In modern times, a funeral home usually has someone on staff who is skilled at shaving a man's face for his funeral. For women's hairstyles or more complicated men's hair, a funeral home will often have a relationship with a local salon to provide these services. But in the 19th century, a barber would be called in to shave the dead. As that custom was starting to change, a reporter from the Trenton Evening Times in New Jersey visited a local barber to get a shave and ask if the barber had ever shaved a corpse.
The exchange as recorded in the newspaper is quite amusing, as the barber not only dreaded being called for such postmortem services, but also didn't want to hear any jokes about it from the reporter. And when you are sitting in a barber's chair facing a man with a large razor at your throat, you don't want to piss him off. We'll also hear from an undertaker about the post-mortem shaving powder advertised above. Chris Woodyard brings us that account at The Victorian Book of the Dead. -via Strange Company
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