Thread: Does anybody here get a straight blade shave at the barber ?

A lot of places in the Glasgow area offer Turkish hot towel shaves using shavettes. I used to think they were a bit of a treat, but stopped using them once I got my own razors. I went for one last week though and it was truly awful. It was like the barber knew which components to use to carry out the shave (razor, soap, hot towels etc) but no idea what each was for or how to use it properly.

I've just been put onto this by a chap I work with.

Sweeney Plod Petersfield - The Folly Barber - the best barber in Hampshire

10 minutes up the road, ok half an hour but look at that shop.

Talked with him tonight and, well, the man knows his onions. It's £25 for an hour long 'man pamper' with a 2 pass shave, face massages, bay rum, hot towels etc and complimentary whiskey or brandy.

Happy to use a blade I take. I've packed my bags and said my goodbye's to the wife

Oh, and as the name implies, he's an ex police officer so we'll have plenty to say putting the world to rights!

Originally Posted by DaveTheGeordie

I've just been put onto this by a chap I work with.

Sweeney Plod Petersfield - The Folly Barber - the best barber in Hampshire

10 minutes up the road, ok half an hour but look at that shop.

Talked with him tonight and, well, the man knows his onions. It's £25 for an hour long 'man pamper' with a 2 pass shave, face massages, bay rum, hot towels etc and complimentary whiskey or brandy.

Happy to use a blade I take. I've packed my bags and said my goodbye's to the wife

Oh, and as the name implies, he's an ex police officer so we'll have plenty to say putting the world to rights!

Congrats! Sounds great...wish I could join you!

I know watching my barber use one of my blades I was humbled, makes you never forget, there's always something to learn,and to watch a pro use one of your blades is a learning experience in itself!!

I tried when I was young ... and it was hugly.
Now I think ... go to barber to shave is as to go to dentist to wash my teeth.

My only experience with a SR shave not done by me (albeit it was a shavette) was at a small neighborhood unisex cabelaria in Fortaleza Brazil about 14 years ago. The barber had just finished giving me a hair cut and he asked me if I wanted a shave too since my stubble and side burns no longer connected. It was only a couple of Reais more so I told him to go ahead. It was amazing, and had I only had the money to regularly have it done I think I would have done it every day. Returning to the states after a couple of years down there I wondered if there were barbers here that did SR shaves still. It was just something that was never really in my budget. I'm trying to convert my wife to SR shaving on her legs. What she doesn't know is that once she masters the use of a SR on herself I'll work to convince her to give me a SR shave. I can shampoo her hair for her or massage her feet with lotion in exchange.



The photo here is me at the barber in Juazeiro do Norte, Ceará, Brazil (October 2000). He did offer SR shaves from his shop, but I had already shaved that morning. I share this picture as most barber shops I went to in Brazil were like this one - little one room, one chair holes in the wall with a shampooing station in the corner and a roll up door as wide as the entire room open to the street.

Originally Posted by Phrank

Congrats! Sounds great...wish I could join you!

I know watching my barber use one of my blades I was humbled, makes you never forget, there's always something to learn,and to watch a pro use one of your blades is a learning experience in itself!!

It's the first time I've visited but he looks the part.

I've gotten a barber straight shave once. It could simply have been the barber, but when I left I felt like going home to shave properly and get what was missed.

Ok, after a week at work I would rather forget for various reasons, 7 days of mixed shifts at between 10 and 16 hours a day, I visited the little barbers I mentioned a few posts back.

It was a young chap who's only just left college having done the barbering course. A little bit worried but I thought I'd give him a chance, at worst I'll have a stingy face for a few hours.

He clearly loves what he's doing and wants to get the wet shaving off the ground properly in his own place.

The experience was pretty decent. Clippers on the shiny dome I call a head and then about 45 minutes of face pampering. Hot towel, creams + massage, hot towel, prorasso pre/post shave + more massage and then the proraso lather. Bliss, I could have fallen asleep at that point.

When he popped out the razor, a dovo shavette, I thought he must care as there are far cheaper around with far cheaper blades.

He was a little bit shaky to begin with which caused a bit of concern. I told him to shave my top lip first, he did and then asked why I wanted that done. 'Can you see those 2 scars next to one another under my left nostril?' He could 'Have you ever done anything like that to anyone?' He said he hadn't 'Then bobby I'll trust you to shave me, don't worry, you'll be fine'.

He got into the stride of it and all in all, not a great shave but far from a bad one and no irritation at all.

I'd be inclined to go back once a month to give him someone to practice on if not for the facial you get along with the shave. As I see it, everyone has to learn somehow and he's really quite young and a would be champion of wet shaving.

The only criticism I have, a small one at that, is when I was still terribly relaxed and checking the old eyelids for holes he slapped a cold towel on without warning. I may have jumped.

In Finland there are barbers that do "american shave". It means hot towels, face massage, cold towel and shave with shavette. It is not common at Finland to get shave from barber, most of barbers are women in Finland btw. I got this "american shave" from barber who hasn't shaved for couple of years. She did really good job and I got spark to buy straight razor and start wet shaving.

I learned how to shave with sr and shaved for few months and then got second "american shave" from same barber. It was ok but I discovered that I could give myself better shave than my barber. So after that shave I have not had any barber shaves and my barber don't ask from me about shave when I make appointment for haircut.

But I sure did enjoy pampering