandwiched between the top cap and base plate. The 2 piece disassembles essentially the same, only the base plate is fixed to the handle.
The SE, being older, is a much simpler design to load for operation. One type has a spring loaded top cap that simply flips open and closes on the blade locking it in position. Another type operates identically, only as a TTO. Others have an internal locking mechanism with the cap release on the back of the handle. These are called “Push-Button” razors.
The injector razor operates as described above. The injector tool safely injects a blade into place and the razor is ready for use. The injector is a favorite of cartridge shaving converts as the angle of the blade and head lends itself intuitively to cartridge style shaving.
Blades. The most subjective topic of discussion for traditional wet shaving. A quick search reveals at least 12 manufacturers of DE blades worldwide, with only one U.S. based manufacturer in Verona Va. Each of these manufacturers can put out multiple brands of varying quality and workmanship. To put it another way, vehicle drivers may state that a certain brand and grade of fuel runs best in their car. A baker may claim allegiance to one specific brand of baking powder or flour that creates the desired results. In traditional wet shaving, no single brand of blade will perform the same across the spectrum of individual razors, and individual users. If you are holding a Mach 3 handle, you only have 1 choice of blades to buy. You have to like it because that all you can get. With DE shaving, the number of different razor and blade combinations is infinite. It is in this exploration, looking for the perfect blade/razor combo that fuels the nightly quest to find the perfect pairing.
Personna, located in Verona Va., makes DE, SE and injector blades. The DE blades cost about $13.00 for 100 blades on Amazon, and I personally use each blade 4 times. (read: $0.13 per blade) Their injector blades are a bit harder to find, but Schick markets their brand in drugstores and can be found for about $6.25 for 7 blades at Stotlars. One injector blade can easily last well over 20 plus shaves. When considering converting to DE or SE wet shaving, it is always recommended to buy a sampler pack of different blades to find the right blade, in your razor, for your skin. The choices for DE blades are seemingly limitless but choices are a bit constrained for the SE consumer, yet the blades available are quite respected for their quality.
To conclude, the most common responses I hear about this type of shaving is “I didn’t know they still made blades for those”, and “Aren’t those razors dangerous?”. The first statement, yes of course. The internet can be used for more than just Facebook. As to their safety, they were referred to as Safety Razors when they were initially introduced, as they were far safer than the straight razor they were replacing in household bathrooms. Also, considering their run in the marketplace from 1903 to about 1985, the American public used them as their sole source of hair removal. DE only became dangerous when new razor marketing sought to move us to a new system of shaving called cartridges.
Article 3 will cover my favorite part of shaving, shave soaps/creams, and their best friend, the shave brush.
Retro Shave Article 3
Soaps and brushes. Sounds simple right? Nope, it’s a maze of complexity you never knew existed till I came along.
I can remember a time in my primary school that our teacher asked the students to bring their parents’ “jar of bacon grease” to school. Then the teacher proceeded to combine all of our grease together, she added lye, poured it out in a cake pan, and after drying, we all got to take home a chunk of our very own bacon grease bath soap.
Today there are small businesses that make bath, body, and shave soap. Sometimes they call themselves artisans, other times the consumers and industry apply the name. Since the term is cliché, I will just call them soapers. These soapers have studied the art of making many different types of soap, and in our interest shave soap. There are 2 primary varieties of shave soap, vegan and tallow. Most soapers concentrate their efforts to one, the other, or both. The good ones have a mastery of both. A tallow based soap is much like I described in my opening paragraph, the main ingredient would be an animal based fat of beef, lard, or sheep tallow. Each fat having its own particular properties that the soaper is looking to exploit. Then there are the vegan soaps, so named because their main ingredient starts with a fatty plant material for example coconut oil, palm oil, avocado oil, olive oil, and kokum butter. The soaper would start with their tallow or plant based fatty concoction and add lye. The ensuing chemical reaction is called saponification. This is when the correct proportions of fat and lye have reacted to create soap. Of note, a soap advertising “organic materials” is misleading as we just learned 2 products go through a chemical reaction to form a third chemical, a chemical cannot be “organic”. The soaper will then adjust the recipe to get the desired results wanted. Super-fatting is adding a touch more fat to the recipe than the lye will saponify. Some soapers add bentonite clay powder. Others will add lanolin, a substance squeezed from sheep wool to give the soap extra skin care qualities. As the soap is undergoing its saponification process, soapers will add their various essential and fragrance oils to create the scent they are looking for. There is a third type of soap called glycerin. Glycerin is a byproduct from many cosmetic and industrial processes and therefore can be purchased in bulk quite cheaply. There are soapers that buy glycerin in bulk melt it in the microwave or double boiler, at some scent, then sell them in 4 oz. containers. I personally find glycerin type soap sub-par in performance and lacking in creative ingenuity so I don’t use them, but they are available to consumers.
As you can see it’s a little more in-depth than adding lye to bacon grease. I believe it is the science and imagination of the “artisan” soaper that appeals to their users as well as the superior performance and wide range of scents that set soapers apart from the can of blue gel or canned foam currently sitting in your cabinet. My 2 personal favorite choices for small business shave soaps are Barrister and Mann, and Catie’s Bubbles. Barrister has developed and continues to innovate both tallow and vegan formulas, sometimes combining both for outstanding performance. Catie’s Bubbles has perfected the vegan soap in a spectacular way. Soapers are free to name their soaps anything they want and the names are meant to impart the scent that the soap has. Here are some examples; Waterlyptus—watermelon and eucalyptus, Limon—lemon, Saturday Morning Shave—fruit loops, Bascilica--balsamic myrrh and smoky frankincense, Arctique—hypermentholated, Iced Key Lime—menthol and lime essential oil, Fouet L’Orange—modeled after the scent of orange creamscicle, and Rosee Du Matin—french for “morning dew” but smells exactly like Mountain Dew. These are just a small sample of the scents available from 3 US soapers. There are dozens more U.S. and European based manufacturers, thus delving into factory made soaps. These soaps that I just described are all hard to semi soft. Then there are the creams. They can come in tubes like toothpaste or in 4-8 oz. tubs.
It important to note that shave soap is designed to soften the hair and to provide glide for the razor over your skin. That is its sole purpose. I must scold some males and especially females (I will refer to as leg shavers) that use something other than shave soap to shave. Leg shavers are the worst. They will reach for the bottle of hair conditioner or whatever bar of body soap is within reach to use as a shave soap. TSK TSK. The leg shavers in my life can’t be bothered with the time it takes to build a lather to shave with. (this will be discussed further down) To this end I have provided them with all of the shave cream they can use. C.O. Bigelow makes a cream sold in Bath and Bodyworks for about $5.00 a tube and it lasts almost 6 months for 2 of them. When you realize that a detergent bar is nothing more than a concoction of different chemical cleansers the FDA is permitting to call soap, it becomes much clearer. It is not soponified fat created to clean or shave with. Shaving with anything other than true shave soap leaves your skin dry, flakey, itchy, and can cause foliculitis (shave bumps) due to an inferior shave. Other name brand creams are Proraso (who makes the C.O. Bigelow cream) and Arko. Merely apply a snurdle of cream on your hand and smear it over the wet areas to be shaved and proceed to shave. The results are far better than hair conditioner.
So, how to get all of that awesome shave soap we discussed on to your face to shave with? The ubiquitous shave brush of course! There are 4 types of shave brushes made of different material, boar, badger, synthetic, and horse. The boar is made of true hog hair, usually collected at butcher time. Badger hair is collected much the same way. A synthetic is man-made bristles that are designed to act and operate like natural hair shave bristles, and horse hair brushes are made from mane and tail trimmings from race and show horses. Each type of brush has a particular quality a user is looking for. Any brush can be used on any soap, and applied on any face or surface, giving the user choices they never had while smearing blue goo over their face by hand before a shave. Regardless of brush type, there are 2 techniques used to generate lather; mug lather and face lather. Mug lather is the most self explanatory as the soap is pressed into the bottom of the mug, a wet brush is then used to generate the lather. To face lather, a wet brush is swirled on the soap until a soap paste is generated, then the brush is swirled on the wet surface to be shaved, building lather there. Drops of water are added as the lather is built. You might ask, “Why would anyone want to face lather?” The action of building the lather on your face combines the many attributes of lather into a single step. It gives more time for the hair follicle to absorb water, and it helps isolate and separate skin from the hair follicle. So while not actually exfoliating per se, the added benefits of the skin conditioning qualities of the soap are realized. Some cream users will use a badger brush and a snurdle of soap in a large bowl (called a scuttle) and create the lather there, then apply the area to be shaved. Most shave soaps are now sold in small 4-8 oz. tubs and leave zero room to mug lather. It has forced users like me to learn the face lathering technique as that seems the only way to use it effectively.
A word on brush longevity, on all but synthetic always soak them or let them sit for a few minutes in water. This softens the natural hair bristles to prevent breakage during use. And never leave them in the mug to dry bristle down. If you ever see vintage brushes for sale, they will have a windswept effect like a tree in strong wind from being left to dry in the mug. Always rinse and stand them on the handle or hang them from their handle to dry between uses. With these steps, they will maintain their like-new shape and last almost indefinitely.
To conclude, the lather you generate is far and away many times more superior and different than the canned product you are accustomed to buying. You can expect a thick, creamy, yogurt like consistency with the sweet aromatics of the soap filling the room. After a week or so you will notice less irritation, softer skin and a reduction or elimination of foliculitis. The performance gap between tallow and vegan soaps is now almost non-existent and most users can’t even tell the difference unless they are told. But as with all things subjective, you won’t know the advantages of one soap over another or a brush type over another unless you try them side by side or back to back to form an opinion. And that opinion can be as polarizing as the Ford vs GM vs Fiat argument. My next and possibly final on shaving article will cover shave technique and aftershave.
Retro Shave article 4
In the fourth and final article I will combine what we learned about razors, blades, soaps, and brushes with additional information on proper techniques and the world of aftershave lotion and balms.
In the current world of cart shaving, method doesn’t matter. In the realm of DE and SE shaving, it really does. With a two day stubble I want you to take a close look at your beard growth in the mirror. If you read with glasses, now is the time to put them on. Every person’s facial hair will grow in a different direction in different parts of their face. Note the direction the hair grows in each portion of your face and neck, especially around the Adam’s apple. The neck area is a MAJOR source of irritation for all male face shavers. Here are some terms I will use, and they are important when discussing the approach you develop for your personal shaving routine. With the Grain (WTG). Across the Grain (XTG). Against the Grain (ATG).
If you have mentally taken note of your hair growth direction, this is called mapping your face. Now, you will shave your face using some or all of the above techniques. It is also important to note that in DE and SE wet-shaving, more than one pass is usually required for a smooth result. If you have only allocated yourself 1.5 minutes to shave, you might as well postpone shaving till you have time to do it properly. Cartridge manufacturers touted 2-5 blades as a timesaving breakthrough when it was just a reason to collect more money from their users while creating more irritation.
With your soap of choice, and your preferred brush, prepare your lather. As noted previously, face lathering your soap promotes healthier and softer skin. As your hair follicle absorbs moisture, it makes it much easier for the blade to cut it. Scientists have found that a male facial hair follicle is as dense as a copper wire of the same diameter. The goal is to cut this hair while leaving the skin unscathed. After applying your lather, using your DE or SE razor, make your first WTG pass. Some people rinse between passes, some do not. For people entering this realm of shaving it is recommended to only make two WTG passes and stop. Over the next day or so, you should look for any skin reactions to improper technique or skin reactions to ingredients to the soap. After a few WTG shaves, it is time to step up your game. For pass #2, shave XTG, that is, across the direction of follicle growth. If you feel comfortable at this stage, for pass #3, you can go ATG. Now admittedly, most men cringe at the thought of shaving ATG, but rest assured, it is quite easy with a quality blade, soap, and razor of choice. Remember, you are using a blade that costs between .10 and .15 cents. Blade preservation is not your goal, pain free and super smooth shaves are. This is where blade preference really comes into focus. The ATG pass should be effortless and absolutely pain free without tugging or pulling. If not, your search for a quality blade continues. Then you have what some call the “clean-up pass” where in you only lather up the parts and patches that need attention or that you missed. On a personal note, I can only make WTG and XTG passes on my neck. Anything more aggressive invites irritation.
For the leg shavers among us, their hair follicle is much thinner, more disperse, and they generally shave ATG with every pass. So the razors and blades they prefer may last much longer. Generally speaking, a blade may last 4-6 shaves on the face, or 6-10 on the legs. Of course this is subjective and different for every person. Head shavers find blades only last 2-4 shaves or less due to the density of the hair on the scalp. Also to note, a razor does not know the surface it is shaving. The time honored practice of a leg shaver stealing a face shaver’s razor for the night should become a thing of the past. With the low cost of blades, a razor could be shared without secrecy.
The shave is now over, but it’s time to cap off the routine. It is time to apply an aftershave or balm, sometime called milk. When looking online or in the store, you will see the term “aftershave lotion”, and this is decidedly a misnomer as it has the consistency of a very viscous liquid. The milks and balms are as the name implies, thick and creamy. You have the choice of alcohol and non-alcohol based aftershaves and they all have attributes based on the affect you want or desire. Alcohol based after shave lotions, or ASLs have the combined effect of displacing water from your skin and sterilizing it at the same time. Some skin irritation that people believe to be foliculitis is really an infection of the pore. Alcohol based splashes tend to correct this for some people. Others find alcohol to be too drying and stick with balms. People like me switch aftershave types based on weather conditions, like during the winter months when dry cold air can be harsh, a balm is better for me. Some of the small business soapers have branched out into this market as consumers began to demand an aftershave lotion or balm that matches the soap they used. Soapers haven’t disappointed as most all now have matching soaps and aftershave pairings. Soapers have even created specially designed balms for the leg shavers. But let’s not overlook the quality ASLs available to us at drugstores and dollar stores.
Dollar General sells a Barbasol brand that is effective and economical. Most Walgreens stores carry Pinaud Clubman that is the exact ASL that your barber uses when he is done shaving your neck. Family Dollar (not to be confused with Dollar General) sells a Spice aftershave that closely matches the 1980s Schulton Old Spice, now reformulated and sold by Proctor and Gamble. Aqua Velva and its many copies are still on the market, but my favorite by far is Skin Bracer by Mennen. It has high amounts of alcohol, menthol, and glycerin for the perfect cool/burn aftershave feel. Glycerin in ASL is there to help counteract the drying affects of the alcohol. Some ASLs are strongly scented like Clubman, and can double as cologne. The fun of the dime store aftershave is the ability to do the sniff test in the aisle before you buy. It also helps to get the leg shaver’s opinion, as that could be the ultimate opinion that truly matters. The market is ripe with aftershave choices, much more than the shave soaps that are available. I have personally gravitated to some ASLs made overseas, namely Floid from Spain and Vitos from Italy. They provide the skin conditioning qualities I prefer, and not so strong as to announce my presence in a room before I walk in. Also, in terms of menthol, Osage Rub is a pure face freeze delight, and I sometimes mix it with my Skin Bracer. Osage rub is made by Pinaud and is usually the green aftershave in the bottle next to the Clubman at the barbershop. Mr. Fine, a U.S. based aftershave producer makes a menthol ASL called Snake Bite. It has 3 components, alcohol, menthol, and water, and it is virtually scent free once dried.
To conclude, I have discussed almost every facet of shaving. My most important point though is shaving doesn’t have to be expensive or painful. It doesn’t have to be as routine as brushing your teeth or tying your shoes. Shaving using methods and razors 100 years old is perfectly acceptable and economical. Never pass an antique dealer as they may have a razor sold as a curio, but still perfectly usable. As much as I dislike cartridges, I will concede they do have a use for some people or when shaving sensitive areas. Atra and Trac II razor handles can still be found and the Dollar General store sells their brand cartridges for a reasonable $1.75 for 6. It can be difficult to introduce this method of shaving without making subjective statements yet provide information purely from an educational standpoint. As in-depth as I went on many aspects, there is always more to be learned and explored. I would like to invite anyone looking to gain more information on any aspect of wet-shaving to a free website I frequent daily. It is called damnfineshave.com . Members are encouraged to ask questions and discuss any topic related to shaving, and some that are not. Many small business soap makers are members of this site and answer customer questions daily. There is even a classified section for members to buy and sell shave related items. I hope I have brought attention to an aspect of daily life that should be enjoyed rather than performed and broadened your knowledge base on a topic most never give a fleeting second thought to. Until next time, see you at the barbershop!
