This was the last semi-elegant living related thing I got to do before the dreaded stomach flu took hold with a vengeance.
Now, that is not me in the chair. I had my go moments before, but wasn’t clever enough to figure out how to photograph the event. So I enlisted friend DubG to undergo the knife at the newly reopened Razor’s of Richmond.
The soothing hands belong to Mo, the barber. She was good. Unfortunately, we were in between shipments of both towels and aftershave emollients. The towels were easy. The owner lives nearby and simply took them home to launder.
Wet shaving requires a bit of preparation. It’s also wise to have not had one too many the night before as the capillaries will be closer to the surface of the skin and nicks tend to keep flowing.
The hot towel has to be my favorite part of the experience. My sinuses hadn’t been that open for days!
As this was DubG’s first wet shave, this is smiling in the face of certain death. The shaving cream was cold, which was surprising to me.
The first stroke. Mo shaves with the grain first, then against. On my neck that had her spinning in circles as my beard grows in crop-circle like patterns.
DubG had less of a time of it. Although he, like me, walked away with a few splotches of blood on his neck. Not cuts, they are centered on the follicle, and I get them at home, too.
The aftershave balm and a cold towel to close the pores.
You can see the “nicks,” they cleaned up quickly at home with a bit of water and my Truefitt and Hill skin food. In all honesty, I can do almost as well at home using a combination of my DE and a multi-blade monstrosity, but nothing will get your mug as smooth as a straight razor shave. I can recommend Mo. The shave will hold me about a day and a half. Razor’s also offers massages, MANicures, pedicures, haircuts, facials, waxing and all that sort of thing.
Wonderful! A barber shave is one of the affordable luxuries that makes life better. I recently changed over to a double sided safety razor from a multi blade and respectfully offer these thoughts:
1. Use a light touch. The weight of your Merkur will be sufficient, you won’t need to press as hard as with a a multi blade.
2. Try some different blades to reduce cuts, I switched from Lord to Derby and no longer have the small blood spots you mentioned.
3. I lather & shave in three passes: with the grain, against the grain and across the grain.
4. After shaving, splash your face with cold water and for the first week or so use a moistened alum block on your sensitive facial areas before applying skin food. Alum is the cousin to the styptic pencil and using an alum block made my first week of safety razor shaving blood-free.
Hope this wasn’t too pedantic!
Thanks Kralik. I agree with the alum block, a worthwhile investment. Hadn’t thought to change blades. I’m using Derby’s now and have tried Featherweight. I do have a much lighter touch than the barber, and the three passes I use accomplish much the same as the two Mo did. DubG fared much better and cleaned up easily. I think it’s just my sensitive skin/heavy beard combination that makes for the small blood spots.
Hello Elegantologist,
I was unlucky with Featherweights and much more successful with my Derby’s. With Featherweights my face was spotted with the blood droplets you described. I have the combination of fair skin, facial hair growing in maddening cul de sacs and a heavy beard. I tried several different blades before settling on Derby. I have been using a Merkur for about three months and find that my skin has lost the ruddy, inflamed look I had for 40+ years of shaving. A nice, unexpected benefit.
Yours, Kralik
I stumbled on this and I’m so happy you guys had a pleasant time. We found a local cleaners so no more waiting on laundry and just got our hot lather machine in so no more cold shaving cream! Starting a new business always has its surprises so I’m happy you guys enjoyed the services even through our ”working out the kinks” period. Hope to see you guys in the future and I hope that Skin food contact worked out!!
Have a great weekend!
Ever tried to use Nair on your face?
My wife and kids gave me a haircut, straight razor shave and manicure at Razors for Father’s day. I am very much looking forward to it, I haven’t done it yet as they purchased it as a package from Groupon. Anyway, it sounds like you are into the wetshaving thing since you aware of Truefitt and Hill, Merkur, Feather and Derbys, among others. Do you ever visit badgerandblade.com? It is a website that helps gentlemen attain a better shave through proper preparation and better technique and using a better razor, the double edged safety razor. I personally use a Merkur Classic short handle and use the Red Personas as my attack setup, usually with T&H Rose or Sandalwood cream. Come by our site and take a look around. I am one of the founding members and a moderator there, so if you sign up, send me a PM and say hi. My screen name there is AACJ.
Oh, and BTW, I would never put Nair on my face, it’s way too caustic.
Art, I’ve been by the site, a looong time ago when I was looking to replace my safety razor. A great group. Congratulations.