Shaving cream

Shaving cream, shave cream, or shaving foam is a frothy cosmetic cream applied to body hair, usually facial hair, to facilitate shaving. The use of cream achieves three effects: lubricates the cutting process; swells keratin; and desensitizes skin. Shaving creams commonly consist of an emulsion of oils, soaps or surfactants, and water. Blades with polymeric coating reduce the need for shaving creams. A rudimentary form of shaving cream was documented in Sumer around 3000 BC. This substance combined wood alkali and animal fat and was applied to a beard as a shaving preparation. Until the early 20th century, bars or sticks of hard shaving soap were used. Later, tubes containing compounds of oils and soft soap were sold. In 1919 Frank Shields, a former MIT professor developed the first shaving cream. The innovative product appeared on the American market under the name Barbasol, offered men an alternative to using a brush to work soap into lather. When it was first produced, Barbasol was filled and packaged entirely by hand in Indianapolis. The brand still exists and is currently available worldwide. The first can of pressurized shaving cream was Rise shaving cream, introduced in 1949. By the following decade this format attained two-thirds of the American market. Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) were used as propellants until they were banned in the late 1970s for destroying the ozone layer. Gaseous hydrocarbons such as mixtures of pentane, propane, butane and isobutane took their place. In the 1970s, shaving gel was developed. In 1993, The Procter & Gamble Company patented a post-foaming gel composition, which turns the gel into a foam after application to the skin, combining properties of both foams and gels. Shaving creams and soaps are available as solids (bars); creams, generally in tubes; or aerosols. All forms may be applied with a shaving brush. Shaving creams contain 20–30% soap , up to about 10% glycerine, emollients, emulsifiers, and foaming agents. Aerosols are diluted creams dispensed from pressurized cans with the aid of hydrocarbon propellants (up to about 10%). The flammability of the hydrocarbons is offset by the large amounts of water in cream formulations.