I got thinking about this the other day and wondered how many affordable shave soaps were used, say, in 1900 and before? I know that there were many that were marketed, but how many were actually used? Most people were not well off, then, and wouldn't or couldn't spend extra money on an item that had only one use - shaving. There probably is no way to actually determine this, but I imagine there were many who just used regular bar hand soap with a brush or maybe even without a brush! In an attempt to see if this would work, I decided to sacrifice myself and my face to an experiment. Not having any bar soap because we shower and bathe using liquid soap, I tried some of this.




Reading the label, it seemed like it would work. It lathers beautifully in the shower.



I keep this in a foaming type pump bottle on the bathroom sink, so I shot a few squirts into the mug...



Then whipped it up...



and shaved with it. All in all, it was a pretty good shave. I'd rank it a little below a DFS. It worked up a nice lather, albeit, a little thin. But, it was quite wet and slick and made for a decent shave - no nicks cuts or abrasions. So, I guess it's quite possible that many people back then just used their normal hand soap. Any thoughts?

Growing up, I remember that my Dad always shaved with whatever bar soap we had at the sink. He'd apply it with his hands...no brush. That's how I started shaving as well. It wasn't a pleasant experience, but it worked. I'd guess this was fairly common.

When you think about it, it does make sense.

I'm 65. My Dad always had Williams or Old Spice pucks around. Williams even had a menthol shave puck. A neighbor that used a straight razor used a shaving cream called Stag, I think it might have been a Rexall Drug Store brand but could be wrong on that. Of course Burma Shave was around but don't ever remember my Dad using a cream.

I shaved for thirty plus years with whatever bar of soap was at the sink. I've seen the light and there's no turning back.

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Did you use a brush? Or just your hands?

Hands.

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i have a rexall stag soap container from the 40-50s. bakelite..could be older..

Shave soap does go back a long way...ads for Williams (1900), Gibbs (1906) and Palmolive (1916) for example...

Id say they likely shaved with whatever bar soap they had. I highly, highly doubt there was such a thing as special shaving soaps.

Shaving soaps, according to The Gentlemen's Gazette and others, have been around since the 14th century. Then creams came about around WW I.

1900 Williams ad above includes a cream. Barbasol was indeed 1919.

The only razor I remember my Grandfather use was electric.

a quote from the OP.

Williams in the late 1700's
https://books.google.com/books?id=k...EILDAB#v=onepage&q=shave soap in 1900&f=false

Very interesting Wikipedia article on shaving soap.

Gibbs also goes back to 1700s.

Wiki says that "Ivorine" became Ivory and there was some 'Williams' guy associated with Ivory soap.

I guess there is something to be said for perceived value. A lot of folks probably didn’t see the value in a special soap to shave or didn’t see the value relative to their means. And others did. I’ve shaved with bar soap when times were tight, but a stick of Palmolive is $3 and lasts for months. I guess it was similar 50-75-100 years ago. And preference for what you know probably has a lot to do with it.
I remember my grandmother- worked all her life saved like crazy and at 75 years old had a whiskey sour made with “ten high” rot gut whiskey when she watched Gun Smoke. She had probably 3-4 drinks a week and at that point could have easily afforded single malt scotch, butTen High is what she knew, thats what she liked.( She had to go to a specific store because it was so cheap most places didn’t carry it.) I guess shaving soap might have been similar.

I just used a Palmolive stick for this mornings shave. Good stuff.