Straight shaving during the Civil War.
When I was in Afghanistan I got into reading journals from Civil War soldiers. I came across this passage that I thought some of you might find amusing. As much as we complain about the sharpness of our razors, can you imagine a year (or years!) in the field without proper honing tools?
From Hard Tack & Cofee:
Nearly every organization had its barber in established
camp. True, many men never used the razor in the service, but allowed a shrubby,
straggling growth of hair
and beard to grow, as if
to conceal them from the enemy in time of battle. Some
more carried their own kit of tools and shaved them-
selves, frequently shedding innocent blood in the service
of their country while undergoing the operation. But
there was yet a large number left who, whether from
lack of skill in the use or care of the razor, or from want
of inclination, preferred to patronize the camp barber. This
personage plied his vocation inside the tent in cold or
stormy weather, but at other times took his post in rear
of the tent, where he had improvised a chair for the com-
fort (?) of his victims. This chair was a product of home
manufacture. Its framework was four stakes driven into
the ground, two long ones for the back legs, and two
shorter ones for the front. On this foundation a super-
structure was raised which made a passable barber's chair.
But not all the professors who presided at these chairs were
finished tonsors, and the back of a soldier's head whose liair
had been " shingled " by one of them was likely to show
each course of the shingles with painful distinctness. The
razors, too, were of the most barbarous sort, like the " trust
razor" of the old song with which the Irishman got his
" Love o' God Shave."
