Thread: Free Book PDF from 1905: "Shaving Made Easy"

Heh, no problem, guys. Now while reading the majority of this, it seems 3 big things come to surface in my mind. First, the writing style is different. This book is very direct and almost aggressive- especially in its tone towards safety razors, hehe. Second, it seems that razors and other paraphernalia had different care instructions that some items do these days. For example, rounding a square point straight blade to a slightly rounded one on the edge of a hone. :O

And third, it seems like some info is just a tad dated. This isn't a shock of course but there we have it.

Now for those of us who want to be further along... check out THIS book!
Choice readings. 1 2 3 4

An enjoyable read - thanks!

I found the part about the right way to grip a razor very intriguing. Here's the quote from page 57 and the accompanying picture:

"The first three fingers rest on the back of the blade, with the little finger over the crook at the end, and the thumb on the side of the blade, near the middle."

(emphasis added)




I just tried a shave using this grip on the downward, WTG pass. It felt really odd to have my thumb there, but it worked well enough.

Anybody hold the razor this way already?

I too was surprised to see that I have been holding my razor incorrectly all this time. Also notice that they use a one hand technique. It does add to or maybe change some views that many of us around here have no doubt had for a long time.
Thanks man.
Awesome.
Very cool.
Great find.
A real treasure.

THANKS for pointing that one out

This is at least the second old text I've read that states that a razor whose edge chips, microchips, etc is not simply a differing characteristic from razors that don't microchip, such a razor is frankly defective. I've always thought this and still do. Page 13.

Thanks for posting this book, it's great!

I'm going bite down on the end of belt and try the cold water shaving method. Count me in.

Chris L

Originally Posted by AFDavis11

How many guys do we have on here that complain about a razor bouncing on them?

I get a bouncing sensation when I use large full hollow ground razors. I'm sure it's a shaving technique issue, but I just don't care to work through the frustration when other razors respond better to what I've already learned

Since I seem to be one of the only regular cold water users I'll just add - a hot shower before seems to make it better. So basically underneath your skin is warm but the surface and hair are cold. I think it tightens the skin too which makes the slick better.

I once tried without having a shower before and it wasn't nice at all, but no doubt a little more practice and some time to get used to it it would be good too.

Cool!

Those are some neat books.

I tried the cold water shave this morning and didn't notice much difference. And since the temp. here is about 20F and I'm on a water well, that water was COLD!

Has anyone tried the four-finger grip yet?

I'll give it a go in the morning and report back.

Have you submitted this book to Project Gutenberg yet? This should be made available for the world to use?

I checked Gutenberg and they don't have this book. I'm a proofreader for Gutenberg and I can tell you they do a good job getting old texts like this up for the world to read.

Elie