So I was in Las Vegas this last weekend with a few friends, gambling, eating, looking at things 
I was planning on getting a shave at the truefitt & hill shop but when I called them they said it was $75 for a shave. Since I had not been doing so well at the tables, that was seemed a bit steep. I called AOS to see what their rates were and they had a traditional shave for $35 and a shave+facial mask for $55. Since I didn't want a facial $35 sounded ok.
My friends went to the Irish pub across from AOS while I went in for my shave.
I checked in and they said you wanted the royal shave right?...no, just the traditional thank you (since that's what I had told them when I made my reservation...) they introduced me to the barber who proceed to look me up and down, then asked "how do you shave normally?" I asked if he meant what equipment do I use? and said I shaved with a DE normally and used a straight on weekends when I have some time to myself, why do you ask? He told me that I looked like I had sensitive skin and might get some redness so I should consider the royal shave
I told him no my skin is pretty sturdy and I don't normally get irritation so the regular shave will be just fine, thanks.
The shave started out nice, hot scented towel for 5 minutes then he slathered a bunch of pre-shave oil on my face followed by shaving cream. I was a little disappointed that they don't use a brush, I guess for hygiene reasons. Also they used the unscented AOS cream which was nice but a bit of smell would have been nicer
.
They use a disposable blade straight, not sure what the blade is but i'd guess feathers? The first pass was ok, he was going super fast and using a lot more pressure than I would think was good. It went mostly with the grain on my face and somewhat across the grain on my neck since my hair grows out towards my ears on my neck. also he went across the grain on my mustache which i thought was weird...
overall it was ok, didn't feel any mistakes or spot that would be red.
The whole time he was telling me how I should upgrade to the royal shave. The mask cleanses and detoxifies and reduces redness and irritation...I told him that I don't care about the detoxifying and you're going to put aftershave on right? that'll take care of redness. Man they must have a mandate from corporate to push the royal shave...
Then came pass number 2! he re-oiled me and then re-lathered me, and went against the grain. I was thinking of telling him I have a tough beard and can't jump straight to ATG on the second pass, but he's the pro so lets see how he does, right? I felt a ton of tugging and scraping and a few times I felt the sting of spots that would be weepers. I thought, that's ok I don't mind 1 or 2 weepers, I get them myself.
About halfway through he stops and goes to get the other barbers. This can't be good, I thought. They stand around consulting with each other: I'd pull his skin up like this and go real easy in this direction, maybe try going down on this side, really gently, I wouldn't go ATG on him it's not going to work well on him... At this point I'm thinking I'm in trouble. He finishes out the shave and I can feel blood running down my neck and my face is burning. He puts the cold towel on my face for a few minutes and when he takes it off...it's completely RED
Plus to top things off he noticed he missed a bunch of spots and gets out the gillette fusion to touch me up! 
he barber says he's going to give me the full royal shave at no cost since the mask will help with the bleeding. I suspect that they didn't want a guy walking out of the AOS shop with blood running down his face and the mask will give me some time to heal.
So after he does the mask and some rose hydrosol or something followed by AOS balm, he sits me up and tells me I have the toughest beard he's ever shaved in all his years of shaving, by far.
The checkout lady tells my while I'm paying, that the barber recommends that you get the royal shave next time since it'll help with the irritation you'll get with such a tough beard.
I restrain myself from telling her that maybe he should be a bit less cocky and improve his technique and I wouldn't be bleeding to begin with, and there won't be a next time so don't worry...
When I got back to the hotel I saw I had maybe 5 red irritated scabbed weeper spots, a nice big nick on my adams apple, some red scrape lines down my neck and already 4 or 5 ingrown hairs! It's two days later and my face still hurts...
So it was not a pleasant experience. Though I was not completely disappointed. My main reason for going was that I struggle with straight shaving myself and I wanted to see how a professional barber fared. I was hoping to see if I just suck at it and maybe could pick up some pointers. At least I know now that I have a very difficult beard to shave and that I don't suck with the straight...
I was planning on getting a shave at the truefitt & hill shop but when I called them they said it was $75 for a shave. Since I had not been doing so well at the tables, that was seemed a bit steep. I called AOS to see what their rates were and they had a traditional shave for $35 and a shave+facial mask for $55. Since I didn't want a facial $35 sounded ok.My friends went to the Irish pub across from AOS while I went in for my shave.
I checked in and they said you wanted the royal shave right?...no, just the traditional thank you (since that's what I had told them when I made my reservation...) they introduced me to the barber who proceed to look me up and down, then asked "how do you shave normally?" I asked if he meant what equipment do I use? and said I shaved with a DE normally and used a straight on weekends when I have some time to myself, why do you ask? He told me that I looked like I had sensitive skin and might get some redness so I should consider the royal shave
I told him no my skin is pretty sturdy and I don't normally get irritation so the regular shave will be just fine, thanks.The shave started out nice, hot scented towel for 5 minutes then he slathered a bunch of pre-shave oil on my face followed by shaving cream. I was a little disappointed that they don't use a brush, I guess for hygiene reasons. Also they used the unscented AOS cream which was nice but a bit of smell would have been nicer
.They use a disposable blade straight, not sure what the blade is but i'd guess feathers? The first pass was ok, he was going super fast and using a lot more pressure than I would think was good. It went mostly with the grain on my face and somewhat across the grain on my neck since my hair grows out towards my ears on my neck. also he went across the grain on my mustache which i thought was weird...
overall it was ok, didn't feel any mistakes or spot that would be red.
The whole time he was telling me how I should upgrade to the royal shave. The mask cleanses and detoxifies and reduces redness and irritation...I told him that I don't care about the detoxifying and you're going to put aftershave on right? that'll take care of redness. Man they must have a mandate from corporate to push the royal shave...
Then came pass number 2! he re-oiled me and then re-lathered me, and went against the grain. I was thinking of telling him I have a tough beard and can't jump straight to ATG on the second pass, but he's the pro so lets see how he does, right? I felt a ton of tugging and scraping and a few times I felt the sting of spots that would be weepers. I thought, that's ok I don't mind 1 or 2 weepers, I get them myself.
About halfway through he stops and goes to get the other barbers. This can't be good, I thought. They stand around consulting with each other: I'd pull his skin up like this and go real easy in this direction, maybe try going down on this side, really gently, I wouldn't go ATG on him it's not going to work well on him... At this point I'm thinking I'm in trouble. He finishes out the shave and I can feel blood running down my neck and my face is burning. He puts the cold towel on my face for a few minutes and when he takes it off...it's completely RED
Plus to top things off he noticed he missed a bunch of spots and gets out the gillette fusion to touch me up! he barber says he's going to give me the full royal shave at no cost since the mask will help with the bleeding. I suspect that they didn't want a guy walking out of the AOS shop with blood running down his face and the mask will give me some time to heal.
So after he does the mask and some rose hydrosol or something followed by AOS balm, he sits me up and tells me I have the toughest beard he's ever shaved in all his years of shaving, by far.
The checkout lady tells my while I'm paying, that the barber recommends that you get the royal shave next time since it'll help with the irritation you'll get with such a tough beard.
I restrain myself from telling her that maybe he should be a bit less cocky and improve his technique and I wouldn't be bleeding to begin with, and there won't be a next time so don't worry...When I got back to the hotel I saw I had maybe 5 red irritated scabbed weeper spots, a nice big nick on my adams apple, some red scrape lines down my neck and already 4 or 5 ingrown hairs! It's two days later and my face still hurts...
So it was not a pleasant experience. Though I was not completely disappointed. My main reason for going was that I struggle with straight shaving myself and I wanted to see how a professional barber fared. I was hoping to see if I just suck at it and maybe could pick up some pointers. At least I know now that I have a very difficult beard to shave and that I don't suck with the straight...
