Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 253, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 October 1910 — First Shaving Instruments. [ARTICLE]

First Shaving Instruments.

Despite the fact that steel and other metalß capable of taking a sharp edge are of comparatively modern origin, razors of one kind or another have been in use since an early period of the world’s history. This is but another evidence of the fact that “necessity is the mother of invention.” It is a well known fact that razors were used by the ancient Egyptians, and even with the crude instruments of their invention they managed to shave their faces. The Levitical code expressly forbade the shaving of the beard, and to this day many of those who cling to that, rule of life will do no more than trim their beards with scissors. Many of the recognized authorities are firm in the belief that the primitive shaving instruments must have been made of sharpened pieces of flint. Among the savage tribes of Polynesia explorers have found that the men of the tribes even at this day in the world’s progress use two pieces of sharpened flint of the same size to shave off their beards. Pieces of shell and sharks’ teeth ground to a fine edge also serve these aborigines for razors. The Romans of Caesar’s time are supposed to have bad razors of the kind tjiat were known to the ancient Egyptians.