- Messages
- 15,927
- Location
- Halifax, Republic of Yorkshire
Straight outta Morecambe, some crazy melonfarmers called Souplex?
Souplex was a UK company, located in Morecambe, Lancashire, England with offices in Sheffield and London. The company formed in 1926 and made both razors and blades from at least 1932 to 1948. Souplex razors were often sold in bakelite cases, and the company also sold other toiletry products such as toothbrushes. Brand names used by Souplex included BigBen and Paragon, and Double Six for blades. Souplex also made shaving products for women under the Nymph moniker.
Some razors ...
I think I have the timeline right here, as in placed them left to right from oldest to newest.
Left-most is labelled Regd. No. 433166 and has a more rounded appearance than what I think are later razors. Of note here is the more bulbous pommel on the handle and the wider striations on the handle, compared to the apparently later examples.
Next from the left, a seemingly identical model in brown bakelite ... but hold the phone, fellows! There are differences! First, Regd. No. 791669. Also notice the posts are hollow compared to the model to the left and also notice the handle, while it appears the same with the more bulbous pommel and wide striations, is actually a tad shorter and that fits into a lightly machines area around the central post. This razor came in the brown case (which you can see from the top picture is the 'Combless' model, presumably a new thing following on from the open-comb Big Ben & Paragon models) and it fits just perfect, so clearly needed some machining to fit into a "standard" case. That very case can also be found with Gillette embossing on the inside and housed such razors as the #77 and #88. More on that in a mo ...
In the middle, something completely different: the "Knock-Out" razor! The handle is slightly different in that it has a less bulbous pommel and narrower striations. I know this is the right handle for this razor because it fits ... none of the others will fully screw up. So, a material change there. This razor is fiercely aggressive, moreso than the others which are indeed on the aggressive side. With all of them, you know you've had a shave but this one you've "been in the ring" ... it's on the R41 scale of aggression!
So, next two are same handle details offered in brown and white with a bakelite cap on the brown model and a metal cap on the white model. I have also seen the white model with a bakelite cap in a slimline case akin to the British Gillette 'New' and (some) 'Tech' sets.
Back to that "standard" case detail ...
Mr Razor shows us this model in a Gillette case but we can clearly see that this is a Souplex razor. While you might surmise that these razors were sold under the Gillette brand, it's likely that this is just a mis-match ... but it does not detract from the fact that Souplex razors also came in these cases (and branded/embossed as such - see first picture). It is also interesting that my (older?) model Souplex appears to have been machined to fit while the later models (over on the right of my middle picture) fit fine.
Perhaps it was Souplex that made these cases for Gillette and retro-fitted their razor into it (apparent in my example) and then went with that form factor for their razors going forward. Perhaps also, Souplex may have made the slimline cases for Gillette.
Souplex was a UK company, located in Morecambe, Lancashire, England with offices in Sheffield and London. The company formed in 1926 and made both razors and blades from at least 1932 to 1948. Souplex razors were often sold in bakelite cases, and the company also sold other toiletry products such as toothbrushes. Brand names used by Souplex included BigBen and Paragon, and Double Six for blades. Souplex also made shaving products for women under the Nymph moniker.
Some razors ...
I think I have the timeline right here, as in placed them left to right from oldest to newest.
Left-most is labelled Regd. No. 433166 and has a more rounded appearance than what I think are later razors. Of note here is the more bulbous pommel on the handle and the wider striations on the handle, compared to the apparently later examples.
Next from the left, a seemingly identical model in brown bakelite ... but hold the phone, fellows! There are differences! First, Regd. No. 791669. Also notice the posts are hollow compared to the model to the left and also notice the handle, while it appears the same with the more bulbous pommel and wide striations, is actually a tad shorter and that fits into a lightly machines area around the central post. This razor came in the brown case (which you can see from the top picture is the 'Combless' model, presumably a new thing following on from the open-comb Big Ben & Paragon models) and it fits just perfect, so clearly needed some machining to fit into a "standard" case. That very case can also be found with Gillette embossing on the inside and housed such razors as the #77 and #88. More on that in a mo ...
In the middle, something completely different: the "Knock-Out" razor! The handle is slightly different in that it has a less bulbous pommel and narrower striations. I know this is the right handle for this razor because it fits ... none of the others will fully screw up. So, a material change there. This razor is fiercely aggressive, moreso than the others which are indeed on the aggressive side. With all of them, you know you've had a shave but this one you've "been in the ring" ... it's on the R41 scale of aggression!
So, next two are same handle details offered in brown and white with a bakelite cap on the brown model and a metal cap on the white model. I have also seen the white model with a bakelite cap in a slimline case akin to the British Gillette 'New' and (some) 'Tech' sets.
Back to that "standard" case detail ...
Mr Razor shows us this model in a Gillette case but we can clearly see that this is a Souplex razor. While you might surmise that these razors were sold under the Gillette brand, it's likely that this is just a mis-match ... but it does not detract from the fact that Souplex razors also came in these cases (and branded/embossed as such - see first picture). It is also interesting that my (older?) model Souplex appears to have been machined to fit while the later models (over on the right of my middle picture) fit fine.
Perhaps it was Souplex that made these cases for Gillette and retro-fitted their razor into it (apparent in my example) and then went with that form factor for their razors going forward. Perhaps also, Souplex may have made the slimline cases for Gillette.
