Personal grooming

I was over on another forum dealing with the US Civil War, and a discussion was going on about grooming products.

Got me thinking. Of course there is the Brylcreem, Kronos, Colgage, Life Buoy, etc, etc, etc.

What are some other brand names for toiletries-soaps, toothpaste/powder, hair treatments, etc? It's kind of interesting looking these up later on ebay to find a photo reference.

Any of these companies still around? I use Brylcreem myself.

 

Barbasol, williams/burmashave mug soap, gilette,wilkonson sword, (all still around). Oh, and dapper dan...

 

I use brylcream, my grandfather does too and has since he was my age, but how about German grooming aids? anyone know of any?

Whilst we are on the subject, how far do you guys take personal hygene at events? What I mean is that when I go to events over here everyone seems very clean and well dressed, freshly shaved, washed hair and so on. Everyone looks too clean and comfortable. I can not believe that people would look this clean in combat, shaving maybe but not everyone would get a perfect shave every day, let alone shower and wash their hair. Most photographs I see the men seem to have several days growth on their faces, pleanty of ingrained dirt and definatly not clean hair. The thing is that we are hardly ever at events long enough to build up that kind of grime. I tend to go clean (cut unshaven) and I normally rub something on my face as camoflage which by the evening looks almost right, to be honest I feel more comfortable by the end of the second day, the itchy uniform is almost like a comfortable sleeping bag, my hat hardly ever leaves my head and everything feels more right.

What do you guys think? It changed between public shows and private battles (people tend to keep more tidy at the former. How clean do you stay?

 

Great observation Stefan. Here most GI's you see look like they stepped right off the parade grounds-spotless equipment, pressed pants, clean shaven. But they're representing the "typical" GI.

In our group, and Doc can add to this if I miss anything, we are pretty grimey.

Personally, if I know an event is coming up on the weekend, I stop shaving the Monday before the event. By the time I get there on Friday I already have a 4 day growth.

I wash my uniform (my trousers and shirt to be specific) once a year. Usually after an event they get roughly folded and shoved in a duffel bag. While at the event I seem to find the mud puddles, although less then some of the other guys Balling them up helps to give the rumpled, slept in look all week look. The yearly wash helps the stink, which a lot of WWII vets have commented on (I won't say they commented in glowing terms because of the reek, but they said we smell a lot like they remember).

My undergarments I usually wash after each event. That's just me.

My field jacket has yet to have water outside of rain or a natural occuring body of water touch it.

Same with the equipment, which by the way is different for each guy in our group. I've picked out what I think I'd carry if I had to, and others choose according to their tastes. And we don't wear the equipment the same way. We find what is more comfortable for each of us and wear it like that. Basically so we don't look like a bunch of "cookie cutter" GI's.

Same with the leggings now that I'm on a roll. Sometimes no leggings are worn at all. Sometimes leggings are worn in regulation manner, but with the pants on the OUTSIDE of the leggings. Sometimes trousers and leggings are worn correctly. Sometimes cuffs are bloused using condoms (which the vets get a chuckle out of).

Long answer to a short question. We have a long way to go to look like we stepped out of a period photo in my opinion (I also happen to think that NO ONE can be 100% accurate), but we're getting closer all the time.

 

The group that william and I are in gets really dirty. We usually don't shave for a week before, and I don't think we ever really wash our clothes (I lightly wash mine once a year in the bathtub with fells-naptha soap, just so my stink doesn't drive people away from our displays). I"ve go all kinds of stains all over my stuff, and if I pull it out of my duffle bag inside, my apartment fills with dried mud. I store my stuff by wadding it up - no creases in our trousers! But yeah, we usually jump in, kneel in, or crawl through a mud puddle before a display. Our helmets are blackend from cooking and muddy too. That's one thing I've noticed on GIs, and even band of brothers, the helmets just seem too clean.

 

Ohh, well if we are going into detail, where do i start...

Helmet is fairly clean, ok, I tell a lie, it has mud caked on it from being sat on at previous events, my helmet cover also doubles as a cleaning cloth for shoes, muddy trousers and so on.

Cap, I wear my camo field cap all the time, it is my 'work cap' so it has mud, sawdust, oil and anything else that gets onto my hands rubbed into it. It is fairly dirty and has some bits stitched up where I did some field repairs.

Shirt: I have two, a new grey one which is getting dirtier each month and my brown shirt, which has a big unidentified stain across the chest but is otherwise clean enough for dress wear.

Tunic and Trousers: Reasonably clean, good enough for dress wear, creases? What are they? They get rammed into my bag after events and then chucked into the cupboard. They are generally protected by my camo kit.

Camo tunic and trousers: I have these plus a boiler suit. The trousers are fantastic, torn, dirty and fantastic, the smock is about the same. It has a huge smear of tar across the back where I fell onto a railway track at an event.

Field Gear: I wear whats comfortable, I carry pioneers pouches sometimes but normally I carry ordinary ammo pouches, e-tool cover but no tool (I use it to carry spud mashers) and a breadbag. I sometimes carry a combat pack or zelt.

Basically my kit is a comfortable mess, it is held together by string in places, has bad combat repairs, is stained and dirty but I like it and it looks as good as i ever do. I can't help thinking that the best thing is to treat your kit like the real soldiers did, 12th SS hardly ever got off the line, the kit doesnt get washed etc. I don't have access to a tailor, I sew stuff up for myself and so on.

 

You sound like the type of guy we'd get along with and hang out with Of course, we're the only ones in our group because we smell so bad, but...

I have a nice "field repair" on the fanny of my wool trousers. While diving for the corner of a building once, my backside came through! Luckily it was just the stitching on the back seam that broke, but there is a photo floating around of me trying to stitch it up as the public is coming into the park. To say it's a field expediant bit of stitching is putting it mildly.

 

Sounds about right, people just look wrong when they are clean and I find it funny watching some of the 101st blokes over here (band of brothers mk2 we call them sometimes) run around puddles. At my last event I ended up crawling wadeing through a stream then knee deep in foul smelling mud. Maybe that is taking realism too far but I dont see how I can claim to be a 're-enactor' if I am not willing to get water into my boots. I dont get how people can wear 'fresh' kit as its all rather hard and uncomfortable. As for photographs, I think somewhere there is a photograph of my brother and me both lieing against a wall fast asleep at a public show, that is another thing that strikes me, you dont see many pics of re-enactors sleeping, resting or generally looking like they are not having fun. Always strikes me as weird.

 

Oh man! Airborne. I don't mind if a guy does an Airborne impression, but like your folks on your end, ours don't seem to want to get dirty. Any who read this, please correct me if I'm wrong.

At one event a buddy and I showed up. We were the only 2 GI's there doing regular, boring old infantry. All the others were 101 Airborne. Anyway, they had a backhoe out, digging "foxholes" with it. Their "foxholes" were about 10 feet long, 4 feet deep, and about 3 feet wide. There were 4 of them, placed as if they were the corners of a square. They didn't see the humor in my asking how they were able to jump with a backhoe.

My buddy and I went to another spot of the WWII reenactor section, and proceeded to dig a foxhole using a pick mattox and an M1910 shovel. The para in charge came by wanting to see if we wanted help. My comment was we'd rather do it right, but thanks.

No sooner were we done, but the rain hit. The paras spent the rest of the weekend under their tent and didn't use their holes. My buddy and I lounged about in our muddy foxhole, or splashed about in their unused holes. They looked at us as if we were nuts getting muddy.

This incidentally was where the vets made mention of the fact they recognized our smell (rain on sweat soaked wool).

 

Yeah, we almost always sleep out in the mud for displays or events. When we look tierd, we really are. I remember one terrible storm we had to "sleep" in (at conner prarie, rip). We usually look pretty beat down from lack of sleep. Seems like alot of other guy go to hotels or what ever.

We also usually eat only the rations we make, so we really do get the feeling of being sick of nothing but spam or canned spaghetti for 3 days straight. I usually see other groups running off for a McDonalds run.

In addition to all of this, I have terrible allergies, so I get huge circles under my eyes when we do summer displays - kinda makes me look like a bill mauldin comic.

 

I really wish I could come re-enact with you guys in the USA, sounds like good fun. We can't often dig fox holes or sleep outside a camping area because the land we use has restrictions placed on where we can be at night and so on, which causes problems. I have to say though,if I could I would do things your way. We do get annoyed with BoB blokes, but otherwise its ok most of the time. As for food, it depends which event, some people dont bring food and so live off the burger vans and so on. My brothers, father and I (there are 4 of us in the unit) tend to carry sausage, bread, cheese and other appropriate items in our bread bags and share them round when its time to eat. I find it annoying when people walk around in uniform eating burgers and stuff, just goes against the grain. At the worst I might use a British mess rather than a German one because they are easier to use and carry more, then again it is authentic and period .

It just occured to me, I havent washed my kit since 1999!

 

I decided a few months back that I would bring a couple homemade K-Rations (filled with appropriate components, or at least as close as I can get today), a Hershey bar, and some German Zweiback. There is a German reenactment site (unfortunately I can't remember the address) that has a printable Zweiback label. I've only done that once, but having some German rations I think is rather different.

Sure beats the Twizzler candy in store bought wrapper, beef jerky in store bought wrapper, Doritos in store bought bag, and coffee in styrofoam cup emblazoned with the convenience store logo we saw a few months back at an event

We try to dig foxholes where we can, but unfortunately a lot of places won't allow it because of the grounds having to be kept up for the other 51 weekends of the year. But if we can, we're out there digging holes all over Creation.

 

Hey rip - remember that story my uncle had about eating german tuna he found in Cherbourg for like a month? Maybe the international section at marsh would have that. They have some english "biscuits" that are about as thick as c-rat biscuits.... Some other good stuff too. I'll have to check out the marsh down here...

 

Biscuits brown and oatmeal blocks, thats what you want. I have a load from my rat packs at cadets and they are great. They are authentic hard tack, biscuits that you have to smash to eat, they wont soak up tea or anything, they are the same as the stuff they were issuing 60 years ago. The best thing is that they make you constipated removing the need for public conveniences... No problem until the monday morning.

 

Doc-yeppir I remember Uncle Eddie's tuna cans. That got me to thinking about another vet, I believe he was in the 9th as well, finding a German bunker filled to the top with sardine cans! Sorry, I hate fish, so that one is off for me.

Stefan-I'll see if I can find the biscuits you mentioned. Sounds, uh, appetizing.

 

Ok, my turn now.

Lets start off with my hair. I have the correct german hair cut, long on top and short/shaved ont he sides. I grease it up and slick it back for events. As for facial hair, it doesn't matter if I shave a day or two before the event, since I'm probably the only 17 year old who gets 5 o'clock shadows and by the end of every event I have some on my face. me and the guys in my unit usually take a cork and burn the end and then put the ash on our faces to make us dirty. The only part of my kit I've ever cleaned is my service shirt. The rest is dirty and smells like ass and I love it that way. I have a field repair on the crotch of my hosen, from when i split them at an event. I usually don't sleep at events either,so by morning I look and feel like crap, but I don't go to reenactments to sleep. I don't take my contacts out either so my eyes are usually blood shot. I don't usually sleep in holes, since my unit has a concrete bunker at our main battle site, but other then that I sleep on the ground and no sleeping bag for me. As for rations, i rap up cheese, bread, and saugage in wax paper with string. Usually I try to suffer at events and go with out. I love it that way. Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I have a hole in the bottom right pocket of my tunic, it from an accident from a blank round, so it looks like a bullet ripped it and grazed or just missed my body. I think it looks awesome, and it reminds me to make sure my safetys on.

What do you guys think of doing first person impressions? Cuz me and my guys have our german names and soldbuchs and go into character at events, like trying the best we can to speak german most of the time, and call each other by our german names, and hopefully if we pratice start sining german marching songs.

 

Hey there Drake,
Something in your post reminded me of the best nights sleep I've ever had at an event. I am an EXTREMELY light sleeper (if my wife so much as rolls over in bed it wakes me up), so I don't sleep much at events.

However, last September at a time line event, my buddy Mason and I grabbed a hay bale from some other group, broke it open, and scattered it about on the ground, just wide enough for the two of us. He wrapped up in his shelter half, I wrapped up in my blanket, and we piled another couple inches on of hay on top of us. Talk about toasty! Usually we're in a frozen hole in January or a mud filled hole in the summer, so that was heaven!

Anyway, first person. We try. It depends on the event for me. When you are dealing with the public a lot, I usually don't do a LOT of first person unless we are doing something (like a mail call for example). When we are out at a non-public event, I try for the first person. At least I try not to talk about anything modern.

I've been able to talk with a lot of folks from my hometown that were around during the '40's, so I've been able to incorporate a lot of that into my first person-stores and restaurants that were around then, the Sheriff (sp?) at the time (because my brother is currently a Deputy and my Dad is a Jailer in the Sheriff's Department, and I can use that in stories), some history on Ball State Teachers College during the late '30's (when I would have attended classes there). Little things like that.

That's almost as interesting as learning stuff about WWII!

 

Unfortunatly my German is less than fantastic. On the other hand some of us like to do the first person thing, in my case because I have quite an interesting story to tell the public when they ask about the unit. The thing is, my unit is 12th SS, so people tend to ask things like 'arent you a little young' to which I respond 'no actually, yada yada yada.' Then again, my father is also in the unit, so people sometimes ask 'arent you a little old' and he can respond 'no actually because blah blah blah.' Well the interesting thing is when it comes to explaining how I got into the unit, some people hear my name and ask about the 'character' and so on, so we explain how I am one of three brothers and we are from a lutherin community in the hunsruch region of Germany (where a friend of ours came from). It is then interesting to explain how my two brothers and I all started in the Jungvolk, Hitler Jugend and so on explaining dates and all) and then how the elder pair of us volunteered for the 12th SS in 1943. We then explain how my younger brother was manning an AAA gun but in 1944 was transferred to the 12th SS along with many other non SS troops including our father. The public sometimes get quiet interested and sometimes ask us to stand together for photographs and so on (normally there are only 3 of us but on occaision we will have a full turnout). We all have Germanic for-names, no family connection or anything just my parents liked them. We translated our surname into German (Zaum) hense I become Sturmman Stefan Zaum, 1Kp. 26 SS panzergrenadier regt 12th SS. And that is basically how we get into character.

This is mainly for public events because at battles it is rather hard to keep in character when people are asking for your passport or other ID and you are organising stuff, makes things much harder (apparently the MoD dont recognise the soldbusch any more ). It is mainly at public shows that it becomes useful because people ask questions and chat to you. I really enjoy standing or sitting around, maybe eating or drinking something, sometimes just taking in the sun, when someone comes up to you and starts talking about an item of kit or the unit, even if people dont know what on earth they are on about (sometimes there is a little 'why are you playing Nazi' attitude, normally we try to keep things in good humour and say 'well someone has to get killed in the battles', they laugh for their reasons, we laugh because we dont have bullet proof vests unlike some of the yanks ) It is generally all very friendly and good humoured. Have any of you ever had any problems with the public? Last time I did was at a 'social event' when we were standing round having a drink when some looney came over and said 'do you realise you killed 6 million Jews' to one of our officers, who looked round at us and said 'do I really look that old?' then turned to him and said 'well I didn't, none of these chaps did, please read this' and handed him a unit 'card' with the disclaimer on the back. Sorted.

As for the grooming thing, well one of our best events is at a railway (complete with 1930's steam trains which we ride on, sometimes as guards sometimes as if being transferred) and so just standing around on the platform for two days you manage to get a good covering of soot.

 

I've never had problem one with anyone from the public. Of course, doing GI, I'm one of the "good guys". Which of course on occasion makes me point out that even the "good guys" can sometimes do some not so good things-heat of battle and so forth.

But all in all, we get treated very well. Oddly enough it sometimes feels to me that people think we are in the military and say things like "God Bless you" and "Stay safe" and other odd things like that. Some folks just have no sense of history.

As for the bullet proof vests, that is something we as a group have NO problems with.

In fact this past January we were at an event with some invincible GI's (and Germans). All people were doing was shooting and sort of moving. We threw a new twist in for them-we surrendered, they "shot" a buddy, and as Doc Raider and I were trying to "help" him, they "shot" Doc. Ended up everyone that surrendered but me was "taken care of". I was spared I think because I sort of got into a fight (in the moment) with the SS commander, so they drug me off to the side of the halftrack to knock some sense into me. We had great fun, but the other GI's thought we were a bit looney (why'd you guys surrender? Couldn't you see we were fighting?)

 

Yeah, the public are normally ok, you can have some very interesting conversations though people have a tendancy to want to play with your weapons, which naturally isnt allowed. Some people take offence, they dont seem to understand why you cant really afford to trust them. As for surrendering, I once got fed up with the bunch of yanks who were inside a house and wouldent die, we couldent get out of the house next door so I shouted that i was surrendering, came out walked into their house and dropped the grenade that was tucked into my belt, they claimed it wasnt playing fair but that was irrellivant because the rest of the section had stormed the building whilst they were complaining. Alls fair in love and war