In October 1956, News & Courier Roving Reporter W.G. Barner filed a story about a razor. Not just any old razor, mind you. Kingstree restauranteur Jack Lybrand's 38-year-old razor was the focus of the story. Here is Barner's feature from the October 7, 1956, News & Courier.
"Jack Lybrand has had a lot of close shaves in his life.
"But none, he says, as close as the ones he gets with a certain old razor he won for a dime.
"He's been using it ever since the day he took it as grand prize from a punch board. That was in 1918, and now, 38 years later, he still finds it 'the best razor I've ever had.'
"'Its teeth are bent, its edges are wearing thin, and practically all the gold-plated finish is gone, but I still like my old razor,' Lybrand adds.
"Until six weeks ago Lybrand would shave with none other. 'I tried them all,' he says, 'but I always came back to my old razor.'
"Then when his son William presented him with a new safety razor, Lybrand sadly realized his old one was truly beginning to show its age. The new razor gave a better shave than had 'old faithful.'
"But even now he still goes back to it. 'Force of habit,' he explains. 'I like it, even in its beat-up condition.'
"Others have tried the razor and have come away bleeding like a stuck pig, but the old master can calmly tame it into giving him a clean shave without a single nick.
"It was on July 15, 1918, that Lybrand won his razor. He was in Swansea, enroute to Camp Wadsworth at Spartanburg for induction into the army, when he took a ten-cent chance and came away with the grand prize.
"The razor was gold-plated, and in its leather case was a tube of shaving cream and a place for both new and used blades.
"It was the first time Lybrand had ever given himself a shave. The razor worked like a charm. And through the years it has continued to, though with a few variations in procedure because of its aging condition.
"Lybrand says he will soon return the razor to the company which made it to have it refinished and put in top condition. Then he'll put it away, only to be shown as a relic worth remembering."
An Aiken native, John Wesley "Jack" Lybrand's name is still associated with the two-story brick building on Longstreet beside Kentucky Fried Chicken where for many years he ran a restaurant. As for the razor, Jack Lybrand's granddaughter, Jane Lybrand Lambert, says that 104 years after her grandfather won it, it's still in the family, now in the care of her brother.
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