A hundred years on every barber's counter. Then it was lost.
Before aftershave came in a bottle, a barber finished every shave the same way. One cold, wet stone, run down your neck. It was the last thing you felt in the chair.
Then the bottle won. Not because it worked better, but because a stone that lasts a year sells only once. A bottle that runs out sells every month.
We did not invent it. Barbers did. We brought it back.Flint
- 77 AD · Rome
Pliny writes it down.
Pliny the Elder lists the stone in his Natural History, close to two thousand years ago.
- 1893 · Chicago
On every barber's counter.
The first barber school in America opens. The stone is a standard tool of the professional shave.
- 1918 · The trenches
In the soldier's kit.
Men shave with cold water in the mud. Cuts and razor burn are part of the day, and the stone goes in the kit.
- 1950s · The bottle takes over
Sold as fresh.
Brands with TV budgets sell alcohol that stings and call the sting fresh. Shaving moves from the barber's chair to the bathroom, and the stone gets no ads.
- Today · Istanbul
The barbers never stopped.
Sit in a Turkish barber's chair and he will not let you leave without the cold stone on your neck. Most men under 30 have never seen one.
- Now · Flint
Brought back, made for the neck.
One natural stone, shaped into a block, in a clear case that keeps it dry. The barber's finish, in your own bathroom.