RAZORLESS SHAVING.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXI, Issue 12190, 11 June 1907, Page 4

RAZORLESS SHAVING.

Shavims without u/ois— is it possible* Theie us » company iv London which hays it is, by the iim> <»J their shaving powder. The Daily Mail describes ;<n interesting Press view' ol the working of the invention, to which scores of excited barbers had also been invited. Ihe point of the invent iou is that it makes a beard brittle in a few minutes, and then the hair can be scraped off with any instrument. The subjects of the test w«re six — two men recruited from the street with, a week's growth on their chins, a young clerk, two British workmen, and a portly middle-aged man of comfortable appearance. Their cheeks were latheied with what looked like a creamy pa6te of t'.f conti-tpnoy of mortar, with a puusjenl suit 1 ' ' tiii'ly lesembling that of heliotrope. 'I he lathered men lay back for ten minutes, having their photographs taken and listening to banter, and then the operator scraped the paste off one of them with a bone paper knife. The man arose clean- shaven, aud the barbers were aghast. The other men were shaved with the back of a lady'a comb, a postcard, » wooden salad-spoou, a shoe-horn, and * match-box, and in each case the shave was as clean as it could be. "True, the process seemed rather lengthy and elaborate: true, one of the men mentioned that his face smarted a little. But the results were indisputable." A London specialist in akin diseases raises a note of warning. He points out that substances which render the hair brittle are known to medical men, but they are injurious to tne skin, and he infers that the new shaving powder contains one or more of these substances. On the other hand, another specialist says he has examined the powder, and found it harmless, and the promoters affirm that there is nothing in it injurious to the skin. Apart from this question, the drawback to the invention seems to be the wiit of ten minutes. This would mean getting up ten minutes earlier in the morning, and, of course, this would be quite enough to prevent many men from using it. Sheffield, it is worthy of note, views the invention with considerable amusement. The razor trade, it is said, has never been better than it is now, and manufacturers do not fear the competition of the razorlees shave.