Thread: Professional Barber Shaves-Squawkbox

Originally Posted by rickboone

What's Les bons mains mean?

It's actually spelled "Les bonnes mains"... literally means "The good hands".

Originally Posted by Proraso Man

I too live in phoenix and somewhat near this location. Not sure why but I have never even thought about having someone else shave me. I guess I have had such trouble and have now figured out what works for me that I can't imagine some barber getting it right on the first try.

Have you gone back there yet?

Sorry for the late reply, I've been gone awhile, but I'm back now...

Nope, haven't been back, but if you're on the west side, head on over to Westgate and check out Men's Ultimate Grooming. They just opened up. The reason I mention this place is because Hillary does her barbering over there. Hillary is good and my my family and I love her. We followed her over there when the Floyds on the west side shut down (darned economy).

I gave Hillary a couple of str8s although she uses a feather (I think).

Hillary is a member here (AZBARBERCHICK), she deserves lots of props.

Today at lunch I went for a haircut at a barber shop in Winnipeg that does straight razor shaves to check it out for a possible shave next time (had already shaved this morning). The shop is Brava Hairstyling for Men on Ellice Ave across from the U of W. I was impressed. He used a shavette for my neck and around the ears and we chatted about straight razor shaves for a bit. I plan to go back there for my first barber's shave. He tells me that he uses a shavette rather than a traditional blade to eliminate customer's concerns about the cleanliness of a blade, but that he will use customers personal blades on them (obviously they need to be sharp).

The shop was spotless with a traditional barber's chair (and a revolving lit barber pole outside) and the haircut was good. I found him from an article online... here's the link Giuseppe CianfloneBrava Hair Design for Men-WMOnline

I will post a review here after the shave!

Today I tried my first straight razor shave at a barber's. I highly recommend it! The shave was very close/smooth, the experience relaxing with hot towels, preshave oil, shave (straight razor with disposable blade), more towels, followed by a face, neck and scalp massage. The price was $18, the shop was clean and upscale with an old fashioned chair, and the owner/barber was confident and professional. This is someone who knows what he is doing...I have found myself a new barber. I expected that the experience would be relaxing but that the closeness of the shave would be somewhat less than what I achieve myself with my straight razors, but I was pleasantly suprised...BBS for sure!

been to him dgst8, once and i will be going back to him, i enjoyed every bit of it! have to agree with you!

My girlfriend got me a shave at Trumpers earlier this year and I must admit, it was fantastic! In fact, I bought my first straight from them right afterwards..! Talk about bitten by the bug..!

The barber did a huge amount of prep with liberal amounts of skin food and 2 or 3 hot towels first. Lather was Trumpers Sandalwood cream, which gave a great foamy lather (so much so I`m tempted to try the cream now..!) with a huge Trumpers brush. He did the shave with a shavette type razor (I think it was DOV he said (?) but I didnt get a good look at it) and I got a really great close shave. This was on a Saturday morning and I still couldnt feel stubble on Sunday night..!

I'm not sure how much it cost coz it was a present but I'd heartily recommend them..! Theya also do a shaving school so if anyone in the London area wants some pointers on their shaving then thats supposed to be very good as well...! I'm looking to do the school later this year.

I found am old barber and he and I had a long talk. He graduated in 1961 from barber school.
I asked about a shave, he doesn't do the them any more.
He told me most barbers quit giving shaves years ago.
I asked why.
According to him the main reason most barbers got away from shaves is the time it takes, and some barbers had trouble keeping their razors sharp.

He did give me some good advice on honing. He has 500+ st8s in his collection.

I am going to keep going to him, I like listening to his stories.

One thing he told me, is years ago you couldn't use the lather brush on you're customer's face, you had to apply the lather by hand and in small towns barber's would have a place for the customer to keep their own shave mug and brush.

That's some of the most poppy**** stuff I ever heard. Barbers stopped doing shaves with straights because of health codes and the fact most guys switched to electrics or cartridges and didn't need a barber to shave them anymore and the barbering schools did less and less to train them for shaving.

It's true barbers in the 40s and 50s especially, applied lather with their hands and used a latherking machine to dispense it which gave terrible lather. Barbers were taught when applying lather with their hands they could map out the beard growth. These days they would probably be using rubber gloves.

Keeping customers brush and mug in the shop goes way back to the early 20th century.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

That's some of the most poppy**** stuff I ever heard. Barbers stopped doing shaves with straights because of health codes and the fact most guys switched to electrics or cartridges and didn't need a barber to shave them anymore and the barbering schools did less and less to train them for shaving.

I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss that barber's story.
Consider the following as nothing more than speculation on my part...

Because of the advent of the electrics and cartridges, it's likely that barbers were not able to charge as much as they used to, relative to their other services, because of how easily the customers could shave themselves. Being forced to charge less for shaves, and considering the time it takes to do a shave, it might have been more profitable to focus on haircuts.

Frank's Barber Shop on Northshore in Knoxville, Tn. does straight shaves.

A little expensive for me though. $30 plus tip.