Shaving Made Easy

Well, atter all these years of DE shaving and getting it right, I learn I've been doing it all wrong!! Just finished the booklet "Shaving Made Easy" What the Man Who Shaves ought to Know....written in 1905 and published by the 20th Century Correspondence School, New York. Actually it is a free App available at the app store. I realize that shaving was a profession back in 1905 and they must've got it right. Now the book is mainly about "straights" or "Cutthroats", but there is a very brief section on DE, but they were just coming on the scene, it seems. My ?????????? is on Chapter XI,...it states that the popular impression is that soap is used to soften the beard, in which condition it is supposed to most easily cut. Otherwords, as we today are taught, a softened-up beard cuts easier. They say that ain't true. They say this is a mistake. The soap is used, not to soften the beard, but to produce the "opposite" effect, namely to make the hai rstiff and brittle, so that they will present a firm and resisting surface to the razor, A hair, as is well known, is a tube composed of a hard fibrous substance, growing from a bulb or root, which produces a oily matter. This oil works it way up through the hair, and by permeating all parts, renders the hair soft and pliable, In this oily state, it is very difficult to cut the hair with a razor, and it becomes even more difficult if the beard be made still softer by the application of hot water. Many do this and its no wonder they find shaving difficult. Now soap has the opposite effect. It contains either alkali or potash or soda, which when applied to the beard in the form of lather, unites with the oil of the hair, neutralizing it and removing it, and renders the hairs hard stiff and brittle, in which condition the may be easily and readily cut.
So, there it is. I know soaps are different and this was written more for straights, but what is the concensus here???? Help a pimp out!!!!!!!!! Semper-fi MIke

The hot water softens the keratin coating that surrounds the hair fiber. When the core is stiffened by cleaning and removing the oils, and the protective keratin coating is softened with hot water, you create a "perfect storm" for easy cutting.

I look at it like this...I have a big beard. I use beard oil daily to keep it soft and manageable. I wash my beard in hot water(no soap) every morning before applying beard oil. The hot water softens the coating and allows the oil to penetrate, thus keeping the hair soft and supple, and adding a healthy shine.

I shave my head every night. By washing my head with hot water and applying a soap to shave, I have softened the protective keratin coating, and removed the oil from the core/shaft, thereby rendering the hair both soft and brittle, allowing my blade to more easily cut.

This is thought provoking I will need some time to chew on this.

Bagdad, I smells what yer steppin in. At the end of said chapter, it says to wash the face to clean it and to keep any grit from dulling the razor, then thoroughly Dry the face, then Lather up and work the Lather in with the fingers. It sounds like they want the keratin layer to be hard, not soft, as we work so hard to do. Preparation, preparation, preparation!!!! Am I missing something here???? Semper-fi Mike

Bagdad,  I smells what yer steppin in.  At the end of said chapter,  it says to wash the face to clean it and to keep any grit from dulling the razor,  then thoroughly Dry the face,  then Lather up and work the Lather in with the fingers. It sounds like they want the keratin layer to be hard,  not soft,  as we work so hard to do.  Preparation,  preparation,  preparation!!!!  Am I missing something  here????  Semper-fi       Mike

I don;t think you;re missing anything. It is the heat that softens the keratin, not the water. Keratin is waterproof.

Read through this link. It doesn;t explain the properties of shaving at all, but it does help to understand how hair is developed and grown:

http://www.hair-science.com/_int/_en/top...-CHEMISTRY