Shaving

HISTORY

The history of shaving dates back to the Stone Age, when Neanderthal man first started pulling hair from his body. Ancient cave paintings indicate that early man removed hair from his face, by simply plucking them out using two seashells as tweezers.

Permanent shaving razors were developed around 3000 BC, thanks to the invention of metalworking. Copper razors have been found in both India and Egypt.

Shaven heads and smooth, hair-free bodies were signs of nobility in Ancient Egypt from about 3000 BC.

In Ancient Greece, it was popular for men to crop hair very short and shave their face. The Greeks considered it an aesthetic approach to personal hygiene, like the Middle Eastern cultures.

Alexander the Great ordered his soldiers to shave their beards to avoid having them seized in hand-to-hand combat.

Alexander the Great's shaven image on the Alexander Mosaic, 

Some Republican Roman men had a skilled live-in servant to shave them; others started their day with a trip to the tonsor, or barber, who would shave his customer's faces with an iron novacila, or Roman razor.

In 296 B.C Publicus Ticinius Maenas, a wealthy Greek businessman, brought professional barbers from Sicily to Rome. These barbers used thin-bladed iron razors, which were sharpened with water and a whetstone. They didn't always use soap or oil, which was probably why it took so long to shave a patron's face.

During Julius Caesar's expedition to the British Isles, he noted that "the Britons shave every part of their body except their head and upper lip."

The tonsure, that is to say the shaving of part of the head, became the convention among the western monks and the Catholic clergy in the sixth century. The intention behind the tonsure was to symbolize the crown of thorns.

During the Middle Ages, Muslim men attended the hammams (public baths), where they were shaved (sometimes the whole head except for the long topknot) and their beards were trimmed.

The Aztec Indians of North and Central America shaved with razors made from the volcanic glass obsidian.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, the wealthy had servants to shave them or they would frequent barber shops. Daily shaving was not a widespread practice, so many of the common people grew beards.

"A barber getting ready to shave the face of a seated customer", c. 1801

London dandy George Bryan "Beau" Brummell was known for his impeccable grooming and style of dress, Brummell was said to shave his face several times a day and plucked out leftover hairs with tweezers.

By the second half of the 19th century, many European men had become very particular about personal grooming. They had started to use shaving soaps and after-shave lotions, which were often made at home in the kitchen from cherry laurel water.

Shaving Soap ad, 1851

The custom of daily shaving among American men was a 20th-century innovation which started as a result of World War I. Men were required to shave daily so their gas masks would fit properly and this became much easier with the advent of the safety razor, which was standard issue during the war.

The modern concept of women shaving their armpits began in 1915. However, it wasn't until World War II, when there was a shortage of silk stockings, that it became an actual trend for women to shave their legs.

FUN SHAVING FACTS

A fancy way to say shaving is "pogonotomy." which means the cutting or shaving of a beard.

Among the 750 poems that Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote was an elegy to his broken shaving pot.

Because audiences only saw one side of his face during a piano recital, Frederic Chopin would sometimes shave only half of his face.

The 5-year-old George Bernard Shaw was watching his father shave. Young George asked him "Daddy, why do you shave"? His father looked at him for a full minute, then threw the razor out of his window saying "Why do I?" He never did again and Shaw grew a beard as an adult as well.

Razor, Knife, Carbon Steel, Horn Handle, Shaving Brush

Albert Einstein used to wash and shave with the same soap as he claimed using two kinds would needlessly complicate life.

During the 1970 Aspen's sheriff's election, the gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson shaved his head bald so he could refer to the crew-cut, ex-army, Republican incumbent as "My long-haired opponent."

An average man spends around five months of his life shaving if he starts at the age of 14 — assuming that he lives until he's 75 years old.

A man shaving his neck using a shavette. By Andrew Dyer

A British survey estimates that women spend 72 days of their lives shaving their legs.

Source Menstylepower