I was browsing the boxes of less-than-interesting household items in the back yard of an auction house when my auction buddy Janet approached me.
“You should take a picture of this,” she urged. I followed her to “this.” It was a metal contraption almost as tall as me on spindly legs. It looked like something right out of a Sci-Fi alien movie with its bulbous head and short skirted torso. It also reminded me of a knight in armor but lacking the details.
I had no idea what it was. So I drew in a little closer to see the words embossed on a medallion atop its head: The Globe Hot Towel Sterilizer.
Was that the same as a towel warmer, I wondered, and later I went Googling. As I learned more about the sterilizer, I had a recollection. In old western movies, I remembered seeing men sitting in barber’s chairs with white towels wrapped around their faces. The barbers seemed to be softening and moistening the skin for their blades and the men’s shaves.
This was not the first time I’d come across barbering tools. Some years before, someone had discarded a large lot of paraphernalia that obviously had belonged to a barber: razor strops (I come across those often), straight razors (some of which came with beautiful handles, and they, too, show up pretty often), shaving brushes, neck dusters, nail buffers, talcum powder tins, scissors and a jar for disinfecting tools.
Apparently for home use, Colgate Shaving Stick tins that once held soap turned up once. The previous owner had left razor blades in them. I also keep seeing Rolls Safety Razors, an elegant British product in lovely decorated silver-plated cases.
The barber items were small ones, the personal tools of one man’s trade. This sterilizer, which was about 4 feet tall, likely stood in a barber stop for all to use, and they apparently were pretty common during the early 1900s. One site outlined the process for the shave: place a sterilized towel on the face, work up a lather with brush and soap, shave the man and then wrap another towel around his face. Another site noted that the sterilizer also produced hot water for whipping up the soap lather.
Clean towels and other sanitary conditions became the standards for barbers starting in the late 1800s when licensing rules were established. During the early 1900s, men were picky about appearing clean-shaven and groomed, and paid a visit to their barbers regularly, according to the 2006 book The Encyclopedia of Hair: A Cultural History by Victoria Sherrow. The author noted that barbers were present on ocean liners so men could maintain their appearance through the long voyages, and that the Titanic had two separate shops for first-class and second-class passengers.
Gillette’s first safety razor, mass-produced in 1904, knocked out straight razors and doomed the barber shop shave, according to one site. Gillette apparently made it easier for men to shave at home.
Before they became principally known for shaving and cutting hair, the earliest barbers performed the duty of dentist and surgeon. After the 1900s, however, these men of scant medical knowledge were disallowed from performing surgery.
I found several sterilizers on the web, with prices ranging from $600 for a copper and brass one with attachments (sold) to $7,150 for a restored Simplex from the 1900s (for sale). A copper sterilizer with a porcelain base sold in 2005 for $2,500 from the collection of a Canadian couple that included cars, automobile memorabilia, porcelain and tin signs, gas pumps, juke boxes and more.
I wasn’t around when the Globe sterilizer with its nickel finish was sold, but Janet said it went for $250. A steal, I would say.
