The Bluebeards Revenge
Shaving and grooming through the ages: The history of hair removal
Reaching for your razor on a daily basis may be a bit of a chore, but with the vast range of products now available to help you achieve that perfect, clean shave, there’s no longer any excuse for looking like a cave man.
Spare a thought for our ancestors then, who back in the stone-age, had little more than clam shells and shark teeth to rely on to remove their facial hair. Now that’s manly.
It wasn’t just the cavemen who had to suffer for the sake of looking good, either – let’s take a look at some of the other most hair-raising male grooming habits through the ages.
Around 485BC, Egyptian priests had started to believe that body hair was shameful and unclean. Their solution? To rub it all off with a pumice stone. Suddenly razor burn doesn’t seem so bad.
Roman men would start their day with a trip to the barber, who would shave their faces with an iron ‘novocila’ – the best answer to the razor around at the time. Getting cut was all part of the experience, with the novocila quickly corroding and becoming blunt. We bet they wished The Bluebeards Revenge Cut-Throat Razor had been invented back then, which despite its name, would have given them a good clean shave without the pain!
By 400BC, Greek women had caught on to the trend, and were singeing the hair from their legs with a lamp. Bit of a pointless task, as the smell alone would have been likely to send men running for the hills. If only they’d heard of our Luxury Shaving Cream, which with magic ingredient Decelerine would have reduced regrowth by up to 40%. Yes, we know it’s not for girls – but we reckon men back then would have been happy to share if it meant their women stopped smelling so unpleasant!
Later, around 50BC, men had begun plucking their facial hairs with a pair of tweezers. Long-winded and painful, it’s little wonder this method was eventually eclipsed by shaving. Latest shaving creams at the time included ingredients such as asses fat, goat’s gall, bats blood and powdered viper. Lovely.
Fast forward to the 1800s, when head and body lice infestation was rampant – but don’t worry, rubbing one’s self with mercury soon resolved that. Unfortunately, the lice weren’t the only ones to perish, with most participants going stark raving mad before shortly meeting their makers.
So gents, next time you’re turning up your nose at the thought of your morning shave, think of what this unlucky lot went through to give you the fantastic shaving equipment that’s currently sitting in your bathroom cabinet.
Time to man up!
Shaving and grooming through the ages: The history of hair removal
Melanie Kruger
