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In the old days ….

Interesting question, I think it was more of a evolution in shaving. I think barber shops who did straight razor shaves for their customers used hot towel application to clean the face and soften the beard. Then applied the lather and started the task of shaving. I have used the hot towel method but prefer to brush wash my whole face with CeraVe hand bar cleanser for great face feel during the brush massage and post feel.
Gillette pamphlet I read once states to clean face of dirt & facial oils first (defoliate) and then apply lather so that is what I do, Gillette did a lot of good research in the Golden years of shaving to get good results for their products.
Their advice in the little instruction pamphlets that came with their DEs also recommended waiting about 2 minutes after applying the cream or soap, to let the stuff soak into your beard. I do that, but have increased it to 3. They did indeed know their business. Then.
 

Ron R

I survived a lathey foreman
Their advice in the little instruction pamphlets that came with their DEs also recommended waiting about 2 minutes after applying the cream or soap, to let the stuff soak into your beard. I do that, but have increased it to 3. They did indeed know their business. Then.
You make a valid point, some fellows like to paint lather for about that amount of time and often wondered why? The ingredients in the soap or cream tend to soften the whiskers no doubt. I started to wait a little longer about a year ago but I do not time it.
My pre-shave also includes brush washing my whole face with CeraVe hand bar cleanser that adds a little more prep time before the main lathering to clean and soften the whiskers for easier slicing of the blade.
All good knowledge as we educate ourselves in this traditional wet shaving over the years and generations to come hopefully.
 
Did guys use to use pre-shave stuff, post-shave items, etc. back in the old days? Or did the just lather up and get it done? What do you all think?
Wellllll, back in the day, we didn't shave at all! All we had to shave with was a flake of obsidian, but we didn't have any soap or cream...and we had no reason to shave! It was a man's world, and the women couldn't make us shave, besides, the idea of shaving hadn't even been thought of! We were just busy trying to stay alive, and long beards provided protection from bees when raiding their hives for honey, protection from the sun and camouflage when hunting. I don't believe shaving got started until the early Egyptian dynasties got started, and since I lived in another country from them, I didn't really follow all that, and besides, that was so long ago I have forgotten a lot of that stuff.

Remembering back that far has made me tired...I think I'll go take a nap...:yawn:
 
Like @brucered triple S, always evening shave. Lather, shave, rinse, let dry then alcohol AS splash. Balm, eeewww...

The only change in the routine is;
 
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When I first started on this journey, it was wash face, witch hazel, wet face, lather, shave, rinse, balm.

Then after a period of time, it became shower, shave, rinse, witch hazel, balm.

Now it's shower, shave, rinse, splash, done.


marty
 
Be open to trying different things and use what works best for you. I shower and wash my face using Noxzema using a washcloth. Use preshave cream or oil -just have a better outcome when I do that. After shaving, I use witch hazel and a moisturizer. Maybe not the old school method but at almost 70 years old, this works for me.
 
Like many other replies, I learned from my dad decades ago. Wet face with very warm water, lather, shave, repeat. Rinse, dry, after shave, done. My dad always used Yardley Black Label after shave. What a great scent, too bad it's no more like so many other "oldie but goodie" products. I do remember trying a pre shave out of curiosity long ago, and all it did was muck up the razor, so I scrapped that stuff and have stayed the course ever since. If it 'aint broke, don't fix it.
 
Since I am just one month shy of 80 years old, I guess I can comment on the old days! I started shaving in 1956 at the age of 14. My routine was the same as my father and grandfather. Wash face, make lather, and lather up. After shaving we would take a washcloth and clean up. Then we applied witch hazel.

My father was the worst shaver and several times a week he would apply toilet paper to stop the blood bath. My grandfather had skin that could withstand any torture. He had a very thick, wiry beard and used straight razors for a while and then switched to a DE for speed.

By the time I was 15 I was shaving every day. I had terrible irritation and my barber, Sal, gave me a sample of some pre-shave oil he used on customers. He did many straight shaves and depending on the customer he would either apply pre-shave oil or some white substance on his customer's face prior to applying a hot towel. The oil he gave me helped quite a bit and I used pre-shave oil for a number of years.
 
As I was growing up in the 90's I'd watch my dad shave, He'd use true lather with a brush and very hot water and that was it no post shave products. When I started shaving at age 17 I'd follow his routine but the damn razor burn and irritation was terrible, Thus when I was in my early 20's I discovered after shave which was Aqua Velva and Jovan Musk. I now shave my head due to male pattern baldness and my face at times if I am not growing any facial hair, And I cannot do without any after shave it is very uncomfortable. My dad for some odd reason now has been using Edge shave gel for many years, He says the true lather he used to buy has been discontinued years ago. The only canned goop I can use is women's shave gels because they have so much moisturizers and they are so rich and thick. But if not true lather is the way to go.
 
As I was growing up in the 90's I'd watch my dad shave, He'd use true lather with a brush and very hot water and that was it no post shave products. When I started shaving at age 17 I'd follow his routine but the damn razor burn and irritation was terrible, Thus when I was in my early 20's I discovered after shave which was Aqua Velva and Jovan Musk. I now shave my head due to male pattern baldness and my face at times if I am not growing any facial hair, And I cannot do without any after shave it is very uncomfortable. My dad for some odd reason now has been using Edge shave gel for many years, He says the true lather he used to buy has been discontinued years ago. The only canned goop I can use is women's shave gels because they have so much moisturizers and they are so rich and thick. But if not true lather is the way to go.

I'll give you an example of an acceptable canned goop it is that damn good compared to the men's canned goop which is no good. It has 6 moisturizers and it is very thick and smells delicious I use this at times.

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The Proraso pre/post shave cream was introduced in 1948, the first Proraso product I believe.

And aftershave splash was important for disinfection - you could get very sick or die from a nick that got infected
 
What I know for certain, because I’m from the “old days”, is that it was a “getter done” and it was very rarely a topic of conversation and certainly not considered a hobby.

@ackvil also got a word in for us geezers. I just got 'er done from the 60s until the later 20teens. 3-piece DEs and Williams Mug. When I shower shaved, I was slick enough from Ivory, forget the Mug. But...

I am going to dispute two things. Shaving was a huge part of the public 'conversation' from the time hoe-handled wedge blade safety razors got prominent magazine write-ups until right now. And all that rapid evolution didn't happen without a lot of private conversations. Back in the day there were fewer influencers and a lot more face-to-face time to yak it up, in the commissary, over cards, beers, fishing lines. And even during the morning commute, while the memory of shaves, good and bad, was fresh.

Was it a hobby? Well, don't tell the missus, but a lot of guys were willing to turn on a dime and try out the next new thing. Razors, blades, aftershaves, embrocations. Lucky Tiger wasn't born yesterday. Avon AS in fantasy bottles? What's that? And all those shaving scenes in every kind of movie and all over TV? Nobody was interested in those.

That generation just was forced to toss the old stuff in a drawer (for us to find!), rather than rotate through all their toys. One small bathroom was pretty normal, for families of 5 or 6 or more. Were cars a hobby? Naw, our ancestors were stalwart puritans. Tailfins and chrome had to be shoved down their throats.

We are the same-old, same-old. We just have more bathroom space, more leisure, and a lot more internet. We discard our cars more slowly, but accumulate and display razors the way our forefathers accumulated license plates on the garage wall and displayed nailed-up antlers or salmon tails out on the shed.
 
Was it a hobby? Well, don't tell the missus, but a lot of guys were willing to turn on a dime and try out the next new thing.

I remember my dad excitedly bringing home a fancy Schick Injector, to oust his Gillette Slim, and him (an engineer) telling us about the benefits of the newer technology. I don't know whether he say an ad in Playboy or someone he worked or drank with sold him on it, but he drank the Kool-aid... :)
 

Legion

Staff member
Lilac Water

Place some lilac blooms (Syringa Vulgaris) into about 1 litre of fresh water. Leave overnight before use.
I think the Lilac water referred to in the old movies and books was more of a barbershop cologne. Something like this,


Only $39.95 a gallon.
 
I remember my dad excitedly bringing home a fancy Schick Injector, to oust his Gillette Slim, and him (an engineer) telling us about the benefits of the newer technology. I don't know whether he say an ad in Playboy or someone he worked or drank with sold him on it, but he drank the Kool-aid... :)

I was totally excited about my first Schick Injector, but Slims were gone and my dad was using a Super-Adjustable of some flavor. My dad was a 'sales engineer', so the actual engineering bit was probably not so interesting to him.

I think the Lilac water referred to in the old movies and books was more of a barbershop cologne. Something like this,


Only $39.95 a gallon.

So, a buck and a quarter for 4oz. Only the dollar stores can top that for AS. Might take a while to use a gallon.

Only $6.75 for 15oz at Appleton barber Supply. Hey, Stephan makes very nice barbershop products. You can pay a little less for Gabels or a good bit more for The Veg. They are all still quite cheap by AS standards. And lilacs are lovely! Just not in AS... for me.
 

Legion

Staff member
I was totally excited about my first Schick Injector, but Slims were gone and my dad was using a Super-Adjustable of some flavor. My dad was a 'sales engineer', so the actual engineering bit was probably not so interesting to him.



So, a buck and a quarter for 4oz. Only the dollar stores can top that for AS. Might take a while to use a gallon.

Only $6.75 for 15oz at Appleton barber Supply. Hey, Stephan makes very nice barbershop products. You can pay a little less for Gabels or a good bit more for The Veg. They are all still quite cheap by AS standards. And lilacs are lovely! Just not in AS... for me.
Decant it into nice old-timey apothecary bottles, and you could possibly flip it for good money. Or maybe not. I've never smelled it.
 
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