Thread: Three Books on the Barber's Profession

Since many of you seemed so happy to see the two old books I hunted up concerning razor hones (see link at end of this note), I scouted around further and have come up with three books devoted to the barber's profession. I do not believe that any of these is currently listed in the SRP WIKI and so I'm taking the liberty of posting links to them in this thread. Naturally, the use of the straight razor is covered within each of these books. Perhaps you will be able to glean some interesting nuggets of information from these.

First off we have "Mack's Barber's Guide" which dates from 1908. The photos of the straight razor shave are interesting and there are also notes on the trimming of beards and mustaches. Oddly enough, there are few illustrations devoted to the cutting of the hair or styles thereof.

Mack's barbers' guide; a practical hand-book, for apprentices, journeymen and boss, embracing a theoretical course in barbering, as well as recipes and formulas for toilet waters, face lotions, creams, salves, pomades, shampoos, sea foams, hair tonic


The next oldest text, "The Standardized Barber's Manual", shows a first printing date from 1911. This one seems to be the most complete of the three books and covers the (then) entire range of barbering subjects in some detail (use of hand clippers, types of hair, anatomy, sterilization methods, and so on).

The barbers' manual


Last of all we have the, "Practice and Science of Standard Barbering". This work dates from 1951 and again it covers the entire range of barbering subjects, with, of course, a more modern slant on certain subjects.

Practice and science of standard barbering; a practical and complete course of training in basic barber services and related barber science. Prepared especially for use by barber schools, barber students, barber apprentices, practicing barbers in pre


And if by some chance you haven't yet seen the other books on razors and honing, here is the link to that thread on SRP: http://straightrazorpalace.com/hones...rs-honing.html


Happy Reading!

- Ignatz

I've been doing a lot of work on strop preparations, particularly dry preparations, and these books are full of additional points I appreciate greatly. The comments on the use of linen in the second book; that it produces smoothing, rounding, and dulling, is very interesting and makes a lot of sense.

I was also glad to finally see a reference to my long known fact that stropping after a fresh honing, even on leather, is pointless.

Love these books.

Thanks they're helpful

Mack's Barbers' Guide recommends using formalin as sterlyzer but wikipedia article says it's banned from use.