Product Code Database
Barbasol is an American brand of shaving cream, aftershave, and disposable created by MIT Professor Frank Shields in 1919 in Indianapolis. It is currently owned by Perio, Inc.
As gels became popular, Pfizer created gel versions of Barbasol in the Original, Soothing Aloe, Sensitive Skin, and Extra Protection varieties.
In the 1980s, Pfizer made Barbasol Glide Stick, a deodorant.
By the 1990s, Barbasol brand equity had diminished. Sales had slowed. Pfizer, primarily a pharmaceutical company, looked to sell the brand.
A non-aerosol cream that simulated the original product was created in 2003, but it was reformulated to the Barbasol Non-Aerosol Therapeutic Shave Cream in 2006 (Pfizer also had a similar simulation of the original Barbasol cream, but discontinued it in 1999). This was discontinued in 2019 and replaced by the 1919 Classic Shaving Cream for the brand's 100th anniversary.
Later, Barbasol released Sensitive Skin, Mountain Blast (a new fragrance), and Arctic Chill (menthol) to its line of shaving creams. Several aftershave products have been introduced under the Barbasol brand name. Still later, Barbasol introduced disposable razors in twin-blade, three-blade, and six-blade versions.
The company also used several famous spokesmen in their print ads through the years, including actors Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Joe Cook, musician Vincent Lopez, baseball players Babe Ruth and Rogers Hornsby, as well as football legend Knute Rockne.
In 1938, Barbasol sponsored a car in the Indianapolis 500, and painted it to look like a tube of the cream. Driven by George Bailey, the car made it to lap 166 of 200 before suffering clutch problems. The following year, the Barbasol car finished in tenth place.The official website of the Indianapolis 500 (Indy500.com) provides box scores for 1938 and 1939 . The team got involved as a sponsor in the NASCAR Busch Series in the late 1990s, sponsoring Dick Bown's team and drivers Chuck and Jim Bown, Jim Sauter, and Greg Biffle in eleven races in 1996, then going to Akins Motorsports and drivers Glenn Allen Jr. and Elton Sawyer starting in 1997.
The tagline throughout this time was "No brush, no lather, no rub in."
Frankel got his start as a Vaudeville, and eventually became the spokesperson for a lawnmower company and began broadcasting out of Cincinnati. The Barbasol Company soon heard him and, in 1931, signed him on as Singin' Sam the Barbasol Man, where he made famous the Barbasol jingle, "Barbasol, Barbasol ... No brush, no lather, no rub-in ... Wet your razor, then begin."
In February 2012, Barbasol signed a five-year agreement with Major League Soccer side Columbus Crew that would see the brand become the club's shirt sponsor.
Barbasol is a main sponsor of radio network Westwood One, with its radio commercials (most of which featured former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason, who was an analyst for the network) being heard during sporting events broadcast on Westwood One.
The Barbasol Championship is a professional golf tournament scheduled that was played for the first time on the PGA Tour in 2015 as an alternative event for the 2015 Open Championship. The tournament is played on the Grand National course of the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail in Opelika, Alabama.
Barbasol has created a social media presence, including a Twitter-based sweepstakes.
The image on the cover for the Dead Kennedys album Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death is a composite of a 1950s Barbasol shaving cream ad and a 1946 famine in Calcutta.
| Canada | Today's Concepts |
| Mexico | Global Tradings, S.A. de C.V. |
| USA | Perio, Inc. (owner) |
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