Life, 1895-04-11 · page 21 of 26
Life — April 11, 1895 — page 21: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a product advertisement, not political satire. It promotes Williams' brand shaving soap by contrasting two products: an inferior soap (left) versus Williams' superior formula (right). The ad uses a before-and-after visual argument: a man's face showing poor lather on one side, better lather on the other. The selling point targets winter customers—claiming Williams' soap heals skin irritated and chapped by cold weather, while warning that ordinary soaps (implied to contain impure animal matter) can cause dangerous blood poisoning through contact with cracked skin. The "CAUTION" section directly advises customers to insist barbers use only Williams' brand, emphasizing safety and chemical purity. This reflects early 20th-century consumer anxiety about product quality and health risks—concerns that would have seemed serious to contemporary readers.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THIS— THIS— Is the kind he used WILLIAMS’ before he found the better kind. IN Safe COLD WEATHER. The cooling—creamlike lather—heals—closes and softens the skin—irritated— chapped’"—and laid open by the extreme cold. CAUTION.—Insist on WILLIAMS’. See that your barber puts no ordinary soap on your face at this season. Impure animal matter thus brought in contact with the flesh beneath the cuticle—ts responsible for hundreds of cases of fatal blood poisoning. ~ HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of TONS have gone out from our works. Not one ounce of material used that is not chemically pure and untainted, comicbooks.com