#1
As some of you may know, I am an adult college student. (Thank you pre 911 GI Bill) One of my courses is speech. Well this is kind of a step backwards for me considering I was and instructor in the USAF and can ramble on for hours like any good teacher can. But I want a degree so I am up for playing this game. I get to do a persuasive speech in a couple of weeks. Well no self respecting seasoned speech giver would pass on the chance to persuade 19-21 ish year olds to adopt DE or SE wet shaving. But to my dismay I only have 6-7 minutes. Up until now the instructor (who is my age)(also quite striking in her leopard print high heels) hasn't dinged me for going slightly over my allotted time, but I want to fit as much history in as I can without sounding like an auctioneer.

I will be using my 3-piece old types, and newer ball techs, and some Super Speed TTOs for demonstration purposes. I will also be using my 1912 SE, Schick hydro-magic, and Schick adj SE. Along with some CB, B&M, and a few brushes for visual reference. I might even show them a Trac II handle.

The problem I am having is finding peer reviewed verifiable sources---that ARE NOT web sites like DFS and the other two. Colleges seem to have a disdain for web-driven content, and frown upon wikipedia and member driven info sites. Things I want to talk about in my speech are things most of us here know about but the outside world doesn't. IE expansion of the hair follicle when wet, contraction when dry. I can piece together info on aerosolized lather vs artisan soap and its benefits. Recycling our blades and wrappers, consumerism etc. I plan on using Mr. Razor site, as it seems to be an authority on razor history. But need a little more on maybe Gillette's initial patents etc. Web sources are OK, just not member driven content. The problem with our hobby is the PG&E marketing has soundly stomped out most traces of DE and SE shaving. (Like NASCAR, Champions from the 70s and 80s are to be referred to as Sprint cup champions when Winston was the series sponsor and cellular phones weren't even a daydream)

Remember, this is a persuasive speech to convert face and leg shavers to the DE and SE method of shaving. I know I will be plenty persuasive and can develop a convincing argument around this topic. I just need to sprinkle in some good solid sources to move this speech to the top tier.

Anybody have any good links I can research and use in my assignment? I only need 4, but want to use as many as I can. Any and all help is useful. Thank you in advance for your help!

MaineYooper and BadDad like this post
#2

Member
Austin, TX
There's this gem from 1905... more straight oriented but you may be able to pull some info.

It would be cool to video your presentation and post it after the fact- would love to see the finished product and good luck!
Kevin
#3
That is a really cool vintage book. I especially like the part about "do not use toilet soap" Seems even then they knew regular bathing bar soap was inferior to soap designed specifically for shaving. Thank you Sir.
#4
(03-23-2016, 08:47 PM)olschoolsteel Wrote: As some of you may know, I am an adult college student. (Thank you pre 911 GI Bill) One of my courses is speech. Well this is kind of a step backwards for me considering I was and instructor in the USAF and can ramble on for hours like any good teacher can. But I want a degree so I am up for playing this game. I get to do a persuasive speech in a couple of weeks. Well no self respecting seasoned speech giver would pass on the chance to persuade 19-21 ish year olds to adopt DE or SE wet shaving. But to my dismay I only have 6-7 minutes. Up until now the instructor (who is my age)(also quite striking in her leopard print high heels) hasn't dinged me for going slightly over my allotted time, but I want to fit as much history in as I can without sounding like an auctioneer.

I will be using my 3-piece old types, and newer ball techs, and some Super Speed TTOs for demonstration purposes. I will also be using my 1912 SE, Schick hydro-magic, and Schick adj SE. Along with some CB, B&M, and a few brushes for visual reference. I might even show them a Trac II handle.

The problem I am having is finding peer reviewed verifiable sources---that ARE NOT web sites like DFS and the other two. Colleges seem to have a disdain for web-driven content, and frown upon wikipedia and member driven info sites. Things I want to talk about in my speech are things most of us here know about but the outside world doesn't. IE expansion of the hair follicle when wet, contraction when dry. I can piece together info on aerosolized lather vs artisan soap and its benefits. Recycling our blades and wrappers, consumerism etc. I plan on using Mr. Razor site, as it seems to be an authority on razor history. But need a little more on maybe Gillette's initial patents etc. Web sources are OK, just not member driven content. The problem with our hobby is the PG&E marketing has soundly stomped out most traces of DE and SE shaving. (Like NASCAR, Champions from the 70s and 80s are to be referred to as Sprint cup champions when Winston was the series sponsor and cellular phones weren't even a daydream)

Remember, this is a persuasive speech to convert face and leg shavers to the DE and SE method of shaving. I know I will be plenty persuasive and can develop a convincing argument around this topic. I just need to sprinkle in some good solid sources to move this speech to the top tier.

Anybody have any good links I can research and use in my assignment? I only need 4, but want to use as many as I can. Any and all help is useful. Thank you in advance for your help!

(03-23-2016, 10:07 PM)olschoolsteel Wrote: That is a really cool vintage book. I especially like the part about "do not use toilet soap" Seems even then they knew regular bathing bar soap was inferior to soap designed specifically for shaving. Thank you Sir.



This should be all you need.  I have a few on the list.  Let me know if I can help further and congrats on going back to school and accepting that challenge my friend.  Good luck

http://www.safetyrazors.net/books.htm
#5

Super Moderator
San Diego, Cal., USA
If you can get your hands on a copy of Robert K. Waits's A Safety Razor Compendium: The Book http://www.amazon.com/Safety-Razor-Compe...ailpages00 and, perhaps, another book, also by Rober K. Waits, Before Gillette The Quest for a Safe Razor http://www.amazon.com/Before-Gillette-Qu...ailpages01, they offer a wealth of information, perhaps too much for a six minute speech.  

I have the original Safety Razor Compendium on a computer disk and hadn't realized it had been reproduced in paperback so I just ordered myself a copy, along with Before Gillette.  They're due tomorrow. Big Grin
#6
Leisureguy's Guide to Gourmet Shaving is the Bible of shaving.

The folks at some of the wetshaving equipment manufacturers (Edwin Jagger, Muhle, Omega) might also be able to point you towards some verifiable sources. Lynn Abrams at Straight Razor Place has been in this arena longer than most, and has produced instructional videos. He might know of good defence material. There is a book, I forget the title just now, about how to shave with a straight. It is on archives.org. Maybe a barber would know of instructional material?

Just a thought...
#7

Scentsless Shaver
Oakland, ME
Razor Emporium has an education link, if I remember. The link is near the bottom of the home page. Good luck!

On a side note, I was a grad student working as a teaching assistant at Purdue, and had to take the intro speech course in order to get my teaching certificate!

Sent from my SM-G900R4 using Tapatalk
- Eric 
Put your message in a modem, 
And throw it in the Cyber Sea
--Rush, "Virtuality"

Overloader of brushes, Overlander fanboy, Schickhead, and a GEM in the rough!
#8
(03-24-2016, 12:39 AM)MaineYooper Wrote: Razor Emporium has an education link, if I remember. The link is near the bottom of the home page. Good luck!

On a side note, I was a grad student working as a teaching assistant at Purdue, and had to take the intro speech course in order to get my teaching certificate!

Sent from my SM-G900R4 using Tapatalk

Just checked and I didnt see a history link. I appreciate the lead. On a side note, the Purdue owl citation site gets talked about endlessly Smile
#9

That Bald Guy with the Big Beard
Bishop, CA
(This post was last modified: 03-24-2016, 04:01 AM by BadDad.)
You can use patent numbers from Mr Razor and cross-reference them with the US Patent Office to present a timeline and progression...

http://www.uspto.gov/patents-application...ch-patents

There might also be a means for searching patents by holder name, which would make it easier to show a comparative analysis of the competitive market from the dawn of safety razors forward...
-Chris~Head Shaver~
#10
Good point baddad. I wanted to zero in on when the patent for the 1903 DE expired, opening up the market for other blade makers to provide more cost effective non gillette blades. I think that happened in 1921. It wold be neat to look up the Mach3 and the Fusion to predict when their patents run out and we can see an influx of companies making cheaper carts for the gillette handles.


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