Life, 1914-04-02 · page 68 of 68
Life — April 2, 1914 — page 68: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is **not a political cartoon or satire**—it's a straightforward advertisement for Williams' Holder Top Shaving Stick, published in *Life* magazine on April 2, 1912. The page promotes a patented grooming product: a shaving soap stick housed in a metal cap/holder. The advertisement emphasizes practical benefits: users grasp the metal cap rather than touching soap directly, can use the stick down to its final bit conveniently, and keep it in a nickeled container. The image shows a hand demonstrating how to hold the product by its metal cap. Below, three alternative Williams shaving products are illustrated (powder, cream in tubes, and stick with hinged box). This represents early 20th-century consumer marketing—emphasizing hygiene (fingers don't touch soap), convenience, and quality. The appeal to "Greater Convenience—Greater Satisfaction" reflects the era's embrace of modern consumer goods and innovation in personal grooming products.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Apeil 2, 191 filliams| ENJTED Shaving er er lop aFeRe Greater Convenience—Greater Satisfaction Coors Your fingers do not touch the soap. You grasp it by the metal cap in which the stick is firmly fastened, rub it gently over the face, which has previously been moistened, and then return the Shaving Stick to its nickeled container. The Holder-Top permits you to use the stick down to the last available bit with perfect ease and convenience. THREE OTHER FORMS OF THE SAME GOOD QUALITY Williams’ Shaving Stick Hisgstfeyer Williams’ Shaving Powder Hires Cover Williams’ Shaving Cream (in tubes) Asample of'any one of these four shaving preparations will be sent postpaid for 4c. in stamps THE J. B. WILLIAMS COMPANY, Dept. A, Glastonbury, Conn. WILLIAMS’ JERSEY CREAM SOAP and our extensive line of Toilet soaps have the same softening, creamy, emollient qualities that have made Williams’ Shaving Soaps so famous. Ask your dealer for them. HOLOER TOP SHAVING STICK WILLIANS emlicbooks. Goan =r “LYFE: connie ie tatty SE OO Price in England, Supeace.