, 1880-09-10
About Shaving,

1t is safe to say that nine out Of ten OF
the men one meets on the street in our
cities shave, or rather are shaved. Some
shave the moustache, some the chin,
sorle the cheek. Indeed, one must go
into mathematics, to the tables Of per-
mutations and combinations, to find how
many varieties of shaving are possible.
Woman is accused of being the party
who devotes her time to appe arances and
the frivolities of the mirror, but after
all man does his share of 1t. The rea-
son he escapes the charge is that he
blandly sets down his decorative work as
being a matter Of necessity.
And il is true that shaving is very
old custom, nor have we anything to say
against it, except that it is unnatural,
and is, and should be acknowledged to
be, a concession to the loeking-giass and
TO vanity But the point is that old as
is the art il is a singular thing low few
know how to shave. Nearly all men
shave in the "passlve voice" This may
be taken as the grammatical phrase or
as an acknowledgement OF the voice OF
the barber they have to endure. Each
signifcation is true. And while nearly
all men consent to refer their shaving to
few who make it business, only
fraction Of that few understood their art.
There is a financial blunder at the
bottom Of it that makes trouble all
through The dogma that a shave is a
shave is mistake. One man with a
stiff beard and full face will choose to
have his whole expansive countenance
clean shorn another will have only his
upper lip. To each it is q "shave," and
each is charged alike. One may require
thirty minutes attention, the other ten
minutes. The first will dull a razor the
second not affect its edge. To each it is
ten cents. Now, a BARRIERS working
day, we will assume, is ten, hours long.
If he is occupied three-quarters Of the
time he must be buster than usually ap.
pears. This gives him seven hours
labor, and if he struck day of half.
hour faces his whole receipts would be
81 40. If his luck gave him ten-min.
ute cases he would take in 50 10. Even
this would not pay were it not tor the
seductive side issues--the hair cuts and
shampoos Of the trade-that bring II
more per hour than the fundamental in
dustry. .... .I uaa .a d.
Now, as the price and the circum
stances of shaving 90, it is constant
hurry to finish a man, asshaving scarce
lv pays at the best and, if he is.one o.
the more absorbing subjects--full shave
and stiff beard--it is a loss to work upor
4 him. To shave him carefully costs toe
much time and the edge of the razor
To skim over his face, cutting off sec
tions of beard here and there, and leav
ing odd oase9 of hair along the deserts
Of the cheek, saves the razor, but spoil'
the person who pays for the operation
and who should not be entirely forgot
ten. The scale of prices ought to bt
regulated by what one gets, and barber!
ought to have the courage to charge fol
what they do ( H.S " litItt-
(. This done, revolution in the ar
would follow. Speed would not be the
great aim. Attention could be given tt
the removal of the beard, which in ole
times it was as important to remove az
the lather, and the man who went out
of the barber shop would leave satisfied
instead of hoping that nexo time il
might be better. We recommend these
considerations to the trade without
charge for advice Shaving is custom
of civilization; scalping is token o.
savagery; playing with soap bubbles il
game Of childhood. 1t is now mat
ter of luck which of these operation.
\ falls to the barber's patron to-day.