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40-621: Burma-Shave was an American brand of brushless shaving cream , famous for its advertising gimmick of posting humorous rhyming poems on small sequential highway roadside signs. Burma-Shave was introduced in 1925 by the Burma-Vita company in Minneapolis owned by Clinton Odell. The company's original product was a liniment made of ingredients described as having come "from the Malay Peninsula and Burma " (hence its name). Sales were sparse, and

80-520: A brush bears a 'super' or 'silvertip' badger hair load is to look at the color of the bristle tips. A true 'silvertip' brush has tips that are an off-white. A 'super' brush on the other hand has bristle tips that are a more sterile, slightly greyed white; moreover, the light color of the tips does not extend as far down the shaft of the hair. Silvertip badger is the most expensive and rare type of badger hair. The tips on this hair appear white naturally, without bleaching. A "flared" bristle load results in

120-513: A chair leg before slaughtering it for its fur. Boar bristles are available cheaply from many sources. Brushes made in China or India with boar bristle are supplied wholesale, while even the cheapest wholesale Badger brush costs at least $ 10; even the cost difference between badger brushes with resin handles vs. expensive horn handles shows that, except with exotic materials such as sterling silver, special woods, ivory, bone or custom materials, badger hair

160-459: A commercial message, was a successful approach to highway advertising during the early years of highway travel, drawing the attention of passing motorists who were curious to learn the punchline . As the Interstate system expanded in the late 1950s and vehicle speeds increased, it became more difficult to attract motorists' attention with small signs. When the company was acquired by Philip Morris ,

200-468: A major advertising component until 1963 in most of the contiguous United States. The first series read: Cheer up, face – the war is over! Burma-Shave . The exceptions were Nevada (deemed to have insufficient road traffic), and Massachusetts (eliminated due to that state's high land rentals and roadside foliage). Typically, six consecutive small signs would be posted along the edge of highways, spaced for sequential reading by passing motorists. The last sign

240-412: A range of prices and gradations in quality. Comparable to traditional shaving brushes, synthetic fiber brushes can quickly create a rich lather using relatively little shaving soap or cream. The synthetic fibers dry faster than natural hair and are less sensitive to everyday use. Boar's hair brushes are relatively inexpensive, but can be of very high quality. A well-made boar brush will break in with use;

280-655: A shave brush. Pure badger are badger hair brushes that use the most common hair from the underbelly of a badger , the hair which covers around 60% of a badger's body. This hair varies greatly in softness, pliability and color. Pure badger hair is usually dark in color, but fluctuates from a light tan to a near-black or silvery sheen. The hair is coarser than 'best' or 'silvertip' hair due to its larger shaft. Brushes made exclusively with pure badger hair cost significantly less than finer badger hair. Most often, pure badger brush hairs are trimmed to shape, resulting in somewhat stiff, rough ends. Best badger are brushes made with

320-493: A status symbol, and an expensive or eccentric brush was a way of asserting one's personality or even affluence. The recent rapid rise in the popularity of "wet shaving" has raised demand for high-quality and custom shaving brushes. Modern shave brushes are similar in appearance, composition and function to their centuries-old predecessors. Although a variety of different materials are still used to fashion shave brush handles, synthetic handles of nylon , urethane or plastic are

360-411: Is not harmed. A fibrous bristle load holds significant amounts of water which mix with the soap lifted from a shaving mug or scuttle . The more water a brush holds, the moister and richer a lather will be. Thicker and more emollient lather translates to less razor skipping and dragging. Bringing a shave brush across one's skin produces a mild exfoliation . Because a shave brush is most often used with

400-399: Is the costliest element of a brush. It is common for boar-hair brushes to have part of the bristles dyed to resemble badger hair. Brushes with nylon-only bristles are available. Horse hair brushes are coming back, after a hiatus of nearly 100 years following an anthrax scare around World War I . Material for horse hair shaving brushes is cut from the horse's mane or tail, and the animal

440-534: The Eurasian badger and the hog badger . Badger brushes are often referred to as two band, or three band. Perhaps all badger hair fibers have three bands, but those used in the brushes conceal the lighter bottom band. Nonetheless, both types of bristle make desirable shaving brushes. Lower-quality brushes are often machine made and the bristles may be trimmed, resulting in sharp, prickly tips. Synthetic shave brushes, most often made using nylon bristles, are available in

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480-837: The Interstate 44 in Missouri rest area between Rolla and Springfield (which has old Route 66 building picnic structures), the Forney Transportation Museum in Denver , Colorado and the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke, Virginia . The complete list of the 600 or so known sets of signs is listed in Sunday Drives and in the last part of The Verse by the Side of the Road . The content of

520-662: The New York City Subway system contains a piece of public art inspired by the Burma-Shave ads; Norman B. Colp's The Commuter's Lament, or A Close Shave consists of a series of signs attached to the roof of the passageway, displaying the following text: Several highway departments in the United States use signs in the same style to dispense travel safety advice to motorists. Several writers of doggerel and humorously bad poetry (such as David Burge ) often use "Burma Shave" as

560-399: The 'silvertip' brush's fluffy appearance and lends the brush its ability to hold a large amount of water. Due to its water retention capacity, a 'silvertip' brush can create well-formed shaving lather quickly and easily. Some manufacturers such as Plisson, Simpsons and Rooney sell shaving brushes in a grade beyond silvertip. While the names these companies give this 'extra silvertip' vary,

600-479: The Night Before Christmas written by Ken Young was transmitted to the mission, which referenced "A Burma-Shave sign saying ' Kilroy was here '." Shaving brush The modern shaving brush may be traced to France during the 1750s. The French call a shaving brush blaireau or "badger, because high-end brushes use badger hair." Quality of these brushes differed greatly, as materials used to fashion

640-461: The bristles begin to split at their tips, resulting in a brush that is very soft but has considerable backbone. Unlike badger hair and synthetic fibers, boar bristles absorb water, so the brush should be soaked before use. Badger hair brushes come in a variety of grades, but there is not an industry standard that specifically defines grades of badger hair. Generally speaking, though, there are basic classifications that many manufacturers use to describe

680-454: The brush. A shave brush's price is usually determined more by its bristle load than any other factor, except for brushes with very exotic handles. The most expensive brushes often use exotic materials in the handle. The bristles are fixed together into a knot that is installed into the handle. The best quality brushes are hand knotted. Badger and boar brushes are the most commonly found animals used for shaving brush fibers. Badger species include

720-535: The company sought to expand sales by introducing a product with wider appeal. The result was the Burma-Shave brand of brushless shaving cream and its supporting advertising program. Sales increased; at its peak, Burma-Shave was the second-highest-selling brushless shaving cream in the US. Sales declined in the 1950s, and in 1963 the company was sold to Philip Morris . Its well-known advertising signs were removed at that time. The brand decreased in visibility and eventually became

760-434: The earliest signs is lost, but it is believed that the first recorded signs, for 1927 and soon after, are close to the originals. The first ones were prosaic advertisements. Generally the signs were printed with all capital letters. The style shown below is for readability: As early as 1928, the writers were displaying a puckish sense of humor: In 1929, the prosaic ads began to be replaced by actual verses on four signs, with

800-433: The ends do not have to be cut to shape. A super badger brush is more expensive than either 'best' or 'pure'. While some call this hair 'silvertip', it is often highly graded 'pure' hair bleached on the ends to resemble silvertip. Though it is composed of 'pure' badger hairs, 'super' is graded and sorted to such a degree that its performance is superior to that of 'best'. The brush is not prickly. One way to determine if

840-430: The fifth sign merely a filler for the sixth: Previously there were only two to four sets of signs per year. 1930 saw major growth in the company, and 19 sets of signs were produced. The writers recycled a previous joke. They continued to ridicule the "old" style of shaving. And they began to appeal to the wives as well: In 1932, the company recognized the popularity of the signs with a self-referencing gimmick: In 1935,

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880-464: The finer and more pliable hairs from 20 - 25% of the badger's body. It is longer in length and lighter in color than 'pure' badger hair. A 'best' badger brush is more densely filled with hair than the 'pure' badger brush and will produce a correspondingly greater lather. However, some wet shavers argue that the variance between the quality of a 'pure' and a 'best' badger brush is negligible. Best badger and better quality brush hairs are often fit so that

920-406: The first known appearance of a road safety message appeared, combined with a punning sales pitch: Safety messages began to increase in 1939, as these examples show. (The first of the four is a parody of " Paul Revere's Ride " by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow .) In 1939 and subsequent years, demise of the signs was foreshadowed, as busy roadways approaching larger cities featured shortened versions of

960-467: The form of a series of 5 rhyming stationary signs (a take-off of Burma-Vita ad campaigns beginning 1926+). Turned political, the expression burma-shaving is several signs of rhyming prose for political messaging of a jokey or scornful nature, e.g., refer to McCain's campaign against Obama, to catch the attention of passing motorists for political campaigning. During the Apollo 8 mission, a parody of ' Twas

1000-570: The hair tips clump together in little groups and after lathering up, it will seems that the soap in the knot cannot be fully rinsed away. There is no standard for this feature, so every person will have to feel it himself, especially when rubbing the wet shaving brush knot near the lips, where the skin is more sensitive. North American badger hair is not appropriate for shaving brushes. Commercial badger hair comes from mainland China, which supplies knots of hair in various grades to brush makers in both China and Europe. In rural areas, badgers multiply to

1040-410: The handles varied from the common to the exotic. It was not uncommon for handles to be made of ivory, gold, silver , tortoiseshell , crystal , or porcelain . The more expensive brushes used badger hair, with cheaper ones using boar 's or horse's hair. In the 1800s, the folding-handle straight razor design made it practical for men to shave themselves rather than visit a barber. A shave brush became

1080-477: The last line of their poems to indicate their non-serious nature. The word burma-shave was used Apr 2011 in Canada , "enlisted the help of an old friend to burmashave near the corner of Pembina," to describe a gathering of people holding a sign or signs and waving to traffic by the side of the road (a common sight during election campaigns). The term Burmashaving may specifically describe rural American highway signage in

1120-400: The most common even with the most expensive shave brush manufacturers. Benefits of synthetic handles include a lesser chance of breakage and resistance to damage by moisture. A limited number of consumers prefer natural materials such as wood or exotic materials such as tortoiseshell. A shave brush's handle, regardless of its material composition, rarely affects the overall performance of

1160-416: The pilot episode (" Genesis ") of Quantum Leap . The long-running series Hee Haw borrowed the style for program bumpers , transitioning from one show segment to the next or to commercials. The Flintstones episode "Divided We Sail" has Barney Rubble reading messages on a series of buoys that say, "If You're Queasy riding on the wave, just open your mouth. Shout Terra Firma Shave." The final episode of

1200-458: The point of becoming a crop nuisance, and village cooperatives are licensed by the national government to hunt badgers and sell the hair to processors. Procter & Gamble stopped using badger hair in its Art of Shaving products following a PETA investigation of several badger-hair farms and brush-making factories in Shijiazhuang, China, and a video that showed a worker beating a badger with

1240-581: The popular television series M*A*S*H featured a series of road signs in Korea "Hawk was gone, now he's here. Dance til dawn, give a cheer. Burma-Shave" . Roger Miller 's song "Burma Shave" (the B-side to his 1961 single "Fair Swiss Maiden") has the singer musing that he's "seen a million rows of them little red poetic signs up and down the line", while reciting rhymes in the manner of the ads. Tom Waits ' song "Burma-Shave" (from his 1977 album Foreign Affairs ) uses

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1280-435: The properties remain fairly consistent between manufacturers as compared to the 'ordinary silvertip' brush. These brushes differ in appearance (the tip is whiter and extends further down the shaft; additionally, the hair under the tip is pure black as opposed to dark grey in color) and feel (the extra silvertip feels slightly firmer and less "prickly" on the face when lathering). Another feature that badger bristles may show are

1320-593: The property of the American Safety Razor Company . In 1997, the American Safety Razor Company reintroduced the Burma-Shave brand with a nostalgic shaving soap and brush kit, though the original Burma-Shave was a brushless shaving cream, and Burma-Shave's own roadside signs frequently ridiculed "Grandpa's old-fashioned shaving brush." Burma-Shave sign series first appeared on U.S. Highway 65 near Lakeville, Minnesota , in 1926, and remained

1360-401: The quality of hair used in their brushes. The most common gradations of badger hair are "pure" badger, "best" badger, and "super" or "silvertip" badger. While some companies insist on using other gradations (for example, Vulfix 's high-end brushes distinguish between "super" and "silvertip"), these three are commonly accepted among wet shavers and are most often used to describe the quality of

1400-490: The signs as an allegory for an unknown destination. (" I guess I'm headed that-a-way, Just as long as it's paved, I guess you'd say I'm on my way to Burma-Shave ") Chuck Suchy 's song "Burma Shave Boogie" (from his 2008 album Unraveling Heart ) incorporates several of the Burma Shave rhymes into its lyrics. The pedestrian passageway between the 42nd Street–Port Authority Bus Terminal and Times Square–42nd Street stations in

1440-762: The signs were discontinued on advice of counsel. Some of the signs featured safety messages about speeding instead of advertisements. Examples of Burma-Shave advertisements are at The House on the Rock in Spring Green, Wisconsin . Re-creations of Burma-Shave sign sets also appear on Arizona State Highway 66 , part of the original U.S. Route 66 , between Ash Fork, Arizona, and Kingman, Arizona (though they were not installed there by Burma-Shave during its original campaigns), and on Old U.S. Highway 30 near Ogden, Iowa. Other examples are displayed at The Henry Ford in Dearborn, Michigan ,

1480-408: The signs, most of which were repeats, including the final slogan, which had first appeared in 1953: A number of films and television shows set between the 1920s and 1950s have used the Burma-Shave roadside billboards to help set the scene. Examples include Bonnie and Clyde , A River Runs Through It , The World's Fastest Indian , Stand By Me , Tom and Jerry , Rat Race , M*A*S*H and

1520-508: The slogans on one, two, or three signs – the exact count is not recorded. The puns include a play on the Maxwell House Coffee slogan, standard puns, and yet another reference to the "H" joke: The war years found the company recycling a lot of their old signs, with new ones mostly focusing on World War II propaganda: A 1944 advertisement in Life magazine ran: 1963 was the last year for

1560-423: The so called “gel tips”, a combination of two distinct traits: a little “hook” in many hair tips and a gel, slick sensation of the knot tips when wet. When dry, the shaving brush knots with gel tips are not fully recognizable: the presence of little hooks is not sufficient to provide the second, and also most distinct trait: the “slick”, soapy feeling. The feeling of gel tips can be discerned pretty easily: once wet,

1600-409: Was almost always the name of the product. The signs were originally produced in two color combinations: red-and-white and orange-and-black, though the latter was eliminated after a few years. A special white-on-blue set of signs was developed for South Dakota , which restricted the color red on roadside signs to official warning notices. This use of a series of small signs, each of which bore part of

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