Why do barbers use talc powder

This raises the topic of another source of male pleasure that was common in the Era but has all but disappeared: the barber shop shave with a straight razor. It was a wonderful, glorious ritual- and afterward one's face tingled with cleansing pleasure. The hot towel, the warm shaving cream, the meticulous and effortless removal of the tiniest remnant of stubble, the application of witch hazel, and a neck dustoff with talc: no home shave can ever come close to the sublime experience.

I can't think of anything that gives as much pure pleasure that does not involve either a removing one's clothes, or b chowing down on a good med. If you want to find a barber today who'll do it: good luck. I remember when I wanted to ditch my beard at the end of one Civil War reenacting season, and wanting to do so with style.

I was told that straight razor shaves had, due to the HIV scare, gone the way of the buggy whip. A few places will shave you with a disposable razor and charge a king's ransom for doing so: sort of like dating a department store mannequin, in my book. Gray Ghost likes this. Nobert and 3fingers like this. Jan 1, Messages: 9, You must log in or sign up to reply here. Show Ignored Content. Share This Page Tweet.

Your name or email address: Do you already have an account? Sorry if this is an ignorant question, but what is the friggin' powder for? Vintage shaving kits often include a container for talcum powder.

Obviously an essential part of a gentleman's grooming kit, in the days of old. What was the purpose of this, exactly? I myself is just a boy of 53 but I'm sure there are some grownups here who are old enough to know this. WegianWarrior Administrator Norway. User Info WegianWarrior. I'm a few years junior to you Steve From my own experience, having talc in my toiletry kit is a must when traveling in hot and humid areas I suspect a lot of shavers in the olden days used it for that effect too, and not on their faces.

User Info Sully. While I am younger than you, I can take a guess as to the purpose of the talcum. I think that they used talcum almost like aftershave or as a way to finish the shave in the old days. I've been to barbers that used a straight razor to shave my neck, and around my ears after and after the haircut they put talcum on a brush and brushed the area they shaved.

I don't think they were using the talcum to pick up stray hairs because they had already wiped down the area with a towel and in some cased used a blow drier to get rid of the cut hair.

Maybe a real old timer or a barber can chime in. User Info TheLegalRazor. Search Advanced search…. Forums New posts Search forums. Wiki Search wiki pages. Gallery New media New comments Search media. New posts. Search forums. Log in. Install the app. Lights off! Contact us. Close Menu. JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.

Your barber will either use a barber powder bush or a napkin to apply powder on your head. Yes, there are a few actually. The best part is they are just affective without the risk. If you notice I provided options for both natural and commercial alternatives. You can go right into your kitchen and find natural replacements to talc powder. The commercial alternatives offer products the same powder but are talc-free. There are even commercial options that are fragrance-free as well.

It is not necessary that your barbers use talc powder when there are other options on the market figuratively and literally. Talc powder is used by barbers to absorb moisture and protect against rashes from friction. Though, talc powder is beneficial after a haircut there are some concerns about the product. Talcum powder that is contaminated with asbestos has shown to have links to lung and ovarian cancer.

The Clubman powder that barbers commonly use is asbestos-free. There are several alternatives on the market that could be used as a replacement for talc powder. Now that we know why barbers use talc powder after your haircut, what do you think? Give me some feedback guys! If you enjoyed this article and found it useful, please like, subscribe and share!

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