Egyptian bronze razor and knife at the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum in San Jose, California

Egyptian bronze razor and knife at the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum in San Jose, California.
Although shaving dates back to prehistory, the use of metal blades for shaving has been evidenced as far back as about 3,000 B.C.E. with the discovery of copper razors. In ancient Egypt, depilation was commonly practiced with the use of a sticky sugar compound, pumice stones, tweezers and razors. In ancient Greece, the removal of body and pubic hair may have been practiced among both men and women as some red figure pottery depicts both men and women without body or pubic hair. The Roman emperor Augustus was said, by Suetonius, to have applied "hot nutshells" on his legs as a form of depilation.


Image: Bronze razor, Egypt, Late Period, 525-343 BCE, 27th-30th dynasties, at the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum in San Jose, California courtesy of the museum.

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