When did shave soaps decline in favor of canned cream?

[Shavetheman01]

So for older folks on this forum, when did the shaving soaps become less popular in general?

I remember seeing soaps like Williams on the market shelves even throughout the 90s when I was a kid. Even now, I still see the Van der Hagen in local stores, although they pretty much only sell canned gels and creams

Before online ordering, I think it just depended on what was on the shelf.

 

[kohalajohn]

The industry knows that selling the idea of convenience can net them more profit.

A hard bar of soap is cheap and lasts forever. But it takes a minute of work to lather it up.

So you sell the public on the idea of the convenience of pressing a button, and you can sell them a can of foam over and over. And the next generation will grow up not even knowing the old way.

And you make a deal with the retailers so they only put the pressurized cans on their shelves, and then they sell the pressurize cans every month, instead of a hard bar of soap once a year.

Capitalism, baby.

 

[Chevyguy]

I would say the soap and brush lost popularity in the sixties. My dad used his 1955 Flare Tip with Foamy Lemon/Lime SC. He taught me how to shave in 1977 with that same setup plus Gillette Spoiler Blades.

Clayton

Sent from my SM-A705U using Tapatalk

 

[sternej]

The 50's

 

[ajkel64]

Like most things these days companies sell you the convenience. Buy this and you will save x amount of time and that means you can either do something else in that time or just take it easy. I would guess the 1960’s but honestly I have no real idea.

 

[razorhead63]

The 50's

+1 also

 

[Benzadmiral]

I don't recall seeing Williams shave soap in stores ever. But then when I began shaving with cartridges in the late '70s, I wasn't looking for it. The "Williams" name has been on their Lectric Shave lotion since I can remember, though.

 

[phelix]

The industry knows that selling the idea of convenience can net them more profit.

A hard bar of soap is cheap and lasts forever. But it takes a minute of work to lather it up.

So you sell the public on the idea of the convenience of pressing a button, and you can sell them a can of foam over and over. And the next generation will grow up not even knowing the old way.

And you make a deal with the retailers so they only put the pressurized cans on their shelves, and then they sell the pressurize cans every month, instead of a hard bar of soap once a year.

Capitalism, baby.

Exactly this. I started shaving in 1979 and it wasn't until I went to straight razors about a decade ago that I finally understood the concept of a shave brush and a puck of soap. It never occurred to me that there was a time where one couldn't just push a button and ready made foam spilled into your palm.
Kind of scary the power of marketing.

 

[bluesman 7]

The industry knows that selling the idea of convenience can net them more profit.
Capitalism, baby.

If they only realized that the could sell a puck of soap for $30.

 

[BigJ]

The 50's

+2! That’s also my guess! Before my time, for sure.

 

[Shavetheman01]

My father would use the Shave cream+brush combo, but with a Sensor cartridge that came out.

I do come from an immigrant family, and our ethnic grocery stores still carry some wet shaving stuff

 

[FireDragon76]

So for older folks on this forum, when did the shaving soaps become less popular in general?

I remember seeing soaps like Williams on the market shelves even throughout the 90s when I was a kid. Even now, I still see the Van der Hagen in local stores, although they pretty much only sell canned gels and creams

Before online ordering, I think it just depended on what was on the shelf.

Shave soaps fell out of favor nearly a century ago, gradually replaced by shaving powder and brushless creams such as Barbasol.

 

[ackvil]

Burma Shave started out as the first brushless cream and it was introduced in about 1925. It became very popular and remained popular until it was sold to Phillip Morris in the 1960s. I started shaving in about 1956 and at that time there was canned shaving creams in the stores. I recall seeing Barbasol, Colgate, Rise, and Noxema being sold in the stores. At that time, they were quite expensive. As a result, my father used soap. My father did some construction work for a local barbershop and he received a huge box of soap chips as a gift. Those soap chips lasted more than 10 years. The soap chips were very fine and we would take a tablespoon of the chips, put them in a mug, and with a wet brush make lather. In the '60s my father gave me the remaining soap chips and he opted for the convenience of canned shaving cream.

I continued to use traditional soaps - Williams and Old Spice - and creams made by Noxema, Gillette, and a brand I don't recall but all came in tubes. There came a time when the local pharmacies stopped carrying the tubes of shaving cream. I worked in downtown Manhattan and for a while could get Noxema cream at a Duanne Reade drug store. However, due to lack of demand, they stopped carrying it. I did manage to find a few tubes at a local closeout store.

Fortunately, my parents began to travel to Italy as well as some other countries in Europe. They would bring back enough creams and soaps that would last for a few years. This was well before the Internet was around so it was difficult to place orders in Europe or elsewhere. Friends and relatives knew of my search for shaving software so I was well-supplied whenever they traveled. In fact, my oldest son made a trip to the U.K. when he was in high school. He brought back some shaving creams and soaps from Truefitt & Hill. By then the Internet was around and I did a search for Truefitt & Hill and some reviews appeared on some strange website: Badger and Blade. I could not imagine a website devoted to traditional shaving. I joined B&B and have never run out of soaps or creams.

 

[Chandu]

I started shaving in about 1956 and at that time there was canned shaving creams in the stores. I recall seeing Barbasol, Colgate, Rise, and Noxema being sold in the stores. At that time, they were quite expensive.

The canned products were sometimes double what the tubed products were, and yet they still came to dominate. People at that time obviously had experience with the tubed products, so that they switched, says to me, the canned foam was good enough. Maybe the brushless cream users found the foam better and maybe the lathering cream users valued the time savings. But it's clear that the canned products displaced everything before it and with a population that at the time was firmly wielding DE and SE razors, not carts. in other words, they probably didn't get "suckered" by slick marketing.

And you make a deal with the retailers so they only put the pressurized cans on their shelves, and then they sell the pressurize cans every month, instead of a hard bar of soap once a year.

I'd like to meet the man, (cousin It) that could go through a can of foam a month. When I was using foam daily I don't think I ever bought more than two cans in the same year.

And if you are a member here and only buy one hard soap a year (and use that exclusively) please speak up. I'd like to know what hard soap of comparable cost to a can of foam will last more than a year.

 

[McBlade]

I once tried weighing the amount of soap I use per shave. It was so small my scales couldn't even measure it accurately - definitely under 1g though.

As a rough rule of thumb the lifetime of shaving soap is (number of days) = (weight in grams).

 

[EclipseRedRing]

An interesting thread; it seems that canned shave cream has been around for more years than many vintage razors. It is difficult to argue that the use of canned foam is not traditional, 'old fashioned' shaving, like grandpa used to do. Some foams, and also shave gels, perform pretty well especially if used with a brush. I still prefer hard soaps though.

 

[Chandu]

It is difficult to argue that the use of canned foam is not traditional, 'old fashioned' shaving, like grandpa used to do.

Yup if I shaved like my grandfathers, I'd be using a Trac II and foam or an electric.

 

[Vespasian]

By the early fifties, my father had given up soaps and brushes (and straight razors) for Barbasol cream in a tube. He LOVED it, and he would often mention how much he hated the brush/hard soap routine. He just spread the Barbasol over his face, where it turned into a nice lather; then he mowed 'em down with a Schick single-edge injector razor.

 

[Rudy Vey]

being one of the older folks, I never, ever in my life used any form of canned foam...

 

[henrickd]

Yup if I shaved like my grandfathers, I'd be using a Trac II and foam or an electric.

My grandfather was 88 when he died in 1993. In the late 1970’s and 1980’s I always remember him using canned foam. My brother says he always used canned foam in the 1960’s and early 70’s. Neither of us can remember what the razor was though.