For thousands of years man has been battling with the idea of facial hair. Our more than 25,000 facial hairs are as hard as copper wire and grow an average of 125mm to 150mm per year. And 3,000 hours are of men’s lives are spent shaving.

But have you ever wondered why men shave?

For a brief history of shaving, Prim & Prep has put together this informative infographic. In it you’ll read about how before razor blades and shavers were invented, men used sharpened shells or rocks to remove facial hair. However, these weapons required considerable skill by the user to avoid cutting himself badly.

And that ancient Greeks and Romans started shaving both their beards and heads because long hair was seen as a liability in battle.

Learn more reasons why men shave in the infographic below:

Brief history of shaving

100,000 years ago

Human beings began removing facial hair through the painful process of plucking them out. This was performed for survival, as facial hair could lead to frostbite if it got wet.

40,000 years ago

Man began shaving with sharpened shells or flakes of rock.

4,000 BCE

Ancient Egyptians removed their facial hair with creams, then by rubbing rough pumice stone and later with basic metal razors to eliminate the stubble.

300 BCE

Influenced from Alexander the Great, who saw a long beard or hair as a liability in battle, both Romans and Greeks began making their soldiers shave their faces and heads.

18th to 19th century

This was the emergence of the modern straight razor (Sheffield) as well as the world’s first marketed safety razor by the Kampfe Brothers.

1904

King C. Gillette patented the first modern double-edged safety razor, defined by its replaceable double edge blade technology.

1971

Gillette introduced the first cartridge razor, the Trac II. Defining feature: A removable two-blade cartridge attachment with permanent handle. Since the Trac II, cartridge razors have evolved with a variety of innovations, including pivoting heads, more blades, lubricating strips, and wire guards. Cartridge razors remain the most popular razor to date.

1975

Bic released the latest innovation in shaving: an inexpensive throwaway razor. Companies including Gillette and Schick quickly followed.

2005

One of the defining moments in the wet shaving revival was Corey Greenberg’s appearance on the Today Show. During the same time, there was an emergence of traditional wet shaving forums and websites including the first shaving forum, Shave My Face in 2004, followed by Badger & Blade in 2005.

Today

Traditional wet shaving is on the rise. The Art of Shaving reported a 1000% increase in safety razor sales in the US from 2009 to 2014. There’s also been an upsurge in new manufacturers of soap, brushes, and razors, and the Wicked_Edge subreddit has grown to over 76,000 subscribers.

Now that you know a bit of the history of why men shave, hopefully it’s a little easier to fork out the $30 for a pack of razor blades…

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Source: http://designtaxi.com/news/384006/Infographic-The-Evolution-Of-Shaving/