Questions for Shavers of the 50's, 60's, and 70's

[Salty O'Rourke]

I started shaving in the early 70s, and I used a Schick injector with whatever canned foam was cheapest. At some point I was gifted an Old Spice shaving mug and soap set and a brush. I used an injector for years until I gave in to the multi-blade hype (actually, the early twin blade carts were pretty good).

For me, and for most guys at the time, shaving was no big deal - once the novelty of having enough beard to warrant shaving wore off, shaving became just another part of the morning routine, the third of the three S's. I used one brush and bought another (usually an Ever Ready boar or else the store's brand) only when the old one fell apart. Shaving soap was either Old Spice, Williams, or Colgate and I used it up before buying more because I only had one mug. Blades were either Schick or Personna and were purchased based on what was on sale. After shave lotions were plentiful and varied - I remember using Mennen's Trouble AS in high school. The idea of shaving as a hobby or luxury and having a "shave den" full of various products would have been ludicrous (still is in many quarters, I would think).

 

[BigPete]

I'm 52 and started shaving in 1978 at the age of 14. I started with a black handled Gillette Super Speed, it was my only razor and I used it until I was 17. I replaced it with an Atra that I used exclusively until 2005. My father also used a Super Speed most of the time, but he also used a straight razor on occasion and he used Schick injectors for traveling. My older brother also started shaving with an SS, but I mostly remember him using a Trac II.

For blades I used what my father used, Gillette Platinum Plus or Wilkinson Swords. That's what the drugstore had so that's what we used.

I learned to shave with a mug and brush. I can't recall anything about the brush, it disappeared when I was in college. My father used Old Spice or Williams so that's what I used. But it was too time consuming with morning football practice and early classes so my brother and I mostly used Gillette Foamy or Noxzema. In college I switched to Edge gel which I still use on occasion.

My father was big on aftershaves and colognes. The only drugstore brand he used was Old Spice, which was his favorite. I liked Aramis and Pierre Cardin back in those early shaving days.

But shaving wasn't a hobby back then. It was part of the daily routine. My father used on safety razor, one brush and one mug for as long as I could remember. I personally only used one razor for many years. We pretty much used whatever was locally available.

 

[AZBronco]

I'm only 45, so not quite your demographic since Trac II and Atra were the most popular razors when I was a teen. My dad used an electric as long as I can remember. I asked him once about wet shaving and he had a Gillette razor in his teens/twenties but didn't like shaving due to little red spots on his shirt collars.

My father-in-law gave me his old Gillette slim he found stuffed in the back of his closet (he knows I collect razors so he keeps an eye out when he goes to antique stores). He happily gave it to me and I asked if he didn't want to try it again. He said he'd tired of the bleeding long ago and also used electric. Neither of them had ever heard of an alum block.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mmaggi]

My father used Barbasol foam and applied with a boar brush. I remember seeing Wilkinson DE blades in the bathroom but I don't recall the DE razor. It had to be a Gillette razor. The last 10 years of his life he used disposable double blade razors. I remember always seeing either Brut or Aqua Velva Ice Blue AS as well. And he always had a BBS face.

 

[Tallships]

I'm 70, I started out with A Gillette Slim, Blades were Gillette blues I think and later Wilkinson Sword, Williams Soap, Boar brush, and a Mug my mom supplied from her cupboard and Dad supplied the lessons, patience was one of his virtues. If I remember right I changed to using Old Spice shave soap. Tried different After shaves but stuck with Old Spice till recently, when I stated making my own after shaves. Never had more than 1 or 2 razors usually because I misplaced one. Always used just 1 soap and brush and until recently WS blades. Then I stumbled on Badger and Blade and the collection started. Now I have over 40 razors (use around 6) use 3 kinds of blades (W S, Astra and Crystal sometimes Personna Israeli Reds) 4 different soaps 8-9 brushes, about 10 bowls.

 

[Texas]

I have always used a mug and brush. My first brush was an Everready. I still have it, but it is worn out. My mug was an Old Spice and my puck was whatever fit in it..usually Williams. During the 80's it was Burt's Bees Bay Rum. I did not know how to lather correctly. The lather was probably too thin, but whatever got on the brush went on my face. My razor was whatever the Gillette fad was at the time. My AS was Old Spice, later Brut Splash On.

Now: Fatboy, Personna Red, Trumper's Coconut cream, whipped up with one of my 10 brushes, witch hazel followed by Proraso AS balm.

 

[Skeezixx]

Back in the mid 60s, when I came of age, my dad passed down an old Super Speed he had in reserve, a Seaforth mug, and the most awful synthetic Peerless brush ever. With a succession of replacement brushes and countless pucks of Williams, Colegate, and Old Spice soaps, I carried on like this till 1984 when I befriended an elderly retired barber who taught me about the care and feeding of straights. I purchased my first at a cutlery shop I think called Cutlery World. It also turned out dad had an old Dorko straight which he gave me. I also acquired a few more. About that time I found myself in London where I discovered triple milled soaps and handmade brushes. A few years ago I suffered a stroke which claimed the vision in my left eye and caused me some trepidation about straight razor shaving as I now had trouble seeing my ear. I went back to using a DE, my dad's old Hoffritz slant which I still use every day.

Thinking about it, I traveled the world with a straight (all I ever used in those days so I always had one with me) which must have been nestled in my dopp kit that I carried on and accompanied me on each flight in the overhead compartment above my seat. I don't think anyone ever looked in it and even if they had they may not have thought it unusual.

Despite flying around with a deadly weapon, fortunately I was never inclined to commit acts of mayhem.

 

[BigJ]

I started with a slim in the late 60s with canned goo!

Then I went to electrics ('modern') and finally carts starting in the 1970s. Aside from a few years with a straight in the early 80s (with Williams), I stayed with carts.

One day in about 2010, I got tired of trying to keep up with the newest developments. Tried an old DE and have not looked back!

 

[macduff67]

In the 70s, my father used an Ever Ready C40 Boar Bush with Colgate or Barbasol foam. He used a Krona for a long, long time, then switched to disposable BICS. There seemed to be more emphasis on "repairing" a bad shave (with burning alcohol) than preventing one, thus lots of emphasis on aftershaves--Old Spice, Skin Bracer, etc.

 

[Kactus]

I started out in the mid-70's using a Gillette Trac II and Edge shaving gel. I alternated it with a Norelco shaver at times and progressed up to the escalating number of blades as they came out. I would usually purchase them at the local super market.

 

[August West]

If you remember the 60's and 70's you really weren't there.

 

[Squirrel]

My story: Started shaving in the early 70's with a Super Speed as far as I can remember and a can of foam, most likely Barbasol. Then I did the beard for a while off and on. Aftershave was Skin Bracer and maybe some Old Spice I got at Christmas. The last razor I remember buying was a Slim Adjustable just before giving in to the cartridge hype. Then did the Track II for a number of years beard off, beard on switching over to a Sensor. Aftershave when I used it was Skin Bracer or whatever and shave cream ended up being Edge gel.

Fast forward to 2012 or so and never really liking shaving or felt good after and really not liking the waste of it all I thought of giving DE a try again. Tried the 34C, EJDE89, New SC, Ball End Tech, Fatip Piccolo and a few different creams and soaps. Nothing crazy. I got good shaves that turned into Great shaves with a bit of practice and really started to enjoy what used to be a chore. Now all the razors except the 34C and the Tech are gone. When it came down to it nothing really shaved me better than the Merkur 34C so that's the daily driver, literally every day for the past 18 months or so. Soap, pretty basic; Arko most of the time, I have some VDH Luxury and a few creams I keep around to mix in to finish a puck when it gets low. I have some Williams around also. I tend to use stuff up as I go. For blades now (I couldn't tell you what I used back then) I like Astra SP,SS, Derby's, Feathers, Wilkinson German. I can work with most blades. Aftershave now I haven't moved on, Skin Bracer is a go to with Afta Fresh during the cold months. I have some Aqua Velva on hand. What I have and don't use that I need to pass on is some vintage Old Spice. I figure if I am not using it on a regular basis I will pass it on. Oh, and the go to brush now is an Omega Pro 49

That's my story and I am sticking to it.

 

[Squirrel]

If you remember the 60's and 70's you really weren't there.

Yes, it's fuzzy at best

 

[August West]

Yes, it's fuzzy at best

 

[BSAGuy]

I started in the mid-1970's. Trac II and canned stuff. Rode the cart wave until 3 years ago when I discovered DE.

 

[Northstonehill]

I vote for this thread as Thread of the Month - GREAT idea and great reads!!! Thanks!

 

[Northstonehill]

@Vespasian: Wonderful story, thanks, a life described thru shaving. I'm "only" 51 but really hope to have your approach to life and sense of humour when I am 70. Good on you.

I'm seventy (groan.) When I was 13, in 1960, a stewardess on a United flight gave every man on board a Fatboy. I taught myself to shave (ouch) and never looked back. I bought a drugstore boar brush and used whatever hard soap was handy. In 1971, I moved to London. Same razor, but a nice badger brush and lemon verbena shaving soap from Floris.

Around 1990, I lost my razor and began the Dark Years - Bics and Mach 3s. I kept the same brush, now butterscotched a deep brown and worn to a nub. I discovered B&B three years ago. I bought another Fatboy and had my Floris brush rebadgered in silvertip, so I'm shaving like it's 1971, except better soaps and blades.

One shaving bowl, an art deco Listerine froggy blade bank, a boar brush and a cheapo razor in reserve, 50+ soaps and creams, 8 aftershaves, and I'm ready to face the world.

Today was the third awful day in a row, bad news everywhere, nothing accomplished. So at noon I dropped my futile life for half an hour. Long shower (the drought is over!) and a slow, bbs shave. GBS blade, Martin de Candre Rose soap, Fine Italian Citrus AS splash. Feel like a million bucks, and I smell nice, too.

 

[Northstonehill]

My story, even if I am too young for the thread setup:

Turning 52 this year, I have shaved with cartridges all my life up until a few months ago when I got into DE. Always Gillettes and always loved shaving. I started in the late 70s, and my dad and big brother always used an electric so they were no help ;-)

I used creams on can until late '80s when I was camping with my then-girlfriend in Scotland and met a nice German guy who in the camping men's shower room looked at my can and ironically said "Ozon Killer...". Those were the days when the dangers of CFC gasses were discovered. So on his advice - and being a thoughtful student - I bought a cheap brush and a soap stick. Never looked back. I have used the same cream for the last 10 years at least: The Body Shop Maca Root.

As said, now it's DE heaven, I own 4 DE razors (A Feather AS-D2 and 3 Gillette Adjustables, one in the mail) plus my old Fusion with a short TOBS handle, and am spending way too much on creams and aftershaves. And loving it.

 

[Scarab Exec]

My dad is 80. He used a Schick Injector from his first shave until he could no longer get the blades for it. He has never used a brush. I'd be guessing here but to him, shaving was no more than a necessary daily chore. Nothing more.

 

[RandyC]

My dad is 80. He used a Schick Injector from his first shave until he could no longer get the blades for it. He has never used a brush. I'd be guessing here but to him, shaving was no more than a necessary daily chore. Nothing more.

Maggard has Pella injector blades and there's several injector options on Amazon.