When in Italy....

do as Italians do.

Which in my case was having a straight shave in a local barber shop.
In this town on the Adriatic coast that I spent the last week in I had noticed a barber shop where a 60-year or so barber gave a similarly aged gentleman a straight shave.

I was curious to see how my shaving skills and techniques would measure up against a veteran professional.

Of course, the days of true straight razor shaves in barber shops are long gone and in this case the barber used a shavette - not exactly my favourite shaving tool.
In anticipation I had brought my own Feather DX along and the barber was more than willing to use it instead.

He used Italian Figaro shaving soap in the red tub and when I later had a choice of aftershaves, I picked amber Floid that I use at home as well.

Different from my own technique, he scooped the shaving soap with one finger out of the bowl and rubbed it into the shaving brush, which might be a practice that explains the popularity of semi-soft shaving soaps in this country.

What I liked most of it was that it was a genuine, old-fashioned barber shave, without any elaborate show effects aimed to dazzle uninformed customers.
Just a shave like my grandad might have had.

The entire 2 1/2 pass shave took about 20 minutes and set me back €7 ($7.85), money well spent.

And the result?
I am glad to report that my own technique and skills are on par, even though next time I might glean a few novel ways to stretch my skin that might come handy.

B

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