Puck vs. Stick: Historical perspective

[Mike H]

I remember seeing an advertisement for Ivory soap from 1911 advocating using the bar as a shave stick.

I went out and purchased a bar of Ivory last year after reading this ad. Following the directions as outlined above proved satisfactory results. However, the experience fully converted me to face lathering and I have not used a lather bowl since.

 

[gegarrenton]

This is an awesome thread! I need to go learn some stuff to contribute.

 

[jcrparris]

I love this topic, learning is always fun. but as a side note, what about shaving powders? Was some of the powder put into a bowl with water? I've seen ads for powder tins, but never ifno, do they even make shaving powder nowadays?

 

[mblakele]

Nowadays "shaving powder" usually means a depilatory powder, for example "Magic Shaving Powder". But it used to mean shaving soap, ground up fine and sometimes mixed with starch to keep it from clumping. I suppose you could sprinkle a little on your brush, or dip your brush into a container of it, rather than loading from a puck or a stick. People made it at home (http://books.google.com/books?id=dY...pg=PA406#v=onepage&q="shaving powder"&f=false or http://books.google.com/books?id=UQ...pg=PA430#v=onepage&q="shaving powder"&f=false), or bought it ready-made. JB Williams used to sell it, for example (http://books.google.com/books?id=vl...g=PA1048#v=onepage&q="shaving powder"&f=false). I think it died out after 1960, and by the 1970s "shaving powder" generally meant a depilatory instead of a soap.

 

[jcrparris]

Thanks for the powder answer, I never thought of going to google for an answer

 

[madcap3693]

I tried shaving with Ivory today. Not too bad! I used the method described in the ad from 1911. I had to be worked pretty similarly to Williams. Overall I got good lather that lasted through my 35 min. straight shave. I didn't have any additonal irritation then the usual. Definetly worth a try. I you can lather this, you can lather anything.

 

[Alum of Potash]

Interesting thread. I have recently been thinking about the possibility of using powdered soaps, or just trying to make a lather from ashes. A while back (maybe in March?), HoosierTrooper kindly posted the following ad, which may show when the change from puck to shaving-stick took effect (in the States, at least), and shows that it was not necessarily marketed from the start as a travel-friendly soap. A precise dating or reasonable estimation would be helpful here--perhaps the handwriting on the bottom suggests 1914 or 1916--but in any case, the 1911 ad given by Mike H above already assumes the use of shaving sticks.

 

[BigJ]

Thanks for this. Much more history than I had thought.