First Barbershop shave a bad experience
Hi All,
I've recently been inspired to get into shaving with a straight so I picked up a dovo and a feather last week, and I already have nice soap and a brush. Anyways, for my very fist shave with a straight I thought I'd go to a barbershop and have a professional do it so it would be a good experience and would set the mark for how smooth my shaves should be.
So I went to the Mandarin Oriental, which is a 4 or 5 star hotel where I live. They have a guy there who supposedly just does shaves and has been doing them for years. Well, it sucked, all the preparation was nice, but the actual shave, he tore me up. He gave me some serious razor burn and cuts on my neck. I'll describe the experience and hopefully someone can tell me if it sounds kosher or not.
Hot towels were applied, as well as pre-shave oil, and though I couldn't see, I thought he was skimpy on the shaving cream. He didn't stretch my skin at all. He used a feather. And I got really cut up on my neck, the worst I've have ever had, bar none. And in the end it wasn't nearly as smooth as I can get with a Mach 3. All this leads me to believe that he didn't do a good job. Would you all concur?
Now, 48 hours later and all healed up I decided to give myself my first self-administered shave. I went through all the prep in a textbook way and took my time with the shave. I used my feather. All in all, not bad, I skipped the trouble areas (chin and jawline) but did the rest of my face, and it was ok. I slightly nicked myself twice, but very minor compared to what Sweeney at the Mandarin did to me. Judging by what most of you write the first few shaves should be like, I was pleased.
Thanks for reading and sorry this post became so long.
Cheers.