When I was much younger, my neighbourhood Italian barber used to square off the back neck line with a straight razor. I recall he made a thin lather by sprinkling some kind of soap powder into a mug and then added a spritz of very hot water before working the lather with his brush. It had that typical barber shop aroma, but seemed very watery and thin with almost no glide. I never had him shave me as I got older, so I don’t know if he used the same lather for face shaving. I hope not.