This has always been my thinking. A true Straight Razor ought be a lot easier to keep clean and sterilize!
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I'm not sure I'd want to pay $15-$20 for something I enjoy doing myself, especially if the person doesn't do it often enough to be truly skilled. Think how long it takes someone to really get the hang of shaving with a straight. I wouldn't want to pay to be someone's 25th shave.
The barber shop I go to, in Cotati, will do a shave...using a shavette...for $25. I asked my barber if she would shave me if I brought in my own straight razor, and she said no.
Why not? "I know my razor, but I don't know yours."
She also said that nobody asks for a shave anymore, but they're willing to do one.
They get a lot of customers from the local state university, and sometimes a guy will
ask about a shave, but they never get one.
I don't know who it was that made the statement about straight shaving being illegal in Virginia but...the regulations as of March 1 2014 still required folks in barber's school to be trained in honing and stropping straight razors, as well as the art of shaving.
Now finding a barber that will actually do it may be a horse of a different color. But it isn't illegal. You just need to sterilize them between use same as you would your other tools.
My Barber is one that had to pass a test using a straight razor though he doesn't shave. I did buy a nice Wade&Butcher 6/8TH'S with a Barbers Notch, the handle has a silver inlay in it for $50.00 from him a while back though.
AIDS prevention I would assume
So, when you graduate and get a job somewhere will the shop owner want to buy the gear to sterilize the razor after each use and will his insurance go up or maybe the company might say no. Then there is the question of how many will pay for a straight shave and then you have to buy and maintain a latherking machine which gives crummy lather anyway.
Good reasons/excuses. If it costs you $100 to do it that way then just say so. Don't say it is illegal.
But then again I went to a barber last week and a black man or African American to be politically correct came in and the barber said that I never was trained to cut your style of hair.
In my opinion if he had been a barber for 30 plus years as he stated he never wanted to learn.
But that was his excuse................
Ya that's true but they do make some really nice ones. And fixed blades aren't illegal in california you just have to sterilize them between clients and for most barbers it's just easier to use disposable
And most shops around where I live charge between $20-$40 for a straight shave.
You can get the ' works' at my barber in Elyria, ohio for $35 bucks. Shave (with a shavette ) facial and a haircut. I take my straights to him and that's what he uses.
I live in the Chicago suburbs. You can find barbers who will give a shavette shave (a real straight is not allowed), but they are few and far between and quite expensive ($75 or more). I think the main issue is liability.
My barber said that they use to give shaves until one family brought in their elderly father for a shave. He couldn't sit still and he got cut rather badly. The barber was afraid of a lawsuit. Here in Chicagoland, juries tend to award outrageous settlements to plaintiffs, so liability insurance for barbers offering shaves is quite expensive. Most barbers decide that offering shaves is not worth the risk of being sued.
From a disease transmission standpoint, products such as Barbacide do a good job killing HIV, hepatitis, MERSA, etc. However, they are only effective if prepared and used according to directions. I suspect some barbers, beauticians, nail salons, etc. try to cut corners to reduce costs.