Victorian Shaving, Part 2

Victorian Shaving, Part 2

.

In Victorian Shaving, Part 1, I covered straight blade (non-safety) razors. Plus the available styles and method of use. Including fascinating Victorian details like sharpening straight-blade razors with a strop. Commercially available shaving soaps. And fees for a barber’s shave v. a man doing so himself.

.

An 1880 Ad: Men Who Shave Themselves

.

Kristin Holt | Victorian Shaving, Part 2. Safety Razor advertised in Reading Times of Reading, Pennsylvania, on September 28, 1880. "Gentlemen who shave themselves who will do well to get a SAFETY RAZOR at McCurdy and Durham's. You cannot cut yourself with them."

An early mention (1880) of SAFETY RAZOR published in Reading Times of Reading, Pennsylvania, on September 28, 1880.

.

Safety Razors: A Victorian Invention

.

The first attested use of the term “safety razor” is in a patent application for “new and useful improvements in Safety-Razors”, filed in May 1880 by Fredrik and Otto Kampfe of Brooklyn, New York, and issued the following month.

This differed from the Henson design in distancing the blade from the handle by interposing, “a hollow metallic blade-holder having a preferably removable handle and a flat plate in front, to which the blade is attached by clips and a pivoted catch. Said plate having bars or teeth at its lower edge, and the lower plate having an opening, for the purpose set forth.” Which is, to “insure a smooth bearing for the plate upon the skin, while the teeth or bars will yield sufficiently to allow the razor to sever the hair without danger of cutting the skin.”

The Kampfe Brothers produced razors under their own name following the 1880 patent and improved the design in a series of subsequent patents. These models were manufactured under the “Star Safety Razor” brand. [source]

.

.

The Star Safety Razor

.

Kristin Holt | Victorian Shaving, Part 2. Star Safety Razor advertisement. "No Danger of Cutting Yourself While Shaving." The News Journal of Wilmington, Delaware on December 23, 1885.

“No Danger of Cutting Yourself While Shaving.” Star Safety Razor advertised in The News Journal of Wilmington, Delaware on December 23, 1885.

 

Kristin Holt | Victorian Shaving, Part 2. A.J. Jordan. Testimonials, Part 1, for Star Safety Razor in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch of St. Louis, MIssouri, on September 11, 1886

1 of 4). Testimonials for Star Safety Razor in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch of St. Louis, Missouri, on September 11, 1886.

A.J. Jordan. Testimonials, Part 2, for Star Safety Razor in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch of St. Louis, MIssouri, on September 11, 1886

2 of 4). Testimonials for Star Safety Razor in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch of St. Louis, Missouri, on September 11, 1886.

A.J. Jordan. Testimonials, Part 3, for Star Safety Razor in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch of St. Louis, MIssouri, on September 11, 1886

3 of 4). Testimonials for Star Safety Razor in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch of St. Louis, Missouri, on September 11, 1886.

A.J. Jordan. Testimonials, Part 4, for Star Safety Razor in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch of St. Louis, MIssouri, on September 11, 1886

4 of 4). Testimonials for Star Safety Razor in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch of St. Louis, Missouri, on September 11, 1886.

.

Kristin Holt | Victorian Shaving, Part 2. Advertisement for Star Safety Razor. Every Man His Own Barber. St. Louis Post-Dispatch of St. Louis, Missouri on June 5, 1886

Star Safety Razor advertisement:  “Every Man His Own Barber.” Published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch of St. Louis, Missouri on June 5, 1886.

.

Kristin Holt | Kristin Holt | Victorian Shaving, Part 2. Advertisement for Star Safety Razor. $2 and saves delays in barber shops. The Topeka State Journal of Topeka, Kansas, on September 20, 1888.

An advertisement for the Star Safety Razor. Published in The Topeka State Journal of Topeka, Kansas, on September 20, 1888.

.

Kristin Holt | Victorian Shaving, Part 2. Star Safety Razor and Strop Machine for Safety Razor. Advertiseed in the 1895 Montgomery Ward Spring and Summer Catalog. "Patented April 1887."

“Patented April 1887”: Star Safety Razor and Strop Machine for Safety Razor. Offered for sale in the 1895 Montgomery Ward Spring and Summer Catalog.

.

Kristin Holt | Victorian Shaving, Part 2. Advertised in the 1895 Montgomery Ward Spring and Summer Catalog. "The Star Safety Razor Gem Case, Favorite Case, and Traveling Case."

Three types of cases for The Star Safety Razor. From the 1895 Montgomery Ward Catalogue Spring and Summer.

.

.

Competing Brands of Safety Razors

.

Kristin Holt | Victorian Shaving, Part 2. Ideal Brand Safety Razor in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch of St. Louis, Missouri, on September 15, 1886.

Ideal Brand Safety Razor in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch of St. Louis, Missouri, on September 15, 1886.

.

Kristin Holt | Victorian Shaving, Part 2. The Ideal claims to be the only safety razor on the market. St. Louis Post-Dispatch of St. Louis, Missouri on October 6, 1886.

The Ideal claims to be the only safety razor IN the market (Whose market? A.S. Aloe & Co.? or “the market”?), published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch of St. Louis, Missouri on October 6, 1886.

.

Kristin Holt | Victorian Shaving, Part 2. The Diamond Safety Razor in the Democrat and Chronicle of Rochester, New York, on October 8, 1886.

The Diamond Safety Razor in the Democrat and Chronicle of Rochester, New York, on October 8, 1886.

.

Kristin Holt | Victorian Shaving, Part 2. Mens Gilette Safety Razor advertisement in The San Francisco Call on January 24, 1906.

Men’s Gillette Safety Razor advertisement. The San Francisco Call of San Francisco, California, on January 24, 1906.

.

.

Victorian Humor: Safety Razors

.

Kristin Holt | Victorian Shaving, Part 2. Who knew a safety razor could prove a point of Victorian Humor? Published in the Reno Gazette-Journal of Reno, Nevada, on April 26, 1881.

Safety Razor. Victorian Humor. Reno Gazette-Journal of Reno, Nevada, on April 26, 1881.

.

Related Articles

.

Kristin Holt | Victorian Shaving, Part 1 of 2

Kristin Holt | Mail-Order Catalogs Timeline and Truth

Kristin Holt | Mail-Order Catalogs and the Old West

Kristin Holt | Late Victorian-era Beauty Secrets

Kristin Holt | Old West Barbershop Haircuts

Kristin Holt | Victorian Era Men's Hairstyles

Kristin Holt | Freckles, Complexions, Cosmetics and Victorian Beauty Concoctions

Kristin Holt | False Beauty Spots

Kristin Holt | Old West Bath House

Kristin Holt | Old West Bath Tubs

Kristin Holt | Victorian Hair Indicative of Character

Kristin Holt | Old West Barber Shop

Kristin Holt | Victorian Ladies' Hairdressers

Kristin Holt | Victorian Hair Augmentation

Kristin Holt | Victorian Curling Irons

Kristin Holt | L-O-N-G Victorian Hair

Kristin Holt | Victorian Era: the American West

.

Updated May 2022
Copyright © 2016 Kristin Holt, LC
Victorian Shaving, Part 2 Victorian Shaving, Part 2
Save

Save

Save

Save