The Original Hairless Elite

Prehistoric Times - shaving history takes us way back to the Stone Age, around 100,000BC, when Neanderthal Man started first pulling hair from his body.

Filing down his teeth was also a popular pastime.

Cave paintings show that early man discovered ways to remove hair from his face that are still being used today. In the beginning he simply plucked the hair out using seashells like tweezers.

Throughout history tweezers have remained the most popular ever grooming tool invented, used by both "civilised" men and women to painfully remove body and facial hair.

The earliest shaving razors discovered were flint blades from as far back as 30,000BC.

Flint can provide an extremely sharp edge, perfect at the time for shaving. These implements were the first disposable razors as flint dulls rather quickly.

Not only did your early man cut or shave off his body hair with flint he also enjoyed cutting unusual designs his skin. He added dyes and colours to the cuts and ended up tattooed.

Other shaving tools made of stone found were made during the Neolithic Period.

4000-3000BC Women are removing body hair with depilatory creams made from such combinations as arsenic, quicklime and starch.

3000BC marked the first permanent development of razors due to metalworking being invented. In both India and Egypt razors made from copper are found available.

1500-1200BC Some of the most elaborate razors in ancient times in Scandinavia were produced. Razors were found in leather carrying cases with scenes embossed in the bronze blades in excavations carried out in the Danish Mound Graves with the handles carved into horse head shapes.

500BC It became popular for men to crop their hair very short and shave the face in Greece. Alexander the Great is responsible for this as he is obsessed with shaving.

He shaves even during war and will not be seen going to battle with a five o clock shadow. Like the Middle East culture Greeks back then considered it an aesthetic approach to personal hygiene.

Around this time, Roman women remove their hair with razors and pumice stones. They even make their own depilatory creams from medicinal drugs such as Bryonia.

They also pluck their eyebrows using tweezers.

Roman men have a skilled live-in servant to shave them; otherwise they start their day with a trip to the tonsor, or barber, who will shave a face with an iron novacila, or Roman razor.

This type of shaver corrodes quickly and becomes blunt; so most customers usually, or eventually, get cut. But don't worry - the tonsor can fix this by applying to the face a soothing plaster made from special perfumed ointment and spider webs soaked in oil and vinegar.

Despite the dangers of going to the barber shop, Roman men continue to flock in daily because they are also great centres for news and gossip.

400BC The typical man of India is found sporting a neatly trimmed, well-groomed beard, yet he shaves off all hair on his chest and pubic area.

The average woman is removing hair from her legs with razors and tweezers.

Greek women are removing hair from their legs by singeing it with a lamp. Most Greek men are shaving their faces on a regular basis.

300BC and one day Publicus Ticinius Maenas, a rich Greek businessman brings professional barbers from Sicily to Rome which introduces a new craze for shaving.

The barbers use thin bladed iron razors which are sharpened with water and a whetstone. They don't always use soap or oil making it a long process of shaving a face.

300 BC During this time in Rome young men of about the age of 21 are required to have their first shave. They kick this off by celebrating their official entry into manhood with an elaborate party.

Other friends are invited to watch and give the novice a bunch of gifts. Only soldiers and those training to become philosophers are excused from participating in this cultural ordeal.

50BC In Rome men are following the example of Julius Caesar, who has his facial hairs plucked out individually by tweezing every day.

Depilatories are used as an alternative to the bloody mess that results from shaving with a blade. The latest available creams include some pretty wild ingredients such as resin, pitch, white vine or ivy gum extract, asses fat, she goats gall, bats blood and powdered viper.

100AD In Rome shaving the male face starts to become old hat thanks to Emperor Hadrian, 76-138AD, who is now reviving the growth of beards.

The truth though is that Hadrian grows a beard to hide the lousy complexion he has on his face.

Continue reading »

A Closer Shave

Man's Daily Search for Perfection

Wallace Pinfold

£12.99 - 157 pages

It appears that around 93% of men begin their day removing stubble from their face but a much smaller percentage make the best job of it. Since man discovered metal (shortly after he started walking upright) he's sought to scrape the stubble from his face without skinning himself!

In A Closer Shave Wallace Pinfold takes you on a multi-cultural and multi-faceted tour of the human face through the centuries. Containing over 200 photographs, illustrations, cartoons, wood blocks, paintings and advertisements the story of shaving unfolds. Covering how to trim a moustache, use a shaving brush and banish foggy mirrors, to historically famous beards and bald guys, to the obsession with shaved heads in professional sports.

This funny little book takes a fast and furious, funny and observative, look at getting a closer, smoother and easier shave - proving in the process that the male species' capacity for preening himself should never be underestimated.

To get your copy click here

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