Shaving cream

File:A barber getting ready to shave the face of a seated custome Wellcome V0019707.jpg

A rudimentary form of shaving cream was documented in Sumer around {{Nowrap|3000 BC}}. This substance combined wood alkali and animal fat and was applied to a beard as a shaving preparation.[https://www.gillette.com/glossary/en-CA/shavinghistory.shtml "History of Shaving" at Gillette] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160610115055/https://www.gillette.com/glossary/en-CA/shavinghistory.shtml |date=10 June 2016 }}

Until the early 20th century, bars or sticks of hard shaving soap were used. Later, tubes containing compounds of oils and soft soap were sold.

In 1919 Frank Shields, a former MIT professor developed the first shaving cream. The innovative product appeared on the American market under the name Barbasol and offered men an alternative to using a brush to work soap into lather. When it was first produced, Barbasol was filled and packaged entirely by hand in Indianapolis. The brand still exists and is currently available worldwide.

The first can of pressurized shaving cream was Rise shaving cream, introduced in 1949.{{cite web |url=http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/CarterWallace-Inc-Company-History.html |title=1949: Carter launches Rise, the first pressurized shave cream. |publisher=Funding Universe }} By the following decade this format attained two-thirds of the American market.{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=4HI8dGHgeIQC&pg=PA51 | title=Poucher's perfumes, cosmetics and soaps | first1=Hilda | last1=Butler | first2=William Arthur | last2=Poucher | isbn=978-0-7514-0479-1 | publisher=Springer | year=2000 | page=51 }} Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) were used as propellants until they were banned in the late 1990s for destroying the ozone layer.{{cite web | url=http://www.epa.gov/history/topics/epa/25b.htm | title= A Look at EPA Accomplishments: 25 Years of Protecting Public Health and the Environment | access-date=22 November 2008 | date=1 December 1995 | publisher=United States Environmental Protection Agency }} Gaseous hydrocarbons such as mixtures of pentane, propane, butane and isobutane took their place.{{cite web | url=http://www.epa.gov/highgwp/pdfs/chap10_aero.pdf | title=Cost and Emission Reduction Analysis of HFC Emissions from Aerosols in the United States | access-date=22 November 2008 | date=June 2001 | publisher=United States Environmental Protection Agency | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040923213502/http://www.epa.gov/highgwp/pdfs/chap10_aero.pdf | archive-date=23 September 2004 }}

In the 1970s, shaving gel was developed.{{cite web | url=http://brevets-patents.ic.gc.ca/opic-cipo/cpd/eng/patent/2027218/summary.html | title=Canadian Patent #2027218 | access-date=22 November 2008 | work=Canadian Patents Database | publisher=Canadian Intellectual Property Office }} In 1993, The Procter & Gamble Company patented a post-foaming gel composition, which turns the gel into a foam after application to the skin, combining properties of both foams and gels.U.S. Patent 5248495, issued 28 September 1993{{clarify | date=July 2018 | reason=How is this relevant? Are there any creams using this formulation?}}

Shaving creams and soaps are available as solids (bars); creams, generally in tubes; or aerosols. All forms may be applied with a shaving brush.

Shaving creams contain 20–30% soap [potassium or triethanolamine (TEA)], up to about 10% glycerine, emollients, emulsifiers, and foaming agents. Aerosols are diluted creams dispensed from pressurized cans with the aid of hydrocarbon propellants (up to about 10%).{{citation | editor=Arza Seidel |display-editors=etal | author=Martin M. Rieger | chapter=Cosmetics | title=Kirk-Othmer Chemical Technology of Cosmetics | year=2013 | pages=36–37}} The flammability of the hydrocarbons is offset by the large amounts of water in cream formulations.{{cite magazine | url=https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1988/03/14/70302/index.htm | title=A DOWN-TO-EARTH JOB: SAVING THE SKY | magazine=Fortune | access-date=22 November 2008 | date=14 March 1988 |author1=Gannes, Stuart | author2=Slovak, Julianne }}

Beard-softening is due to hair hydration, which also depends on pH. In electric or dry shaving, swelling of the hairs is not desired, and such preparations use high amounts of alcohol (50–80%) to dry the skin and stiffen the hairs.

{{Commons category|Shaving cream|lcfirst=yes}}

• Cold cream
• Depilatory cream
• Shaving soap

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book |last1=Roberson |first1=George |title=Men's Hair |date=1985 |publisher=Rawson Associates |location=New York |isbn=0892562757 |url=https://archive.org/details/menshair0000robe/ |url-access=registration}}
• {{cite book |title=The AMA Book of Skin and Hair Care |editor-last=Schoen |editor-first=Linda Allen |date=1978 |publisher=J.B. Lippincott Company |isbn=0380018713 |url=https://archive.org/details/amabookofskinhai00lind/ |url-access=registration}}

{{Cosmetics}}

{{Human hair}}

Category:Personal hygiene products

Category:Shaving implements

Category:Skin care products