I came across this old newspaper article and thought I would share...
The Express (Lock Haven, Pennsylvania) · Saturday, Mar 2, 1968 · Page 2
Old Shaving Brush Survives, but Among the Last of a Vanishing Race
By JOHN P. WYNNE
"SHAVE (shav) -
1. To cut or pare off by the sliding or drawing movement of a razor.
2. To make bare or smooth by cutting off closely the surface or surface covering of; as, to shave the face;
3. a, To cut off closely.
b, To cut off thin slices from xxx"
That is what the reporter's dictionary says about the verb, "shave." It doesn't say a single word about "shaving brush." Whatever became of the shaving brush anyway? Believe it or not, it is still around.
The reported checked a few drug stores. You know - those stores where you can buy a bread board, an inner tube, a fly swatter, a bed-pan and even drugs. They still sell shaving brushes too.
One clerk said, "Yes, we still sell them, but only a few." Another, in answer to a question as to the sales, declared, "Very seldom. It is usually an old man who wants one." The stores did not have a variety of brushes, only one or two kinds, as the demand is very light.
What cake shaving soap? They still sell a fair amount of it. One clerk said cake soap outsells some of the less popular shaving creams. But the shaving brush is a "vanishing American."
It belongs truly with the old straight razor which your reporter never had the intestinal fortitude to try - even for peeling potatoes. Along came the safety razor and shaving creams, and later the electric razor.
The shaving brush is like the straight razor. Most of the younger folks never heard of either one. The old folks - except those diehards who still want to vote for McKinley or Bryan - associate the shaving brush with gas lights, livery stables, bob sleds and harness shops.
Back in the "good old days" the man of the house (whose opinions were not necessarily those of the management) had his favorite shaving brush. If he wore a high collar (not the celluloid kind) and a thick wallet, he would naturally purchase a "badger."
A "badger," to those who have not delved deeply into history, is a shaving brush made of the soft hair of the badger, a borrowing mammal. That particular kind of brush was to the straight-razor artist as a Pierce Arrow or Packard (the Cadillac and Lincoln of yesteryear) was to a car lover.
The man of the house could be depended upon to like one particular pair of old house slippers, one particular old smoking pipe and one particular old anything. He usually only had one of any old anything. With men, that was the way it was with everything; except when it came to women, of course.
The badger hair of the old shaving brush or even a hair of a much cheaper model felt very good on the chops as one prepared to shave at home with a straight razor. It was sort of the calm before the storm, the trial before the execution, the unsheathing of the sabre before the slaughter, the beating of the tomtom before the torture.
The reporter, who managed somehow to escape the straight razor era, checked his medicine chest. There it was the only shaving brush he ever had. It was an "Albright Rubberset," purchased about 1925 from George C. Harvey, his boss when he was a "sodajerk" or "drugstore cowboy" at the Harvey Pharmacy, Bellefonte Ave., at N. Jones St., now the home of Cal Calhoun's radio-television shop.
Back in the 1930s the handle snapped off. Being an old shaving brush enthusiast, the reporter could not bring himself to throw it away. He melted parafin, poured it into the hole over the bristles and sanded the top when the wax cooled and hardened. He still has the old brush which is as dear to him as the old oaken bucket or a keg of old Prince Farrington's best mountain dew, if he had one (or two).
The old brush has helped soften his beard in Lock Haven, Philadelphia, Hornell, N.Y., and a few other places. The brush is still in use. However, it has long since been retired to a glasses-washing brush, or should it be said - in keeping with a bygone era - a spectacles washing brush.
The 43-year-old brush, old enough to vote twice, should perhaps be retired and presented to the Clinton County Historical Society Museum but that might create a precedent regarding disposal of a reporter old enough to vote three times.
Remember Jake Heimer and Johnny Shea? They barbered into their 80s with steady hand. Their shops at one time had other things which are now only memories - the individual shaving mugs. They are as scarce as mustache cups.
If you were a regular customer and got shaved daily (for a dime) or quite often, you had an honored spot in the open-front cabinet for your own shaving mug with your name on it.
You furnished the mug. The barber furnished the brush, soap and the razor, freshly stropped with the blackened piece of leather hanging from the old Koken barber chair, the older models of which were upholstered in red velvet, the new ones in black leather-like material.
Memories of the razor strop took on a different hue when they were used at home by the man of the house for chastising a wayward offspring. That, too, is but a memory of yesteryear.
The Express (Lock Haven, Pennsylvania) · Saturday, Mar 2, 1968 · Page 2
Old Shaving Brush Survives, but Among the Last of a Vanishing Race
By JOHN P. WYNNE
"SHAVE (shav) -
1. To cut or pare off by the sliding or drawing movement of a razor.
2. To make bare or smooth by cutting off closely the surface or surface covering of; as, to shave the face;
3. a, To cut off closely.
b, To cut off thin slices from xxx"
That is what the reporter's dictionary says about the verb, "shave." It doesn't say a single word about "shaving brush." Whatever became of the shaving brush anyway? Believe it or not, it is still around.
The reported checked a few drug stores. You know - those stores where you can buy a bread board, an inner tube, a fly swatter, a bed-pan and even drugs. They still sell shaving brushes too.
One clerk said, "Yes, we still sell them, but only a few." Another, in answer to a question as to the sales, declared, "Very seldom. It is usually an old man who wants one." The stores did not have a variety of brushes, only one or two kinds, as the demand is very light.
What cake shaving soap? They still sell a fair amount of it. One clerk said cake soap outsells some of the less popular shaving creams. But the shaving brush is a "vanishing American."
It belongs truly with the old straight razor which your reporter never had the intestinal fortitude to try - even for peeling potatoes. Along came the safety razor and shaving creams, and later the electric razor.
The shaving brush is like the straight razor. Most of the younger folks never heard of either one. The old folks - except those diehards who still want to vote for McKinley or Bryan - associate the shaving brush with gas lights, livery stables, bob sleds and harness shops.
Back in the "good old days" the man of the house (whose opinions were not necessarily those of the management) had his favorite shaving brush. If he wore a high collar (not the celluloid kind) and a thick wallet, he would naturally purchase a "badger."
A "badger," to those who have not delved deeply into history, is a shaving brush made of the soft hair of the badger, a borrowing mammal. That particular kind of brush was to the straight-razor artist as a Pierce Arrow or Packard (the Cadillac and Lincoln of yesteryear) was to a car lover.
The man of the house could be depended upon to like one particular pair of old house slippers, one particular old smoking pipe and one particular old anything. He usually only had one of any old anything. With men, that was the way it was with everything; except when it came to women, of course.
The badger hair of the old shaving brush or even a hair of a much cheaper model felt very good on the chops as one prepared to shave at home with a straight razor. It was sort of the calm before the storm, the trial before the execution, the unsheathing of the sabre before the slaughter, the beating of the tomtom before the torture.
The reporter, who managed somehow to escape the straight razor era, checked his medicine chest. There it was the only shaving brush he ever had. It was an "Albright Rubberset," purchased about 1925 from George C. Harvey, his boss when he was a "sodajerk" or "drugstore cowboy" at the Harvey Pharmacy, Bellefonte Ave., at N. Jones St., now the home of Cal Calhoun's radio-television shop.
Back in the 1930s the handle snapped off. Being an old shaving brush enthusiast, the reporter could not bring himself to throw it away. He melted parafin, poured it into the hole over the bristles and sanded the top when the wax cooled and hardened. He still has the old brush which is as dear to him as the old oaken bucket or a keg of old Prince Farrington's best mountain dew, if he had one (or two).
The old brush has helped soften his beard in Lock Haven, Philadelphia, Hornell, N.Y., and a few other places. The brush is still in use. However, it has long since been retired to a glasses-washing brush, or should it be said - in keeping with a bygone era - a spectacles washing brush.
The 43-year-old brush, old enough to vote twice, should perhaps be retired and presented to the Clinton County Historical Society Museum but that might create a precedent regarding disposal of a reporter old enough to vote three times.
Remember Jake Heimer and Johnny Shea? They barbered into their 80s with steady hand. Their shops at one time had other things which are now only memories - the individual shaving mugs. They are as scarce as mustache cups.
If you were a regular customer and got shaved daily (for a dime) or quite often, you had an honored spot in the open-front cabinet for your own shaving mug with your name on it.
You furnished the mug. The barber furnished the brush, soap and the razor, freshly stropped with the blackened piece of leather hanging from the old Koken barber chair, the older models of which were upholstered in red velvet, the new ones in black leather-like material.
Memories of the razor strop took on a different hue when they were used at home by the man of the house for chastising a wayward offspring. That, too, is but a memory of yesteryear.
