Barber shop shave today in Coevorden, the Netherlands

More and more barber shops are opening their doors these days in the Netherlands so I decided to have a barber shave, first in my life, today. I asked him to use my 7/8 Friodur, one of my sharpest razors.

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Preshave with lots of cloves in it being rubbed onto my face.

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Hot towel

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Shave cream applied to my face. He uses ready for use shave cream by Suavecito that he pastes onto the skin.

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The shave. Friodur is pulling a bit. It never pulls when I shave with it, so that must be the difference in skin prep. IMHO it is the shave cream being pasted rather than rubbed onto the skin as I do. He finished the shave with a DE, he didn't want to run the risk of irrititating my skin with a shavette. Next time I'll let him use his own tools.

He finished with Suavecito vanishing cream. Nice cooling cream. Afterwards a little razor burn and skin irritation below the jawline that vanished within an hour. I don't want to blame him as he was using a razor he was not familiar with.

Nice Kees.. give me a pm when you are in Amsterdam I give you a shave.

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Originally Posted by kalerolf

Nice Kees.. give me a pm when you are in Amsterdam I give you a shave.

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That would be great. Unfortunately I hardly ever go to the West.

Very cool, Thanks for sharing .

From the pics his angle is way too high . That would be my guess as to why it was pulling.
I guess he is more use to a shavette.

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Originally Posted by onimaru55

From the pics his angle is way too high . That would be my guess as to why it was pulling.
I guess he is more use to a shavette.

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Yep that is what I was going to say.

Probably self taught to use a straight.

My barber uses a shavette too, that's why I won't let him use one of my razors.

I have gotten a shave a couple of times, I never thought to bring one of my own razors for him to use! I can see how it would be difficult with unfamiliar tools, but at least your barber
was willing to try.

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Originally Posted by onimaru55

From the pics his angle is way too high . That would be my guess as to why it was pulling.
I guess he is more use to a shavette.

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Was thinking the same thing. What kind of angle do you use with a shavette?

Bob

It all depends on the shavette and the blade you have in it. My shavette is an old one made by the L.&A. Razor Co. and most of the time I have to use the thing with the spine and edge both on my face. As the blade gets dull I find myself increasing the angle. At the end of the blade life I'm probably two spine widths away from my skin. I rarely use it anymore, preferring my straights. Hope this helps.

Was that a 55 gal drum of pomade in the shop? lol
Cool thread!!!

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Originally Posted by onimaru55

From the pics his angle is way too high . That would be my guess as to why it was pulling.
I guess he is more use to a shavette.

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Whether a straight razor or shavete wouldn't the angle to the face be the same for a smooth comfortable shave. When i first tried the changeable blade razors in the early 70's it was all about the angle then. I sucked at it then and to tell the truth i sucked at it until i found this forum and watched all the videos . Now this is just my opinion but if the angle is right and the blade is sharp then there should be no pulling.

In the one photo the barber appears to holding the blade by pinching the spine between thumb and fore finger with the thumb of his opposite hand directly behind the blade stretching the skin. Looks like he is working the blade at a 45/50 degree angle like you would scrapping burnt toast.

Bob

I never have used a shavette, but I have read here many times that a shavette is used at a much steeper angle in comparison to a straight. If that is true, then it is likely that the barber was shaving with wrong angle.

Thanks for your feedback on the angle. I hadn't noticed myself. I guess that offers an explanation as to why I found a few burrs on the cutting edge. Under a loupe they didn't look like nicks but rather like the cutting edge had a few folds to one side. Took me a while to hone those out. Lesson learnt: never lend your precious tools.

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Originally Posted by Kees

Thanks for your feedback on the angle. I hadn't noticed myself. I guess that offers an explanation as to why I found a few burrs on the cutting edge. Under a loupe they didn't look like nicks but rather like the cutting edge had a few folds to one side. Took me a while to hone those out. Lesson learnt: never lend your precious tools.

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Yes, I think that pretty well confirms the angle was a bit unusual for straight razor use. Might explain a bit of irritation too. Still an interesting adventure you had.

Bob

As far as I'm aware, barbers don't hold a razor like we would to shave ourselves. His grip is how I've seen being used by barbers but I have to say that it does seem synonymous with shavette use.
I have never been one for shave prep and commonly shave with none. Lather on dry face and apply the blade, I have never had a problem with my skin or damage to the razors edge. If you had edge damage, what was he wiping the soap off onto?

The days of the Barbershop need to come back in full swing. There's nothing quite like getting a hot shave from a Barber by trade.

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Originally Posted by PuFFaH

As far as I'm aware, barbers don't hold a razor like we would to shave ourselves. His grip is how I've seen being used by barbers but I have to say that it does seem synonymous with shavette use.
I have never been one for shave prep and commonly shave with none. Lather on dry face and apply the blade, I have never had a problem with my skin or damage to the razors edge. If you had edge damage, what was he wiping the soap off onto?

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Come to think of it I did see a local barber giving a shave using a shavette last year and iirc he was using the same type of angle as in the OPs photo. If you use that kind of angle with a SR you may damage the edge because you are scraping more than cutting.

Yes, I use no prep also. I just wet face, lather and shave for 4 passes. No problems with edge damage either but the blade is only about 1 spine width from my face while shaving. I strop my soap off the blade on a damp sponge so no problem there either.

Bob

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Originally Posted by rhensley

Whether a straight razor or shavete wouldn't the angle to the face be the same for a smooth comfortable shave.

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The angle the blades are held or the angle of the edge meeting the whiskers ?

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Originally Posted by PuFFaH

If you had edge damage, what was he wiping the soap off onto?

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IIRC he cleaned the blade by running it between 2 fingers. The towel is on the pics

Yes, that is one of the things I truly miss from living in India.