Had my first shave at a shop

So, I had my first straight razor shave, given by someone else, and it WASN'T the smoothest, best shave of my life. In fact, there were a lot of issues with it that I wanted to ask you guys about.

First of all, I had a straight razor shaving of my neck and sideburns in July and those areas were very well shaved. Smooth, clean, and lasted longer than normal. This inspired me to do research for straight razor shaves in my city (I was on vacation when I had it done before). I found a shop that does them, and went in.

Before I get into the details of what she did, let's start with the outcome.

I was unimpressed with the shave because it was only smooth in some spots of my face. For example, my cheeks were BBS in some spots, but around near my jaw it was about what I'd get with a Mach3. Then my neck (throat) was worse than I've done myself with a Mach3.

Is this likely due to the shaver (European woman who's been doing this for likely 30 years), the razor, the lather, or my face? (Or something else?)

Here's everything I remember from the shave.

She sat me down and put a hot towel on my face. Then she lathered my face with a cream from a dispenser with her hands. My wife says it wasn't too thick. She then shaved me with the grain (for the most part) for most of my face. Then she threw another hot towel on, and then lathered my face up with an oil. She then did more shaving, much of which was touch up and against the grain. My face bled. Mostly around my neck where she didn't get a very close shave. My wife adds that she did a lot of across the grain both on the first and second shave.

I find the components of a good straight shave have little to do with any equipment and a lot to do with experience and skill level.

Even though I will probably get reemed for this, to me, a woman barber is always a step behind in my view. with shaving a man's face. Most could probably prove me wrong.

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Originally Posted by AFDavis11

Even though I will probably get reemed for this, to me, a woman barber is always a step behind in my view. with shaving a man's face. Most could probably prove me wrong.

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i hope you don't get reemed out as i see this as a valid point, not really because its a women but mostly because women don't shave their face and i have tried shaving my girlfriends legs and it is very different. experience is everything though right.

BTW i wish i had a shop around to get a shave from, i think it would be a great way to observe someone elses technique approach to my face. but alas no one even attempts it in my area.

I'm brand new to the site, and I have yet to attempt my first straight razor shave, but I have had quite a few in a number of barber shops, always by a man. Now I'm not trying to put any women down, but a man knows how to shave a mans face. I'm in nursing school at the moment, and in lab the nursing instructors, who happened to be women, even admitted that the girls in the class should get some practice shaving men, because they will most likely not be as good as most guys. Being the only guys in class, I got volunteered as the practice dumbie, and even with something as simple as a mach3 it was brutal. It's not to say that women can't be good, and I don't think you'll get reemed for that, its just to say that they don't have that everyday face shaving experience (I hope, haha). Situations reversed, who do you tihnk, on average, would be a better makeup artist, a woman or a man?

I recently had a shave from an older barber in town. He doesn't do these alot, just as a request for people wanting something special.He uses a feather. He definately knew what he was doing and made it a pleasurable experience, but would only go WTG and XTG. I asked for ATG and he stated that he usually doesn't because it causes to much irritation for most customers.

I explained that I shave with a straight exclusively and it should not be an issue. He told me next time he will and to bring one of my razors in for him to use. :rock:

As for BBS it was smooth all around the cheeks and under the jaw, but he would only got down to the adams apple, from there he just used clippers with no guard. When I asked him about that, he stated he would rather have a customer with a clean appearance in that area than risk cutting them. Again this is more for him to give a pleasurable experience rather than go to far and have them burnt up.

The shave was not as good as I would have expected, but still O.K. and as stated, pleasurable ( I've done better, but I've also done worse). Nothing like being kicked back in the barbers chair, soaking up the smells, listening to the conversation and basically feeing a bit spoiled.

$24 for a haircut and shave ($12 each). If you've met me before it is a rip-off for the haircut, but a good deal for the shave.

It has been about a month since, and in writing this I think it is time to go back and visit him with one of my finest blades.

Jerry

Kind of like saying an auto mechanic who has never owned a car himself probably won't be competent.

Its all about training and experience. if a woman had the proper training and did shaving on a regular basis she would be as good as any man.

We keep going back to this issue that man or woman these people have no training in shaving and the ones who give shaves pick the skill up themselves and have insufficient practice so when you go into their shop your the test subject.

Barbers are trained to avoid giving a BBS shave because this causes irritation & ingrown hairs in some customers.

The barber shop I go to is owned by a woman and has all women barbers. The last time I was in as I walked to the chair I passed by a customer all lathered up in the recline position. I thought to myself, I'm going to see an old fashioned shave here... Imagine my surprise when I saw the barber shaving him with a disposable MachII. I thought why did the guy even bother?... but that's his business. After he left I asked my barber why they bothered to use disposable razors, it didn't seem worth it. She replied that the owner would not allow them to shave customers with straight razors- only the back of the neck. Somewhat jokingly I said, "Why not? She afraid you'll cut someone's throat?" She replied, "Yeah, that's about the size of it." She went on to say that they were trained to shave with straight razors in barber school but her boss would have none of it. Liability I guess.

When I first started getting shaved at a barbers it was done by women, they can shave as good as anybody. The problem as I see it is experience, how many men go to a barber for a shave these days, not many. Times have changed, styles have changed the AIDS scare of the 80's etc have all combined to make a shave at a barbers a rare thing. I dont care who you are, if you dont have the oppurtunity to keep your skills up, they will erode. When barber shaves come in vogue again the skills will re develop.

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Originally Posted by MichaelRork

So, I had my first straight razor shave, given by someone else, and it WASN'T the smoothest, best shave of my life. In fact, there were a lot of issues with it that I wanted to ask you guys about.

First of all, I had a straight razor shaving of my neck and sideburns in July and those areas were very well shaved. Smooth, clean, and lasted longer than normal. This inspired me to do research for straight razor shaves in my city (I was on vacation when I had it done before). I found a shop that does them, and went in.

Before I get into the details of what she did, let's start with the outcome.

I was unimpressed with the shave because it was only smooth in some spots of my face. For example, my cheeks were BBS in some spots, but around near my jaw it was about what I'd get with a Mach3. Then my neck (throat) was worse than I've done myself with a Mach3.

Is this likely due to the shaver (European woman who's been doing this for likely 30 years), the razor, the lather, or my face? (Or something else?)

Here's everything I remember from the shave.

She sat me down and put a hot towel on my face. Then she lathered my face with a cream from a dispenser with her hands. My wife says it wasn't too thick. She then shaved me with the grain (for the most part) for most of my face. Then she threw another hot towel on, and then lathered my face up with an oil. She then did more shaving, much of which was touch up and against the grain. My face bled. Mostly around my neck where she didn't get a very close shave. My wife adds that she did a lot of across the grain both on the first and second shave.

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I did the same thing last week; she cut me on the chin (very superficially but it still bled a little, like 4-5 drops), some areas were smooth, some still felt rough. Cheeks were smooth, rest was so-so. The lather she used was a horrible, mint and eucalyptus stinking, anesthetizing cream. I couldnt feel my face for half an hour. Which was probably not a bad thing after all LOL She used a Shavette, WTG and XTG.

I have never been shaved by a barber but from what I've heard they aren't really that skilled. At least not the younger generation. I went to a barber to get my brand new razor honed and shave ready...well...the next day the razor was on its way to Lynn.

I got my first straight-razor shaves in India at the local barber-shops there. It hardly cost anything and the one I went to most of the time were really good at it. He went WTG, XTG and ATG and it was BBS all over afterwards. He used some kind of Shavette-like razor.

The shaves I got down there is the only reason I started doing this, I just hope to be able to get it BBS soon.

MichaelRork. It's disappointing to here that the experience was not everything you had it cracked up to be. Did she use one of your razor's or did she use a shavette? I've shaved a few faces and a couple of legs of others and I've found that even though I can shave my face with a certain level of proficiency, it's a different feeling when you're doing someone else's (although if she has 30 years experience :shrug:).
Anyways, my main question is where abouts in Burlington? My alma mater is Saint Mike's (08) and I still frequent the usual stomping grounds (I live in Southern VT). I don't think it'd be appropriate to put the business's name in the post but would you mind PMing me the name? I'd like to check it out next time I visit. Heck, maybe we can compare experiences.

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Originally Posted by claytor

MichaelRork. It's disappointing to here that the experience was not everything you had it cracked up to be. Did she use one of your razor's or did she use a shavette? I've shaved a few faces and a couple of legs of others and I've found that even though I can shave my face with a certain level of proficiency, it's a different feeling when you're doing someone else's (although if she has 30 years experience :shrug:).
Anyways, my main question is where abouts in Burlington? My alma mater is Saint Mike's (08) and I still frequent the usual stomping grounds (I live in Southern VT). I don't think it'd be appropriate to put the business's name in the post but would you mind PMing me the name? I'd like to check it out next time I visit. Heck, maybe we can compare experiences.

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Yeah, definitely. I'll PM you the shop.

And to clarify, I don't KNOW that she had 30 years experience, but from the way she talked about herself ('I'm so ancient"), mentioned that she learned straight razor shaving in Europe before she learned hair cutting, talked about how everyone in Europe is more likely to take the time to go to the Barber Shop and from the appearance of her age (seemed around 50 or so) I assumed she'd have a lot of experience doing it.

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Originally Posted by nun2sharp

When I first started getting shaved at a barbers it was done by women, they can shave as good as anybody. The problem as I see it is experience, how many men go to a barber for a shave these days, not many. Times have changed, styles have changed the AIDS scare of the 80's etc have all combined to make a shave at a barbers a rare thing. I dont care who you are, if you dont have the oppurtunity to keep your skills up, they will erode. When barber shaves come in vogue again the skills will re develop.

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I agree completely with this. Just because it's a woman doesn't mean she doesn't have the experience to be as good as a man. Shaving other people's faces for 10 years would give her the experience of a man shaving his own face for 10 years. With that said, like nun2sharp said, if she's not getting much business for facial shaves due to the decline in popularity then her skills could fade. (And likely have.)

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Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Kind of like saying an auto mechanic who has never owned a car himself probably won't be competent.

Its all about training and experience. if a woman had the proper training and did shaving on a regular basis she would be as good as any man.

We keep going back to this issue that man or woman these people have no training in shaving and the ones who give shaves pick the skill up themselves and have insufficient practice so when you go into their shop your the test subject.

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I wonder if there's ever been a barberess who's shaved her legs with a straight razor. Just something to think about =P

BTW, this is my first post so i guess you all get an instant and upfront impression of my strangness. Huzah!

Lack of skill on the part of the person shaving you is the problem. Unfortunately, this seems to be a common problem these days.

I had my first at my local barber yesterday. When I made the arrangments I asked the owner if I could bring in my own straight rather than using one of he disposables. He was amenable to that. So, in addition to the razor, I brought all my own things in yesterday including strop, shave soap, brush and aftershave. I didn't look forward to the cream that came out of the dispenser, which was the reason I bought my own soap.

The shave was very good, but it was abundantly clear the shop was not equipped or set up to do these shaves. My barber is an old barber who used to do these. He was a bit out of practice, but did fine. The sink for hot water was all the way across the shop so the towels weren't all that hot. The chairs were not really meant to be used for shaving either. There wasn't any place to hang my strop.

Was it fun, yes. Would I go back for another at this barber shop, no. They give me great haircuts, but the shaves leave a lot to be desired.