A Closer Shave: Man's Daily Search for Perfection

A Closer Shave: Man's Daily Search for Perfection
by Wallace G. Pinfold

A Closer Shave: Man's Daily Search for Perfection
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Book Summary Information

Author: Wallace G. Pinfold
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1999-05-01
ISBN: 1579651364
Number of pages: 159
Publisher: Artisan

Book Reviews of A Closer Shave: Man's Daily Search for Perfection

Book Review: Nice to have
Summary: 4 Stars

This book does not offer "tricks to a really close shave". However, it is both a nice present and a nice to have. Why? Did you know about the beard tax imposed by Peter the Great? Guess why J. Palmer was jailed in 1840. Ever seen Kojak shaving his head? Guess why Gilette invested $750 million in development and manufacturing of the first triple-bladed razor. That's why.

Summary of A Closer Shave: Man's Daily Search for Perfection

There he is again, the hairy beast in the mirror!

Not every man in the world begins his day by removing the night's stubble from his jaw, but 93 percent of the male population thinks taming the monster is the first order of business every morning. Since man invented metal--shortly after he started walking upright--he has sought to scrape stubble from his face without skinning himself alive.

In A Closer Shave, Wallace Pinfold takes the reader on a multicultural, multicentury, and multifaceted tour of the human face as seen from the stainless steel railway of the razor. Through more than 200 photographs and illustrations, cartoons and wood blocks, paintings and advertisements, the story of the shave unfolds, from how to trim a moustache, use a brush, and banish foggy mirrors to famous beards and bald guys in history, to the obsession with shaved heads in professional sports.

This witty little book takes a fast, furious, and funny look at the history of getting a closer, smoother, easier shave--and proves in the process that the male capacity for preening and self-absorption should never be underestimated.


More than one male-bonding episode has turned on the agony of razor burn, caused by a coarse beard and an imperfect shave. Thus the need for A Closer Shave, a novelty book in a petite size that should fill a large void. According to the author, Wallace Pinfold, there has been no better time in history to get a really close shave--an excellent coincidence with the fact that the clean-shaven look is currently the in thing. The trick to a really close shave seems to lie in the temperature and quantity of the water. There's more, but it would be unfair to give the plot away. Pinfold, whose name suggests a character out of P.G. Wodehouse but whose bio hints at a career as an adventurer, also provides entertaining notes on shaving history, odd shaving inventions and conventions, and famous beards through the centuries. --Brenda Pittsley

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