I was shopping around the antique district today, and found a box with a puck of soap in it labeled "Barbershop Old Fashioned Luxury Professional Shaving Bar". Apparently the scent is labeled as "Musk". I didn't look at the ingedients, but the date on it was 1976. Does anybody know anything about this soap? My wife told me it smelled "like old people", so I didn't drop the nine dollars it cost to try it out. But I am curious.
Barbershop Old Fashioned Luxury
- Thread starter Quixotica
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There was a line of shaving supplies in the 1980s called "Barbershop" and I have a couple of their shave mugs. Nice sized, and nice looking. Let me see if I haven't got a photo right here in the computer to attach:
There you go !
There you go !
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- #3
It's a tallow based top performing shaving soap. I also doubt it has any of the original scent left, unless it was sealed in plastic.
Most vintage tallow soaps have long since lost their scent, and just smell slightly musty.
Most vintage tallow soaps have long since lost their scent, and just smell slightly musty.
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The soap is great stuff, as good as almost any of the vintage soaps. I have a half dozen or so of the Barbershop mugs and two of their brushes.
You mean slightly musty, like old people who have lost their original scent?
It's large enough that the largest of the Van der Hagen soaps for shaving, which is a two-layer item, translucent green glycerine soap on one layer, and opaque soap on the other, it's about four inches across, fits into the big mug easily.
http://www.soap.com/p/van-der-hagen-mens-shower-shave-dual-action-bar-soap-5-oz-35497
http://www.soap.com/p/van-der-hagen-mens-shower-shave-dual-action-bar-soap-5-oz-35497
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That mug, the soap and the brush that came with it were a graduation present to me in 1978 from the person who would, over the ensuing decades, prove to be my closest friend. I used it for years (and still have the canvas ditty bag that came with it) and didn't give it up until the late 80's. At some point, I either lost or broke the mug and the brush I remember throwing out as I no longer used it. I have no memories of how the soap performed and I never had any instruction. Just wet the brush and swirled. Since I was only doing one pass, it was clearly sufficient.
They were solid, sturdy mugs, much larger than the old spice mug and I think at some point the difficulty of finding the soap caused me to quit using it.
They were solid, sturdy mugs, much larger than the old spice mug and I think at some point the difficulty of finding the soap caused me to quit using it.
Lots of those mugs on the bay. Very nice, wide mugs.
Last week my Dad was cleaning out his bathroom before a remodel and PIFd me an unused puck of Barbershop Herbal. It still has scent. I haven't tried it yet.
This line was from Franklin Toiletry company in NYC. I was the recipient of a number of gift sets from some relatives which included ceramic mugs, wall mount fixtures, brush/razor holders, soap dishes as well as colognes, brushes and the list goes on. They made some very cool mugs in a variety of colors. The soap is an outstanding tallow based soap that came in four scents, regular, Musk (originally called Redneck with some relabeled as musk) America Blue and Herbal. I have used all but the America Blue. I recently rediscovered a stash of vintage shaving items in an unmarked box in our basement that contained a number of the Barbershop items. Most importantly six or seven rounds of this fine soap. I have no idea what this sells for today but I would think for under ten dollars, it would be well worth the money. The rounds are quite large, around three and half oz. I think, so they last a long time. I currently have one of the regular scent in rotation. My memory of the Musk and Herbal is that they were very nice as well. Most importantly, this fine soap provides a wonderful shave that you will wish you could still purchase it at an even higher price. My recommendation is to go back and purchase this soap as soon as you can.
Regards,
Doug
Regards,
Doug
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