See also depilatory cream

Chemical depilatory

A chemical depilatory is a cosmetic preparation used to remove the hair from the skin on the human body. Currently, a common active ingredient is calcium thioglycolate, which breaks down the disulphide bonds in keratin and weakens the hair so that it is easily scraped off where it emerges from the...

 for the cosmetic potion of this name.

Shaving cream is a substance that is applied to the face or wherever else hair grows, to provide lubrication and avoid razor burn

Razor Burn

Razor Burn is the 7th studio album by the South African gothic rock band The Awakening, released on Massacre Records in Germany and Intervention Arts in Africa and the US in September 2006.-Recording:...

 during shaving

Shaving

Shaving is the removal of hair, by using a razor or any other kind of bladed implement, to slice it down to the level of the skin. Shaving is most commonly practiced by men to remove their facial hair and by women to remove their leg and underarm hair...

. Shaving cream is often bought in a spray can

Aerosol spray

Aerosol spray is a type of dispensing system which creates an aerosol mist of liquid particles. This is used with a can or bottle that contains a liquid under pressure. When the container's valve is opened, the liquid is forced out of a small hole and emerges as an aerosol or mist...

, but can also be purchased in tubs or tubes. Shaving cream in a can is commonly dispensed as a foam

Foam

-Definition:A foam is a substance that is formed by trapping gas in a liquid or solid in a divided form, i.e. by forming gas regions inside liquid regions, leading to different kinds of dispersed media...

 or a gel

Gel

A gel is a solid, jelly-like material that can have properties ranging from soft and weak to hard and tough. Gels are defined as a substantially dilute cross-linked system, which exhibits no flow when in the steady-state...

. Creams that are in tubes or tubs are commonly used with a shaving brush to produce a rich lather (most often used in wet shaving).

The cream itself commonly consists of a mixture of oil, soaps, surfactants, and water or alcohol, manufactured under carefully controlled conditions to ensure proper pH

PH

In chemistry, pH is a measure of the acidity or basicity of an aqueous solution. Pure water is said to be neutral, with a pH close to 7.0 at . Solutions with a pH less than 7 are said to be acidic and solutions with a pH greater than 7 are basic or alkaline...

 and consistency.

History

A rudimentary form of shaving cream was documented in Sumer

Sumer

Sumer was a civilization and historical region in southern Mesopotamia, modern Iraq during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age....

 around . 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

Shaving soap

Shaving soap typically refers to a hard soap that is whipped into a lather using a shaving brush. The lather it produces is used to coat the face during shaving, providing protection and lubrication for the razor...

 were used. Later, tubes containing compounds of oils and soft soap were sold. Newer creams introduced in the 1940s neither produced lather nor required brushes, often referred to as brushless creams.

Soaps are used by wetting a shaving brush, which is made out of either boar hair or badger hair, and swirling the brush on the soap, then painting the face with the brush. Brushless creams do not produce a lather, thereby removing its ability to protect the skin against cuts. Traditional soaps are still available today from such makers as the Art of Shaving, Crabtree and Evelyn and Geo. F. Trumper.

The first can of aerosol shaving cream was Rise shaving cream

Rise shaving cream

-History:It was introduced by Carter-Wallace in 1949. In 1963 the Federal Trade Commission charged Carter-Wallace with false advertising when a television commercial for Rise used "a phony substance resembling shaving cream"....

, which was introduced by Carter-Wallace

Carter-Wallace

Carter-Wallace was a personal care company headquartered in New York City. The company was formed by the merger of Carter Products and Wallace Laboratories. The company has a research facility in Cranbury, New Jersey.-History:...

 in 1949. By the following decade this format attained two-thirds of the American market for shaving preparations. The gas in shaving cream canisters originally contained chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)

Haloalkane

The haloalkanes are a group of chemical compounds derived from alkanes containing one or more halogens. They are a subset of the general class of halocarbons, although the distinction is not often made. Haloalkanes are widely used commercially and, consequently, are known under many chemical and...

, but this substance was increasingly believed to be detrimental to the Earth's ozone layer

Ozone layer

The ozone layer is a layer in Earth's atmosphere which contains relatively high concentrations of ozone . This layer absorbs 97–99% of the Sun's high frequency ultraviolet light, which is potentially damaging to the life forms on Earth...

. This led to restrictions or reductions in CFC use, such as the United States Environmental Protection Agency

United States Environmental Protection Agency

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is an agency of the federal government of the United States charged with protecting human health and the environment, by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress...

 ban in the late 1970s. Gaseous hydrocarbon propellants such as mixtures of pentane

Pentane

Pentane is an organic compound with the formula C5H12 — that is, an alkane with five carbon atoms. The term may refer to any of three structural isomers, or to a mixture of them: in the IUPAC nomenclature, however, pentane means exclusively the n-pentane isomer; the other two being called...

, propane

Propane

Propane is a three-carbon alkane with the molecular formula , normally a gas, but compressible to a transportable liquid. A by-product of natural gas processing and petroleum refining, it is commonly used as a fuel for engines, oxy-gas torches, barbecues, portable stoves, and residential central...

, butane

Butane

Butane is a gas with the formula C4H10 that is an alkane with four carbon atoms. The term may refer to any of two structural isomers, or to a mixture of them: in the IUPAC nomenclature, however, butane refers only to the unbranched n-butane isomer; the other one being called "methylpropane" or...

 and isobutane

Isobutane

Isobutane, also known as methylpropane, is an isomer of butane. It is the simplest alkane with a tertiary carbon. Concerns with depletion of the ozone layer by freon gases have led to increased use of isobutane as a gas for refrigeration systems, especially in domestic refrigerators and freezers,...

 could be used instead of the CFCs. Because of the large proportion of water in pressurized shaving cream, the risk from the normally flammable hydrocarbons was reduced. The logic behind a canned shaving cream is this: by canning the lather rather than the cream or soap the shaver can save time by not having to build the lather. While this is true, it is often argued that this method removes a lot of the original purpose behind the cream and/or soap in the process. By canning the cream, it can no longer protect the face because it doesn't lather, or so it is argued. Canned cream's sole purpose, it is argued, is to lubricate the face so that the blades can cut the hairs since they no longer provide any protection from cuts.

Modern developments

In the late 1980s, shaving gel was developed that is dispensed from an aerosol can. In 1993 The Procter & Gamble Company

Procter & Gamble

Procter & Gamble is a Fortune 500 American multinational corporation headquartered in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio and manufactures a wide range of consumer goods....

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.