It was a TonicLong ago, in the 1940s and 1950s, men’s grooming was
every bit as important as today, and with a multitude of individual styling
aids each dedicated to maintaining the then fashionable short-back-and-sides.
This was an era when barbershop hair tonics were packaged in delicately-fluted
clear glass bottles, to which were affixed brightly coloured labels extolling
the virtues of amazing additives with even more amazing names.
Something for the weekend, Sir?
Usually, simple mineral oil and fragrance made up the core of these
preparations: a few measured drops applied to the head were all it took
to impart a sheen that lasted the whole day through. For a heavier hold,
there was any number of lightly scented petrolatum-based pomades resplendent
in decorative art-deco jars in all shapes and sizes.
 A few also incorporated unusual ingredients like beeswax derived from
the Australian Honey Bee, whose excretions were known to yield a stiff
wax that was initially was soft and pliable for easy application. And
if there was grey hair to hide, the inclusion of iron oxides, mica and
titanium oxide, to the formulation resulted in a thick black mixture
that at first glance could easily be mistaken for a typical tin of boot
polish. But it worked.
Stars with Stripes
Pomades were especially popular among Afro-American males (Sammy Davis
Jr., as an example) seeking that slicked-back look. Later on, heroes
of post-war youth culture like James Dean and Elvis Presley -- and here
in Australia, Johnny O’Keefe  --turned
to hair creams and brilliantines to keep their perfectly created cows
licks and ducktails firmly in place. And the US cult-TV series ‘77
Sunset Strip’ starring teen-idol Ed Byrnes as the cheeky comb-wielding ‘Kookie’,
helped make men’s hairstyling the last word in fifties cool.
Meanwhile, with the advent of the military crew cut, deliberately cultivated
facial hair, in particular sideburns, was actively discouraged, confined
mainly to bodgies and the like. The five o’ clock shadow was frowned
upon: opinion had it that a nature intended a man’s face to be
clean-shaven. Which ultimately prompted the introduction of the electric
shaver.
Electric Shaver
 Early models were cumbersome. Their foils rapidly clogged up, and needed
a mains outlet to function. Rechargeable and battery operated models
were unheard of. So, as now, the safety wet razor was the preferred choice
for mid-20th century man. As now, it was both affordable and highly portable,
plus, when teamed with a tube of brush, or brushless, mentholated shaving
cream, it did the trick, giving real meaning to the expression ‘clean-cut’.
Still to come was the widespread acceptance that after-shaves and colognes
could still be ‘manly’, and the public realisation that even
the most fastidious of Australian men would be better off using a deodorant…
(To check the Product pages for classic lines still available today - click here)
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