NOS 1940s Lifebuoy Shaving Cream

Discussion in 'Shave Creams' started by IAmTheJody, Jun 9, 2021.

  1. IAmTheJody

    IAmTheJody Gillette-i Master Staff Member

    As some of you have seen, I enjoy finding New Old Stock shaving creams and using them... It took a long time to receive this because the seller shipped it as über slow Media Mail, costing him $2.89 but charged me $6.00 shipping... It finally arrived today.

    NOS 1940s-1950s Lifebuoy Shaving Cream. I'm looking very forward to testing and using this!

    Some history...

    Lever Brothers Company was founded in Warrington, England in 1884 as a soap making company. Lever Brothers Company entered the United States market in 1895. Its brands included Lifebuoy, Lux and Vim.

    In 1929, Unilever was formed by a merger of the operations of Dutch company Margarine Unie and Lever Brothers, named as a blend of the two firms' names. The Lever Brothers name was kept for a time as an imprint, as well as the name of the U.S. subsidiary, Lever Brothers Company.

    Unilever debuted Lifebuoy Shaving Cream in 1932.

    In 1942, Unilever purchased the toothpaste brand Pepsodent.

    This information dates this vintage tube of Lifebuoy Shaving Cream from 1942-1952 as it has 'Lever Brothers Company, Pepsodent Division' imprint on the box and tube, and is still in the red tube used since at least 1932 until 1952 when they did away completely with lather shaving cream and replaced it with brushless shaving cream in a new white tube.

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    Steve56, Frijolero, richgem and 15 others like this.
  2. swarden43

    swarden43 "It's your shave. Enjoy it your way."©

    Cool!! :)
     
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  3. wchnu

    wchnu Duck Season!

    I have heard before that those old tubes were made with lead in them. Just what I heard. Still a great find. I love using the vintage stuff myself!!
     
  4. IAmTheJody

    IAmTheJody Gillette-i Master Staff Member

    I've heard that as well. Ironically, people that used stuff from back then, lived a long time. lol As little as I use them, I'm sure it's not enough to amount to any harm. Probably more lead in my drinking water, which I also use for making coffee and tea, from our 60-year-old pipes over time.
     
  5. gorgo2

    gorgo2 geezerhood

    Enjoy it!
     
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  6. brit

    brit in a box

    very cool..:cool:
     
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  7. Primotenore

    Primotenore missed opera tunity

    Article Team
    Great find. Let's see a lather shot.
     
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  8. IAmTheJody

    IAmTheJody Gillette-i Master Staff Member

    Definitely will when I first use it. It smells nice and is pink in color. Wouldn't that be interesting if it stayed pink once lathered? lol
     
  9. Paul Turner

    Paul Turner outside the quote(s) now

    This is great history. In the late 70's, Lifebuoy soap was a deodorant soap, not today. Same with Lever.
     
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  10. poppi

    poppi Well-Known Member

    That's very cool. How do you come up with all these items?
     
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  11. IAmTheJody

    IAmTheJody Gillette-i Master Staff Member

    Mostly eBay and Etsy but every now and then I'll find something local. I especially love the 1970s Gillette Regular Lather Shave Cream I found and have been using lately. Fantastic stuff.
     
  12. wchnu

    wchnu Duck Season!

    We agree on all that then. Looking forward to see how that lather is.
     
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  13. poppi

    poppi Well-Known Member

    Agree about the Gillette SC. I found some a few years ago and really liked it as it lathered/worked very well. Only thing that concerned me was that it had peanut oil in it. No problem for me but could have been for some
     
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  14. IAmTheJody

    IAmTheJody Gillette-i Master Staff Member

    Well here we go! I whipped up a bit of this Lifebouy Shave Cream for last night's shave. It starts out Salmon pink in color, ends white in color. Nice, silky lather. The smell is interesting after all of these years. Perfumey, with a very slight hint of menthol - so slight that you don't notice it until you make a brush stroke right near your nose. And there's definitely not any "feel" to the menthol... no cooling effect, etc. Perfumey and menthol... almost as if they were trying to make it appealing for use to women and men. Were women hairy back then? :lyrtuy5:

    The actual shave with it was nice. It wasn't fantastic, but it was nice. Good lubrication when I mowed through it with one of my Schick Lady Eversharp injector razors. Did a good job of keeping lather rather than slowly losing its foam and drying away. Felt a decent moisturization afterwards.
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    Last edited: Jun 12, 2021
  15. Paul Turner

    Paul Turner outside the quote(s) now

    What aftershave did you follow up with?
     
    brit likes this.
  16. IAmTheJody

    IAmTheJody Gillette-i Master Staff Member

    My usual now discontinued Russian Tet-A-Tet aftershave balm. Between it and my other favorite, Proraso Crema Liquida Dopobarba aftershave lotion, both having been discontinued, I'm on the hunt for a suitable IMO replacement. I've still got a few tubes of the Tet-A-Tet left thankfully so I've got some time to keep trying out new ones.
     
  17. Paul Turner

    Paul Turner outside the quote(s) now

    No wonder I never saw Lifebouy Shaving Cream.....I was -5 years old.
     
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  18. IAmTheJody

    IAmTheJody Gillette-i Master Staff Member

    At first I only saw the five and missed the negative in front of it. lol
     
    Paul Turner likes this.
  19. Paul Turner

    Paul Turner outside the quote(s) now

    Aaaaah, just wanted to be silly.
     
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