Shave stick

A shave stick is a type of shave soap that is formed into a long cylinder instead of a short "puck." The shave stick is rubbed against a wet face and the shave brush used to face lather.

According to data from Google Books, the Pears shaving stick was first mentioned in print in 1849[1]. Francis Pears, grandson of Andrew Pears, claimed to have invented the first shaving stick.[2]



Of course any soap can be rubbed on the face like a stick, and in 1911 ads for Ivory promoted the use of ordinary bar soap like a shaving stick[3].



Shave sticks were very popular early in the 20th century, partly because of Colgate's (now Colgate-Palmolive) and Williams' advertising campaigns. Shave sticks such as Williams, Resinol[4] and Colgate came in durable, re-usable plated brass, aluminum and later bakelite tubes. These tubes provided easy and clean storage of the shave stick, useful for people without expansive counter space or soldiers in the field.



Around 1918-19, Colgate was advertising the frugality of their shaving stick, with its reusable metal container[5].



Shaving sticks were used by soldiers in WWI, and mentions of shaving sticks in print grew until the early 1920s. After the mid-1950s, mentions of shaving sticks declined steeply[6]. Most of these mentions would have been advertisements, but the decline probably reflects a decline in consumer purchases too.



Today there are no mass-market shaving sticks produced in the USA, but a few artisinal soap-makers offer sticks. Colgate-Palmolive continues to sell sticks in Europe, the UK, and Australia, and some smaller soap-makers in Europe also produce sticks. The table below lists several of these. If you are interested in the old advertisements that were made for shave sticks, please consult this thread.

Shave sticks come in various sizes, but all are cylindrical. Here are the dimensions of some shaving sticks. Where possible, reported lifetime in shaves is also cited. When projecting the lifetime of a stick, keep in mind its weight, the hardness of the soap, and your own usage. Hard soaps seem to average about 1/2-g per shave, while softer soaps can run a little more than a gram per shave. But that's an average: a heavy user might go through 3x as much soap per shave as the average.

• Shave soaps
• Shave creams
• List of shave sticks
• Shave stick tutorial
• Shave Stick Containers
• Creating A Shave Stick
• How many shaves to the bottom of a shave stick?
• Shave Stick Review Project

1. ^The Law Times, Volume 14
2. ^Pears, Francis. The skin, baths, bathing, and soap p95. 1959, self-published.
3. ^New outlook, Volume 98
4. ^The Independent, Volume 82, 1915
5. ^Popular Science, January 1919
6. ^Mentions of "shaving stick" in Google Books
7. ^Approximate count: Monsieur A went MIA after 34 shaves.
8. ^http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showth...bottom-of-a-Shave-Stick?p=5005932#post5005932 .plus maybe another 10-15 from the stub.
9. ^http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/310894-Shave-Sticks-Review-Project?p=5094161#post5094161
10. ^http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/310894-Shave-Sticks-Review-Project?p=4791549#post4791549