Recently I have been following (with interest) an on-line discussion about shaving and the way companies that make shaving products could advertise more effectively.

Above:  2003 advertisement for Gillette - shows the act of shaving and illustrates the Gillette razor (two views of the razor, inexplicably one in pack).  Use of "mach" in the product name is presumably meant to be a subliminal link to "macho" (an abbreviation of machismo).  Most advertising related to shaving is a variation on this theme.

This discussion makes me think about the cultural significance of shaving.  Why do men shave?  What emotional and psychological benefits does shaving deliver?

On an anthropological level shaving seems to be connected with war.  In the ancient past men shaved as a sign that they were preparing (setting themselves apart in a ritual way) for the act of war.  Alexander the Great insisted his army was clean-shaven; Roman men (Rome was in a continual state of mobilisation for most of its history) were clean-shaven; the ancient Germanic tribes only permitted men to shave once they had killed.

Does this have any relevance today?

It is interesting that the modern convention of shaving coincides with the period of "total war" (ie war that involves civil populations as well as armed forces).  Before the First World War beards were common, perhaps even conventional.  After 1914 we enter a period when the majority of men shaved.  Most of the twentieth century people lived in a society that was saturated with war - even in the periods of so-called peace international tensions threatened war (the cold war, the conflict in Northern Ireland, reports of the conflict in South East Asia).  It is interesting to note that since 1997 the United Kingdom has been involved in one war or another almost continually - Gambia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya etc.  Television has illustrated these wars with a force and impact previous generations did not experience.

Obviously no-one in their right mind wants a real war, so why would shaving as a ritual act of preparing for war have any emotional or psychological relevance for men in 2011?

I think a clue comes from a recent paper published by the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin http://psp.sagepub.com/content/early/2011/03/23/0146167211402216.abstract   This report looks at a Chinese study that "suggest a link between the motivation to mate and a man’s interest in, or support for, war".  Analysing the results of four behavioural experiments the researchers suggest “a mating-warring association deep in the male brain, due to the fact successful warriors have traditionally enjoyed greater access to women".

Not perhaps a message that most marketing departments would welcome, but it suggests that creative images related to successfully-aggressive males would sell more shaving products.

Above:  a 2005 promotion in GQ magazine for a "starter pack" of male grooming products.  The ritual aspect of shaving seems to be important, and customers are responding to ever more intricate ways of carrying out what should be an uncomplicated task.  Does this ritual aspect of shaving relate to psychological needs far removed from the simple act of preparing for the day?