COST OF SHAVING

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 25, 29 July 1942, Page 4

COST OF SHAVING

THE ECONOMIC ASPECT

The simple economics of the.business of shaving was the subject of brief official reference today, coincident with the announcement that the price of a shave has been raised from 9d to Is. Shaving was at one time the major service in barbers' saloons, but with the advent of the safety .razor the service has rapidly diminished and of recent years it has been of minor importance. . "It is estimated," says the local Hairdressers' Association, "that at present 90 per cent, of the men shave themselves, and only about 10 per cent use the saloons, and then only irregularly. Regular shavers constitute about 5 per cent, of the menfolk. This small sec- ' tion includes a very difficult class of customer to shave. Generally speaking, they have proved too tough a proposition for the well-merited reputation of the safety razor.. Indeed, these shaves may be more truly referred to not as shaves, but as minor surgical operations. They take more time than a haircut and for some time past have been a serious and, uneconomic prob- '. lem to the hairdresser." | The statement explains that the,increase in the costs of shaving service since 1938 was 51 per cent. "The ■ shave for some time has been a big joke—but not for the barber," it- adds. Appreciation was expressed at the meeting of the Wellington Colleges Board of Governors at the action of the Old Boys' Association in offering to insure the memorial window at Wellington College'against war damage.