What does it mean to be a man?
Is it simply our gender that differentiates us from the fairer sex? Often times, when people think of a “man”, they think of a courageous or valiant man in battle, business or family life. In the past, being a man meant you were a hunter, provider, and defender of your kin and land. It also meant you possessed skills to accomplish whatever was set in front of you. However, as our modern world continues to make life easier, the attributes of a man have evolved and changed.
At the beginning of the 20th century, men were part of a similar evolution in their own day and age. Out of the industrial revolution came two distinct classes of people in the Western world: the blue collar and the white collar. Men and women worked in factories and performed services while the ruling class owned these businesses or entered higher skilled professions such as medicine, law or politics. And while education was certainly the best ticket to move up in the world, a smaller leveling of the playing field was emerging with the advent of the safety razor and grooming.
Shave Yourself
When Gillette came on the scene in the 1904 with the disposable blade razor, shaving wasn’t something for every man yet. Shaving was something that required time, money and skill. Often the common man would shave once a week, usually before a religious service or special occasion. Owning a straight razor meant an expensive investment and still more cost and time needed for leather strops and sharpening. To visit the barbershop regularly was not only costly but also time out of your day that you couldn’t be working. All that changed with Gillette’s first safety razors.
King C. Gillette changed the world we live in with the “barbershop in your pocket.” The company empowered men to “Shave Yourself” with one of their convenient razor handles and disposable blades that needed “No Honing and No Stropping”. They even went as far as run slam campaigns against barbershops; stating publically that they were an unclean and unsanitary place to visit. And with a safety razor you could save time- an appealing aspect to men everywhere both then and now.
Gentlemen Choose Gillette
While the new way of shaving that Gillette showed the world was certainly catching on, it really became solidified after the First World War. With attacks of airborne toxins, the US Army issued Gillette razors to servicemen everywhere in an effort to provide proper skin-tight seals for gas masks. Gillette used this affirmation of their shaving method to help push the remaining general public into shaving the Gillette way. And after the war, men returning kept their safety razors and were now customers for life.
The effort to convert men to safety razor shaving continued well into the early 1920’s. They advertised images of business class men smoking cigars, drinking whiskey and riding in rail road cars using Gillette razors. Gillette was slowly and surely showing men that through shaving and having a keen appearance, they could transform themselves to be thought of as business men and move up in the world. By using a safety razor and shaving yourself, the working class man could use the same tools previously only available to the aristocrat. They created a common playing field for men- to strive to reach higher in their jobs and lives, and to look their best and be treated as a gentleman.
Gillette’s efforts continued well into the middle of the 20th century and adapted to show sports figures and educated men using their razors while portraying women as preferring a clean shaven man. Their advertisements worked and the safety razor took mainstream precedence in just a few decades. The accessibility to a high quality, at home, low cost shaving method truly did make us men on the same playing field with each other.
Conclusion
In today’s world, we don’t always have an opportunity to feel like a “man”. Our food is bought at the grocery store and cooked in a microwave. Our jobs involve typing on a keyboard and checking emails. We’re not forging steel or laying railroads, building dams or raising sky scrapers. We feel our best when we can feel like men- purposeful, skilled, and able to take care of ourselves. Gillette’s mission to teach the world to “shave ourselves” only aided in men’s reach for greatness and feeling masculine everyday. It took the skill of a trained barber and put it into the hands of an everyday father, soldier or craftsman.
Looking your best by shaving is a manly quality in any job or profession and instantly prepares you for the day ahead. Because of Gillette, we have the power to choose how and when we shave, and in turn put our best face forward. With the resurgence and interest into manly things, it makes sense that traditional shaving is also gaining popularity. We are part of the same movement that our fathers and grandfathers were on – in fact, ask a relative about old razors and you’re sure to hear a story of grandpa in the kitchen or bathroom with a brush and blade. Traditional shaving helps us to feel connected to our past and empower us with a skill to feel and look like men in our everyday lives.
Matt Pisarcik
After looking for a better way to shave in 2005, Matt Pisarcik took his passion for wet shaving and Vintage Gillette Safety Razor Restoration and turned it into a thriving business, The Razor Emporium incorporated in 2009. Alongside the retail sales website is Razor Archive, a comprehensive database for Gillette advertisement and hundreds of historical razor documents that give today’s collector hard to find information with ease. Matt’s drive for quality, history and the wet-shaving movement are what make the work and dedication at Razor Emporium so unique. Subscribe to the Razor Emporium Youtube Channel Today!
About Douglas Smythe
