What Did They Use Before Soap

[sandmountainslim]

I read that William's made the first shaving soap in the 1840's........WHAT did they use before this??
Did they just rub lard or grease on their faces and to to work with a straight ??
Wp

 

[michiganlover]

I read that William's made the first shaving soap in the 1840's........WHAT did they use before this??
Did they just rub lard or grease on their faces and to to work with a straight ??
Wp

I would suspect they still used soap, it was just probably soap not specifically designed for shaving.

From wikipedia.com:

A rudimentary form of shaving cream was documented in Sumer around 3000 BC. This substance combined wood alkali and animal fat and was applied to a beard as a shaving preparation.

Also, the art of soap making goes back for many 1000's of years:

The earliest recorded evidence of the production of soap-like materials dates back to around 2800 BC in Ancient Babylon. A formula for soap consisting of water, alkali and cassia oil was written on a Babylonian clay tablet around 2200 BC.

The Ebers papyrus (Egypt, 1550 BC) indicates that ancient Egyptians bathed regularly and combined animal and vegetable oils with alkaline salts to create a soap-like substance. Egyptian documents mention that a soap-like substance was used in the preparation of wool for weaving.

 

[luvmysuper]

I read that William's made the first shaving soap in the 1840's........WHAT did they use before this??
Did they just rub lard or grease on their faces and to to work with a straight ??
Wp

Can you reference where you read this?
I'd be interested to dig in a little and see if they meant "The first shaving soap" or "Their first shaving soap" and the sources for the info. I know that many manufacturer written documents can be self serving.

 

[talibeard]

My guess is that Arko is named after the Ark of Noah....

Just kidding of course but saponified fats go a long way back.

 

[sandmountainslim]

Can you reference where you read this?
I'd be interested to dig in a little and see if they meant "The first shaving soap" or "Their first shaving soap" and the sources for the info. I know that many manufacturer written documents can be self serving.

Read it here
http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/findaids/JBWilliams/MSS19670001.html

Maybe I read too much into it. It says the "first soap for use in shaving mugs" maybe before then people used a bowl.
Wp

 

[trewornan]

They seem to be claiming the first soap manufactured specifically for use in a shaving mug.

Soap manufacturing goes back to ancient times, and was probably known before recorded history (circa 5000 bc). Some soaps would have been better for shaving than others but when the first soap specially formulated for shaving was created is probably impossible to know. My guess would be in the bronze age as I doubt shaving was popular when they only had bits of flint.

 

[talibeard]

They seem to be claiming the first soap manufactured specifically for use in a shaving mug.

Soap manufacturing goes back to ancient times, and was probably known before recorded history (circa 5000 bc). Some soaps would have been better for shaving than others but when the first soap specially formulated for shaving was created is probably impossible to know. My guess would be in the bronze age as I doubt shaving was popular when they only had bits of flint.

Don't be mistaken about how sharp a flint stone can be. It is for a reason that current ultra-sharp and long lasting blades are made of ceramics again. But I do agree on the age of soap use; it seems to be well before written history.

 

[Uncle Erik]

I don't know about shaving cream, but back when I was taking Latin and poking around some Roman Civ stuff, I remember seeing a bronze scraper that looked a little like a table crumber. After soaking in the baths, people would scrape themselves down to remove dead skin. I'm not sure what they shaved with, however, they were using bladed tools. The old Roman handplanes look a lot like the ones we use today.

 

[trewornan]

The Romans were a bit unusual in that they never really used soap. They would rub themselves in olive oil and then scrape it off with a tool like you describe. This would remove dirt and dead skin, etc - apparently it was very effective although I've never tried it myself.

 

[grump]

I read that William's made the first shaving soap in the 1840's........WHAT did they use before this??
Did they just rub lard or grease on their faces and to to work with a straight ??
Wp

Rendered soap made by someone, maybe in bar form or bulk form and broke into chunks would be my bet.

 

[RF1963]

http://www.executive-shaving.co.uk/shavepedia/

There's a download for a PDF document which details some of this

 

[luvmysuper]

Yep, the article says he sold 1/2 interest in the store in 38, then sold the store in 40, and then began experiments to find the best soap for shaving, which eventually led to Williams mug soap. Key word being eventually. So it looks like maybe early 40's.
I'm certain, due to the evidence of early versions of scuttles from the 1800's that hard block shaving soaps already existed.
And the article says that he was trying to find "the best soap for shaving" not that he was inventing it.

 

[sandmountainslim]

And the article says that he was trying to find "the best soap for shaving" not that he was inventing it.

Just another example of Williams Soap causing confusion and creating havoc in the shaving world
Wp

 

[troy1979]

Lard................

 

[Timbit]

In the documentary "Babies" there is a scene in which the African baby gets a head shave with what looks like a cheap kitchen knife, totally dry!

That's what I call hardcore shaving

 

[Topgumby]

Before the advent of Williams, men removed facial hair by enticing small fish too eat it.

This is another fascinating fact from Topgumby's Big Book of Misinformation and Outright Whoppers.

 

[blackfoot]

Before the advent of Williams, men removed facial hair by enticing small fish too eat it.

This is another fascinating fact from Topgumby's Big Book of Misinformation and Outright Whoppers.

 

[john parker]

Lard................

Bacon fat!?!

 

[RobyGenoa1982]

Before the advent of Williams, men removed facial hair by enticing small fish too eat it.

This is another fascinating fact from Topgumby's Big Book of Misinformation and Outright Whoppers.

 

[Rumbaldi]

Bacon fat!?!

Yes the first shaving cream was bacon fat and it was first used in the South Pacific. Many archaeologists believe this was the major factor leading to cannibalism in that area.