Shaving Mugs and Bowls

Researching what goes into shaving soap is one thing, but it would be remiss of me not to also have at least a passing look at the containers used to hold soap whilst in use

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Shaving bowls have a long history. Barbers bowls with a semicircular notch seem to have done double duty in earlier centuries as both bowls for shaving and for use during bloodletting. There is a nice ceramic example here at the Science Museum London dated 1700-1750

And another here, in pewter from the V&A museum dated1675-1700 complete with a little dent to hold a ball of soap. 

By the time we get to the Victorian period and the focus of this project, this style of bowl is becoming rather old fashioned and most men are using a shaving mug to hold their soap. These can take quite a wide variety of forms, from simple containers not dissimilar to the sort of mugs we use today for drinks, to elaborate multi compartmented ones designed to hold a whole or half cake of soap above a reservoir of hot water into which the brush could be dipped.

In barbers’ shops, the use of a communal shaving soap and mug or bowl was frowned on as it could lead to the spread of infections and ‘barbers itch’, so it was possible to have your own personal shaving mug stored at your local barber shop for your exclusive use. Personal shaving mugs, whether for use in the home or by your barber, are now widely collected and a quick look at any of the websites devoted to them will give a good insight into the huge variety of shape and ornamentation found throughout the second half of the nineteenth century.

Occasionally patents were filed to suggest improvements in the design of shaving mugs. This one is an American patent from 1867 

US patent 66788 "Improvement in shaving-cups"

The mug below is a shaving mug we found walled up in a disused cupboard when we moved into our 1890s house, I’m not sure of its exact date, but shaving mugs like this go out of general fashion fairly early in the twentieth century. It has ‘A Present from Weston Super-Mere’ on it, and is otherwise a plain, functional, everyday mug. Gareth is currently using it to test some of the soaps I’m making as part of this project.

Although the fancy shaving mug styles are largely restricted to the nineteenth century, the somewhat simpler shape that resembles a modern coffee cup survives- Old Spice for example issued a long line of shaving mugs from 1938 into the 1990s.  

Other shaving soaps, particularly the softer cream soaps made using a combination of sodium and potassium lye, might be packaged in small lidded bowls, a style still to be found in use amongst high end shaving soap manufacturers.

Today, there are a number of excellent artisan potteries creating beautiful shaving mugs, bowls and dishes, some in traditional styles, others in more modern shapes. I must just make mention of Gwynneth Rixon, a ceramicist who will be working with me to develop some shaving mugs that will fit the eventual results of the Victorian Shaving Soap project, her work is wonderful and I am always happy to recommend it.