Thread: 1880s-1890s shave?

I think the whole razor price is a little skewed. We've maintained the mantra "a man can get by with just a brush and one razor". Guys back then, especially rural areas, could probably put an edge that could shave on their tables. As many farming tools would need to be sharp to do their job well. May have just been a coarser and harder stone. Although lapping was probably never really done and it was probably burnished to a high sheen. In the end, buying one razor, for life or at least 10 years, is easily worth a day's or week's work.

Soap was probably made at home or traded with a neighbor for good produced on the farm, etc. It was probably the same stuff used to bathe with and not designed with "glide" in mind.

The old west also wasn't just farmland in the middle of nowhere. Being really far out means a really far travel distance for the goods you grow. So, thinking that people back then were limited to travel and contact in longer than a month increment might be stretching it. Especially with people making cross country trips to make money selling goods from one coast to the other. Not to mention all the towns that popped up fairly quickly in that time due to the gold rush and people wanted to stay past the gold drying up.

Mountaineers and hunters would probably be the most remote. A stone would need to be part of their kit as well to maintain their skinning knives. Less likely would be soap. Although the stereotypical mountain man had a big ol' bushy beard. Maybe due to the fact that mirrors don't travel well?