Thread: Pro Str8 shave?

So I am waiting for all my shave gear to come in later this week I thought about heading to a local guy who does hot lather shaves at his shop. Should I hold out and wait for my gear or go and treat myself with a cut and a shave? I haven't cut my hair since late August, nor shaved since Oct 5th. That way I should have some more stubble when my gear shows up and not have to work around 3/4'' beard growth.

Flip a coin.

Personally, I'd wait on the gear...but I would not recommend a full shave if its your first experience with a straight.

Two years ago while Xmas shopping I saw an Art of Shaving store in the mall I was in. I decided to treat myself to a pro shave. The experience was nice but I was VERY disappointed. I found that my own shaves using my DE were FAR closer and better. I expected to be dazzled but I wasn't. She only shaved WTG and I got a nick at that (no blame there - I nick myself still every single shave). anyway, I walked away pretty unimpressed. After a couple months at this, I already get a FAR better shave than what I got that day.

Unless you know the guy is an older barber trained to use straights or similar I would pass. Most visits to "barbers" for shaves have not been pleasant ones.

Yeah this woman was supposedly trained in the art. I expect that AoS would have it in their best interest to hire only qualified shavers (in order to sell their product). So let me ask, is it common to get more than a WTG pass when you get a pro shave? That was the biggest head scratcher for me. There is no way I can get a super close shave with only a WTG pass...

In my opinion, most of the professional shaves today are more about the experience which is usually pretty nice. That said, there are still some barbers out there that do a great job on the shave as well. I always recommend getting a barber shop shave when you can. We have had a ton of members sign up for the sport following a nice hot towel Barber Shop Shave.

Have fun

Hey Major, I can relate to your enthusiasm!!
It were me I might tell the barber about my enthusiasm and my concern with having a piece of the sharpest steel known to man slid across my face and neck. I might then ask how long he had been in the business of shaving and finally ask if he would mind if I watched him shave someone.
I bet he would welcome you to observe and you would know more about what to expect of the experience.
I've not "been there done that" but I think a shave by a pro would be great experience, and would be something I would remember, good or bad, for quite some time.
Also it would give me something to compare with my own shaves.

Well after seeing these comments I think I will do it. I'll just keep a GT and maybe the mustache for a bit. The shop I was looking at has 3 barbers with over "85 years of experience and are all European trained". Looks like I can just be a walkin tomorrow morning as well they say.

Lets see if we can get this "mess" looking better.

OMG! Just came from my cut & shave. Took under an hour. Got the 3 passes, hot & cold towels, face massage, hot lather. OMG!

I talked a bit with the barber about straight razors and the technique, some do's and don'ts then he went to work. So we took that ugly mug from above and made it look like this.




Best $60 I spent in the service industry.

that's awesome!