Thread: how much blood is too much blood?

jft,

My opinion is that if the shave is done by a professional barber there should be no blood. I'm also of the opinion that once one becomes proficient at shaving oneself, there should no blood, but since this is not a perfect world and it's peopled by the imperfect, when one shaves oneself there will be the occasional lapse-in-concentration oops - a nick and not a gusher. The oops is inexcusable for the professional barber shaving a paying customer.

Good luck with your learning curve.

That is a terrible story. I would have refused to pay and asked to see the manager and complained to him in no uncertain terms!

I would have asked for the razor so I could shave him next

Or I would have kicked him in the nuts and said, "See you again tomorrow then?"

Sounded like a horror story when I read that

I would think a pro would get you BBS with no nicks, cuts or razor burn, nice warm towels and all. Getting a shave like that from a barber and paying for it is supposed to be enjoyable I would think, not something you leave chopped up with razor burn.

The barbers razor was obviously dull and he compensated for it by peeling the hide from your face! What should have been enjoyable was turned into some kind of torture endurance test. Please do us all a big favor and name the place and the barber so that they may be avoided!

You absolutely positively need to contact the manager or owner of that place and report what happened. I would let them know that you are not trying to complain (though justified), but to inform, that they have a barber who is unable to provide a proper shave. If you don't report it, other customers will suffer the same fate. If you tell them that you yourself shave with a straight, that might increase your credibility. No professional barber should be doing that kind of damage. If you're lucky, they might also offer you a refund--it sounds like you deserve it.

Totally inappropriate that you should have had that kind of experience at the hands of someone that claims to be a professional. I don't care if you had a beard of barb wire, he should have been able to give you a very comfortable shave with no blood, no razor burn, and that gave you that BBS feeling. Sorry to say but you got totally ripped off.
I regret that you had such a poor experience... it should have been... well, let's just say much different. Enough ranting on my part!

"Professional" Barber eh?

Unfortunately if you find a barber who has any clue how to do any kind of shave you should run out and buy a lottery ticket. Guys keep going to these butchers and we see the stories all the time. Sorry about your experience. I hope you complained and didn't pay.

I went to Sal's barber shop in the Roscoe Village area of Chicago. They advertise "hot lather shaves" in their window, and they charge 25 bucks, so you would think they would be sweet at it.

Eeek! That is terrible! I have had barber shaves in Asia and in various locations around the US and never had anything close to that. In fact, other than slicing myself becasue I wasn't paying attention, I have never done any serious bleeding as a result of a straight. At most, I get some pinpoint blood marks on the towel form where I may have pressed too hard, but nothing to be alarmed at. Here in the Denver area, I go to Floyd's Barber shop - a rock-n-roll theme and they have professional barbers - not just "hair stylists". They will even shave me with my own razor if I call in ahead of time. One of the barber's I use most is a young guy from Baltimore...he has it down to an art: lather, massage the face, hot towel, more lather, hot towel, more lather, inital passes, more lather, then a hot towel to wipe clean, then some face balm...super smoth, precise. I don't know where your home is, but look them up online - they have locations in several states. I'm not plugging them for business purposes, but in case anyone is thinking of following your lead, they may avoid the painful experience you had.

As for the shop you went to...I would contact the State of Illinois Licensing agency for Barbershops and file a complaint...a shave like that is like a haircut where you are half bald! I have very wirey whiskers around my chin and jaw (thus the handle here) and I have never had a barber hae so much trouble that there was blood - not even with a shavette.

Going to the barber should be a relaxing, stress-free experience. Find another one and see if you can get local references.

Don't let it deter you from using straights!