Thread: First professional shave experience

I enjoy a good barber shave, but I would suspect that any barber that does not shave himself with a straight would be woefully under-experienced compared to most of us.

As a Barber myself for 10+ years (giving quit a few shaves in my time) and knowing many of the older barbers that started their barbering back in the 40's and 50's, I can tell you that back in those days men were not looking for the BBS shave. The average shave back then took a barber 7 or 8 minutes to perform, no preshave oil, just lather hot towel and shave once and a little cleanup. Most men worked outside and didn't want a shave that was to close, just shave it off and go back to work. We are much more picky about our services these days, and as a barber I just don't have the time to spend on one customer to give the kind of shave I give myself. ( I do shave with a straight daily) my shop is walk-in only and usally busy and most people are impatient in todays world, I wish it wasn't that way, I surely like giving a good shave, if for no other reason than to show what kind os shave they could have daily if they would just take the time to slow down and enjoy it. I am glad there are others out there that enjoy shaving as much as I do, makes me not look as strange.

I am off to KL on the 28th of this mth Pesa I am hoping you can help me I will be staying at the Millennium Hotel then on the way back at the Royal Tulan. When i was out there last year I was trying to find a barbers who sold Razors D/E Straight Colones etc Looked round "Time Sq could not find any there I was wondering if you might know of any places in KL that sell Razors etc( Feather Razors would be nice ). I also use straight Razors And about 2 years ago we stayed on one of the islands in Malaysia called Langkawi ( think I spelled that wrong ) well me and the wife found this little run dump of a place so went in. There was this little Indian guy I asked in kind of sign language did he do shave he said Yes. So I sat down in a very worn leather chair he the proceeded to massage my face and head ( I shave my head) then my ears then he got some hot towels to get my face ready for shaving. Any way ahead he went shaving not with a shavette but a proper straight Razor well he did a 3 way shave without me telling him to he also shaved my head and trimmed my beard then after that came the cold towels followed by rose water splashed on my face. Well I thought that was fantastic and that was it! Oh no it was not he the started pulling and stretching my fingers massage my face head again then he lit this little wick and burned my nose & ear hairs off ( with out burning me ) then he got this little machine that looked like one of those sex toys that woman use while there husbands are away ;-) and stuck in my ears this started to vibrate it hurt a tiny bit but i let that rest as i had a darn good shave of him also he rubbed some sort of balm on my head and then massaged some Lavender cologne or After shave also had this little puffer felt like talc on the back of my neck . So finally got up to pay him I said "How much do I owe you" he Replied RM 5 ($1.52) (£1) I said What! for all what he had done. So I gave him a RM24 ( $7.55) ( £5) and I still thought I was short changed him well I walked out the shop I was quite light headed don't know if that was due to the fantastic shave etc or the silly price that charged me! well the end of this story is iwas back out there last year but his place was demolished for a shopping center to be built So when I go this year will see if he has moved I do hope so he ws at a place called "Pantai Cengah" I would like to go back to him again

My first and only professional straight shave was at a prominent Dallas-Fort Worth metro chain. I was the best man for a friend's wedding, and the afternoon before the big show he and I got the full treatment. Pre-shave drinks, shave, and hair trim. The whole experience was excellent and the facility and staff were outstanding. However, I have fairly thick stubble, and I found that the stylist's (all the barber staff were female) 2-pass (With and Against) shave to be too close. I might be in the vast minority in this, but in the case of this pro shave I had much more irritation when my stubble grew back than I do with either my own DE or straights. This is absolutely by no fault of the barber, or the shop, as I would recommend it to anyone (If you are wondering which Dallas shop I mean, PM me!).