THE ART OF SHAVING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 281, 28 November 1938, Page 6

THE ART OF SHAVING.

STUDIED FOR CENTURIES. If you were told, being a man, that you practised the art of pogonotomy every morning of your life, you would look blaitk and deny tlie insertion." Yet such is the case, for pogJ- 1 notomv in nothing more than the very ancient j art of shaving. In Babylon and Kgypt of old, men shaved * their faces—using (sometimes pumice stone, weapon* of flint, iironze, iron or steel to rid them of their surplus hair. Farther back yet we read in the Bible itself that Ezekiei the 1 prophet said. "And then, sou of man. take thee i a sharp knife and cause it to pass upon thy head and upon thy heard." If the fa-hi'iii in man's facial adornment does not change quickly a* the fashion in women's liairilre-siug. it newt thcless does in 1 time swing round to tlie opposite extreme, i Heal men swore by 'heir lieards. Now it is often the effeminate man who sports a "face- ■ fringe.'" Homely Problems. You would not of course. expect a scientist so far to make hi:n-el; inteiliiible to ordinary ii,ell as to refer to "p ._'onotoiny" as "shaving," yet two young American scientists, Lester Hollander and Klbridsre ,1. Casselnian, have recently spent much time in investigating tha homely problems (and they are many) of the Art of I'ogouotomy. In !!»:{! a clinle war. established at Mellon j Institute, I'niversity of Pittsburg. for the | e.\ pre,-.- purpose of st tidying the various J of shining, razor de-ivn. preparation of t:ie ■ fi.ee. and the many el "incuts that enter into . the tcellnii|lie of removing hair from the lace, j I"<ir their pi!r>• :il men with hair ot - \arioiw colours and toughness submitted them- j -ehes to 1.1 barbers, so that a waiting world could know why it was that piteous cries of an:uisli issued from so many bathrooms at early hours in the morning, and what could be done to turn them tf> founds of joy. These two investigators applied themselves, first to the stinly of hair and found that it was composed of a substance called keratin, a compound of nitrogen and sulphur. This Milistanec is not soluble in water, but has the capacity for alisorbing it. thereby becoming softened and lengthened. Hence the necessity for wetting the face before shaving. It was lound, no doubt, by the painful j experience of the unfortunate who submitted [ himself to the torture of a dry shave that dry hair does nof stretch, but that wet hair -tretches up to r>o 7>er cent of its original j length. On each hair, also, is a sebaceous j secretion which flinders the absorption of ) water. The removal of this secretion, there- [ fore, greatly helps the softening of the lieard. ; Another reason for facial preparation is to provide a lubricated surface for the passage of the razor blade, and a binding medium, sneh as a good lather, for the hair. It was found that with hot water softening took place much more easily. "Painless" Shaving. We are told that it is harder to remove, hair from the upper lip and the central part of the chin than from any other part of the face. Not many men will disagree with this conclusion. Hair is said to grow at its fastest immediately after shaving, and to slow down progressively until the. normal growth is about half an inch a month. . a result of exhaustive tests, tlie two scientists have come to certain conclusions ' which will, if acted upon, cause shaving to be, instead of a source of bad temper and bad language, as simple and painless an operation as washing the face. They say that they have proved that it • is bent" to wash the face with hot water and 1 non-irritating soap first, for lialf a minute or more, then rinse. Rub the soap well in with ■ (lie palm of the hand, using much water, for ■ three minutes (presumably forgetting that vou are already running late for your morning train), and making sure that your face and razor are both thoroughly wet. t Then, if you have covered your face with j a thick lather, made sure that your razor i* , held at the correct angle, and (to use a misleading phrase) is in ''good nick," you will , l>e able, if you are lucky, to run the razor , over your face as if there were nothing to , stop its smooth and gentle movement. —J. RYAN. i ■■ ■