I see and read a lot that suggest that for our grandfathers and perhaps great grandfathers, having someone else shave them was quite the norm. Of course, way back most guys went to the barber shop for shaves but there seem to be lots of other examples. I was watching the Military Channel last night, a show about WWI. The were showing the difference of how British Officers lived vs. your standard enlisted trench rats that came from the unscrubbed masses of the time. Film footage showed the men bathing in shell craters full of water and many were sat down while there buddies shaved them. Could this be because of a lack of mirrors (i.e. I'll shave you and then you shave me?). It would also seem that back in the day lots of women shaved their husbands. The most obvious example is in the movie "The Color Purple" Danny Glover slaps his wife around for a bit, calls her ugly and stupid then puts a straight razor in her hand.
Call me crazy or just call me evolved but I for one prefer to do my own shave. I wouldn't mind a barber shop shave but having a buddy or let alone my wife, shave me would be completely out of the question. I guess I'm just kinda curious as to if that was the social norm back then or if I'm just crazy.