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Straight Shave at an Upmarket Establishment

Mouette

Mouette

Member
As it was my birthday this week, I thought I would treat myself to a wee bit of pampering and get a shave at an upmarket barbershop type establishment. I won't name the place, nor the building it's in but just want to describe my experience and see if it's just me being a bit picky or what.

Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a bad experience or anything like that, just disappointing really. I might add at this point that in my wet shaving adventures, I have well and truly fallen into the straight razor rabbit hole - even to the extent of getting into the natural stones and have just got a black Ark that I have to lap etc when I get a chance.

I made an on line booking and nipped out at lunch time in the Sydney CBD for my shave. Customer service was good, I even got a complimentary drink, although because I was working, I opted for the flat white and not the whisky.

In the chair, the barber rubbed on a nice citrussy pre-shave. Then the hot towel treatment. All very nice. Then the lather with a nice sandalwood soap. If I give the brand it will give away the shop. It was quite a wet soapy lather, which is just want you want for a straight. First pass was good. It was obviously a shavette as it didn't have the smooth feel of a well honed straight and his technique seemed ok. I am used to shaving myself not having others do it, so didn't really know what to expect.

After the first pass, he did my eyebrows. Next was a big brush with talc, or similar substance and it went on my face. He reached over, opened the drawer and pulled out an electric razor and proceeded on the second pass. I was quite surprised. An electric razor??

Apres shave was a cold towel, probably to close the pores. Last was the after shave balm, a matching item with the shave soap.

It went on my card - $90 for the experience.

All in all it was nice - not as close a shave as I get with my straights and DE's but with just one pass and then the electric razor, your don't expect that. I know my face and how the grain in the whiskers run, which also leads to a closer shave.

Was I right to be disappointed with the second pass with an electric razor?

Will I go there again? Probably not, might consult Dr Google and see what other establishments are out there.

cheers
Andrew
 
I can probably understand why they went for the second pass with an electric BUT to me that demonstrates a lack of skill in the barber.

It would be hard to find a sufficiently competent barber capable of a close, especially against the grain, second pass I would imagine.
 
Mouette said:
Was I right to be disappointed with the second pass with an electric razor?
Click to expand...

Absolutely. That's like taking a perfectly mixed martini and pouring Pepsi into it...

In the very early 1980's, I used to get straight shaves from the barbers under the Menzies hotel. With actual straights, not shavettes. Hot towel, hot lather, one pass but from a variety of different angles, aftershave and talc. All for $15. Not complete BBS, but pretty darn close.

Since then, I've been in the chair maybe half a dozen times for a shavette shave. The only reason I kept going back was, after a sufficient amount of time, I'd think "this time has to be better..." It never was.
 
I think the 'disposable half a blade in a shavette' has come about through time by way of increased "hygiene expectations / regulations". Ambulance chasing lawyers looking for any opportunity to sue over the smallest shard of an opportunity, coupled with greedy regulators imposing fines for the smallest of breaches. Granted that some deserve it, but now we all go without those simple pleasures of a traditional straight razor shave at the local barber because it is just not worth offering the service anymore with what has to be spent. Sterilizing equipment, blood borne disease prevention etc etc.
This sharply ramped up during the covid years.
 
My One and Only Barber’s Straight Shave


I tried a barber’s straight shave once, not long after I had started straight shaving myself. It was so long ago now that I honestly can’t recall whether he used a traditional straight razor or a shavette; I suspect it was the latter, since I don’t remember seeing any stropping.

The shave itself? Pretty underwhelming. Once you’ve learned how to give yourself a proper BBS shave, having someone else do it rarely lives up to expectations. In fact, it often ends in disappointment.

That said, I did enjoy the hot towel treatment — there’s something indulgent about that experience, especially since it’s hard to replicate properly at home. But beyond that, I wouldn’t bother going back. When you know how to get a great shave yourself, the ritual becomes the reward.
 
Pretty sure I know where you went. And yes, I would be disappointed too.

Most barbers in NSW are required to use single-use blade by their Local Government public health regulations. There is space within the state Public Health Regulation 2002 to use sterilized equipment, but we are talking autoclaved & sealed SE's and that all gets a bit too hard. Each barber would probably need at least 10 SE's just to get through a day as well as the honing & stropping needed to keep the edge fresh.

SOME establishments will let you supply your own SE. But it needs to be clean/sterilized & shave-ready, they won't strop it or anything like that.

The issue I find with a 'straight' shave from a shavette is the specific blade they are using. Too often it is just an Astra SP or worse (Lord, Shark Raipra, Voskhod), and they use the same blade as the WTG pass as the ATG pass. This generally tears most people up. If they use Feathers, GSB's or similar then it's generally fine with a blade swap for ATG. Most barbers are terrible at ATG anyway, so the most they should do is an XTG/semi-ATG pass.
 
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