Any ladies here shave 'vintage'?

[Geesie]

Following the lead of many of the other gentlemen around here, I switched to a double-edge razor early this year. I have been quite satisfied with that choice - no more razor burn, no more absurdly expensive cartridges, a much more aesthetically pleasing shaving implement.

So on a whim I got a Lady Gillette from eBay. Beautiful thing, too. It's essentially a Gillette Super Speed with a long handle and blue starburst design.

Unfortunately, I don't know how to shave my legs with any sort of razor so I am at a total loss on how to teach my wife to use a safety razor instead of the cartridges. She's willing to learn, but I'm short on teaching. There's a short article on leg shaving at Badger & Blade, but it doesn't go into too much detail.

If any of you use a safety razor, are there any tips you have? Any mistakes you made that you would warn others about, any key differences between modern plastic razor shaving and DE? Also, can you use a DE safety razor under your arms?

 

[LizzieMaine]

You can't bear down like you do with a modern razor. Use a very light touch and take it slowly until you get the feel of it. Be **very** careful around the kneecaps and watch the angle -- it's very easy to slice off the top of the knee if you don't. When I was a teenager, I once used my grandfather's safety razor to do my legs, and still have a scar on my kneecap to show for it.

It's fine to use a vintage razor in your pits, but make sure the blade is fresh. A dull blade there will be very very unpleasant.

Use plenty of soap or shaving cream, especially if you're used to using one of those cartridges with the built-in emollient strip. You won't have that extra lubrication, and just shaving in the shower with the water from the nozzle isn't going to work very well.

 

[HepKitty]

I'm getting the heebie jeebies just imagining shaving my legs w/ a safety razor!

 

[HarpPlayerGene]

My girlfriend caught on to how much I $ave by using vintage shaving gear and expressed an interest. So I bought her a vintage safety razor and a box of new blades and told her to be careful, go slow, not bear down, etc. She's been trying to get the hang of it but the other day I had to teach her about styptic sticks as she was nicked up around the knees and shins.

Thanks for the thread, Geesie and for the info, Lizzie! I'll be interested to see if any other tips come of this and will share the upshot with my sweetie.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I own a vintage Curvfit, which was the first safety razor marketed specifically to women, c. 1915, and it's not a bad shave, actually. It has a shortish handle, and is very lightweight compared to the typical men's model, and has a special curved head that uses a unique flexible blade held in place by spring tension against the top. I think a substantial percentage of women who used safety razors in the Era -- as opposed to using Zip Wax or some depilatory cream, the most popular alternatives to shaving at the time -- would have used one of these specialized razors rather than cadging their husband's Gillettes.

Unfortunately, Curvfit blades haven't been made since the sixties, so they're getting a bit hard to find now. Some retro-type shaving manufacturer ought to start them up again -- I'd certainly buy.

 

[Miss sofia]

Thanks for the info Lizzie, especially about the Curvfit, i have an old mens Wilkinson Sword Gold razor that i just bought, with unused blades. I did use it the other night, rather gingerly too shave my legs, and i was pleasantly surprised at how good the shave was, but it is rather bulky and heavy and i was wondering what would be a good vintage ladies razor to use. Can anyone recommend any other makes of ladies vintage razor that i could look out for? Thanks.

 

[Feraud]

When I was a teenager, I once used my grandfather's safety razor to do my legs, and still have a scar on my kneecap to show for it.

My wife has a similar scar on her lower leg from using my Gillette Slim Adjustable. She is currently scared off double edge razors but I plan to purchase a ladies razor for her in the near future. Hopefully I can coax her giving it another try.
Slow and steady with light pressure and lots of cream is good advice to women or men shaving with vintage razors.

 

[Miss Neecerie]

hehe I can barely manage to shave in my tub with a modern razor...I am sure I would find a way to have the police break in and find me bleeding and stuck in the tub...which leads to the comedic 'how to extracate this lady' sketch from a variety show...

I have a clawfoot tub that is a good 6 feet long...alas its more narrow then one would wish... and no joke it probably has not been moved since it was installed.(the house was built in 1856 or so and whenever they did this bathroom when they made it into flats, they put vinyl floring -around- each of the feet to go underneath, but its not at all a complete floor under it...

 

[swinggal]

I use shaving oil which is very popular again here in Australia now. I gives suck a silky finish and you only have to use a little to cover the area mixed with water. All my male friends use shaving oil now. They say it is so much better for their skin and leaves you smoother.

Sommersets is the brand I use as they make a ladies version. You can buy it in any major supermarket chain here or chemist. It's around $8 and I have had my little bottle for 2 years!

 

[sixsexsix]

I use hair conditioner, it's cheap and works

 

[LizzieMaine]

Yep, hair conditioner is very good -- doesn't clog the razor as much, either.

 

[Miss sofia]

Good call ladies on the hair conditioner, will give it a go. I always buy up really cheap conditioner if i see it and have loads in the cupboard as it's great for reviving old wool and cashmere, and for detangling the dog, great to have another use for it!

 

[Gogo]

How common do you think it would have been in the first half of the 20th Century for women to shave? Don't you think it would have been something of a luxury that only very glamorous women did to pamper themselves?

Plus, I can't help but think of the value of that little extra layer of insulation in the days before central heating...

 

[LizzieMaine]

By the late '20s, it was pretty much universal among American women who kept up with current fashion -- by the latter half of that decade sheer hosiery and short skirts were dominant, and hairy legs wouldn't do. Depilatory creams seemed to be much more popular than razors, at least so far as national advertising would suggest. Older ladies and rural farm women in 1929 might not have bothered with it, but they likely weren't wearing sheer stockings and short skirts, either.

Advertising for depilatory products was widespread as far back as 1910, and you could buy such things in the Sears catalogue even earlier. As mentioned earlier, the Curvfit razor was patented around 1915, so there was clearly a market then. At-home waxing kits were also widely sold around that time.

 

[Gogo]

Wow! I must say I am continually amazed at the amount of effort that women went to back then to look good. I wonder what those depilatory creams would have been like? Surely at least as pungent and toxic as what we have to choose from nowadays...

 

[LizzieMaine]

Some of the depilatories then were deadly -- one, called Koremlu, was made with thallium, which not only caused the hair on your legs to fall out, but also the hair on your head and your teeth. Used often enough it was fatal. The FDA finally put them out of business in the early thirties, fortunately.

Most of the depilatories on the market today -- Neet, Veet, Nair, and such -- were being made and sold by the early twenties, and have continued in production ever since. They might have tweaked the fragrances a bit, but the formulas are basically the same.

 

[Miss Neecerie]

for anyone wanting to be overly academic about it all...


http://www.barnard.edu/history/sample thesis/Kirsten Hansen thesis pdf.pdf

a 55 page thesis from a Barnard student on the history of women's hair removal in our period.

 

[WH1]

Interesting thread I can't imagine using my safety razor anywhere other than my face. Even that can get dangerous when the blade dulls.

It also brings to mind the scene in "North By Northwest" when Cary Grant uses Eva Marie Saint's little razor.

 

[LizzieMaine]

That's an excellent study -- thanx for digging it up. The only thing I'd criticize is that she doesn't examine publications geared to working-class women -- things like confession magazines and movie fan magazines. These contained a great many depilatory and other hair-removal ads throughout the twenties, which confirms that hair removal wasn't just a middle-and-upper-class habit -- by the twenties, it was being promoted across the spectrum.

My most unexpected encounter with a hair-removal ad is the back cover of a New York Hippodrome vaudeville program from 1923, on which the theatregoer is urged to emulate the glamourous ladies of the stage by using ZIP. (I think Julian Eltinge was one of those glamorous ladies, in fact...)

 

[AdrianLvsRocky]

I have a big scar on my shin from shaving with my Dad's safety razor when I was about 15. It tore my skin and got a big strip caught under and around the blade and I had to yank it off. Ouch.

I bought my husband a traditional shaving set last Christmas and, while he loves it, I shudder every time I look at it. I won't be stealing that razor for my legs I can assure you!

In case anyone's interested, the website I bought him his set from had a pretty good overview of wet shaving and methods etc. Not sure they apply to ladies hairy bits though!

http://www.traditionalshaving.co.uk/mall/infopageviewer.cfm/traditionalshaving/ShavingInformation