# Ancient Shaves
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-shaves/46639
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [December 21, 2000, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-shaves/46639 "2000-12-21T03:16:32Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)
#### Post date: [December 21, 2000, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-shaves/46639/1 "2000-12-21T03:16:32Z")
There are plenty of images of men who are close shaven centuries even millenia ago. Is this for real? I just can’t imagine they had technology to produce blades that made it feasible to shave every morning.They didn’t have shaving cream either did they? Of particular interest is ancient Rome and Greece.
---
### Author:  [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)
#### Post date: [December 21, 2000, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-shaves/46639/2 "2000-12-21T03:30:23Z")
I don’t use shaving cream. Waste of money IMO, so that’s not necessary for a close shave.
Just tossing this out, I don’t actually know, but there were plenty of things that could probably be sharp enough to shave with. Obsidian, properly chipped, could prbably do the job. And metals were in use for a looong time.
Bu, I’m sure someone will come and clean up after me. I have wondered about this quite a bit, actually…
---
### Author:  [@MarkyDeSade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarkyDeSade)
#### Post date: [December 21, 2000, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-shaves/46639/3 "2000-12-21T03:52:10Z")
I’m not sure about the Greeks and Romans, but I would guess that knives were used. Try it yourself, it works. I take no responsibility if you kill yourself, however.
I do remember reading (some years back) about tribes in the amazon using a specific type of grass to shave with. It was supposed to be razor sharp (when turned on edge) and worked just fine without shaving cream.
---
### Author:  [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)
#### Post date: [December 21, 2000, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-shaves/46639/4 "2000-12-21T03:55:16Z")
Egyptian, Greek, and Roman literature contain references to shaving. Archaologists have dug up razors dating back to the early Bronze Age.
Earlier than that, things get murky. Archaologists have found small blades that don’t seem to be useful for much besides shaving.
Anthropologists have seen shaving practiced in tribes that had no history of metalworking. Hair removal is sometimes done for hygenic reasons, sometimes done for ceremonial purposes, and frequently done as a badge of tribal affiliation. Stone-age cultures use obsidian or flint scrapers to do the job.
I don’t know about shaving cream, but I think oils or ointments might serve the same purpose.
---
### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [December 21, 2000, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-shaves/46639/5 "2000-12-21T06:07:18Z")
It’s all right here:
[The History of Shaving](http://www.quikshave.com/timeline.htm)
---
### Author:  [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)
#### Post date: [December 21, 2000, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-shaves/46639/6 "2000-12-21T06:13:26Z")
I seen it on tv, and tv doesn’t lie. 😉
Peace,
mangeorge
---
### Author:  [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)
#### Post date: [December 21, 2000, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-shaves/46639/7 "2000-12-21T16:09:21Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by mangeorge \*
> \*\*I seen it on tv, and tv doesn’t lie. 😉
> Peace,
> mangeorge \*\*
Yep. Darwin observed this among the natives of Tierra Del Fuego when he journeyed aboard the Beagle.
---
### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [December 21, 2000, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-shaves/46639/8 "2000-12-21T22:06:19Z")
I’ve read that soldiers once shaved to demonstrate that they kept their swords sharp.
---
### Author:  [@djbdjb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/djbdjb)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2000, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-shaves/46639/9 "2000-12-22T23:17:27Z")
I thought warriors did not wear beards because they can be grabbed in combat by your enemy.