So I was in the the barber shop a couple of haircuts ago, and I asked the barbers in there if anyone still did straight shaves in the barber shop. Niether of the two who work in that shop do, nor did they know of any who still do it around my area. We all got to talking about shaving, and I mentioned that I used DE and soaps and such. The older barber was surprised to hear that, and he said something about missing the use of his old razors. He was under the impression that nobody used DE gear any more and that it was pretty much unavailable. The conversation moved on into baseball and politics as normal, and afterwards, I went about my day.
Well, some time passed, and it was time for me to get a fresh haircut, and I remembered our conversation, so I bagged a small sampler of blades. I tossed in a pack of Derbys, a pack of Crystals, some Bic platinums, some 7 o'clock yellows, a pack of Astras, and pack of IPs in a sandwich bag. I purposely left out the Merkurs and Dorcos, because I didn't want him to scissor off my ear the next time I went in for a haircut out of vengence if he happened to use one of those. I also put in a puck of Williams soap, and some sample's of Ogalalla BR soap I had not used, and some cream samples from TH and Trumpers. I gave the sample stuff to the barber after my haircut, and was not sure if he was actually going to use them or not, but it was no big loss to me if he didn't.
I went back the other day for a haircut, and the old man just about rushed me when I hit the door wanting to know where I had gotten my blades, and he went into telling me how much better his shaves were, and that he never realized that he had actually gotten inferior shaves after the cartridges and goo became his norm. He's now back to DE shaving, and wanted info on where to procure soaps and what not. He didn't care about new razors, as he said he had several from "way back when". He even offered me a few of them, but I politely declined since I have too many of my own, and my wife would surely give me the stink-eye if I brought home more razors. He did make me take a free haircut though. I told him to check out Ebay and see what some of his razors might bring if he felt he wanted to part with some of them.
Anyhow, it was kind of cool turning a sixty something year old barber back to the old ways and seeing him be happy about it. I'm curious to see how much stuff he will have bought by the next time I go in for a cut.
Well, some time passed, and it was time for me to get a fresh haircut, and I remembered our conversation, so I bagged a small sampler of blades. I tossed in a pack of Derbys, a pack of Crystals, some Bic platinums, some 7 o'clock yellows, a pack of Astras, and pack of IPs in a sandwich bag. I purposely left out the Merkurs and Dorcos, because I didn't want him to scissor off my ear the next time I went in for a haircut out of vengence if he happened to use one of those. I also put in a puck of Williams soap, and some sample's of Ogalalla BR soap I had not used, and some cream samples from TH and Trumpers. I gave the sample stuff to the barber after my haircut, and was not sure if he was actually going to use them or not, but it was no big loss to me if he didn't.
I went back the other day for a haircut, and the old man just about rushed me when I hit the door wanting to know where I had gotten my blades, and he went into telling me how much better his shaves were, and that he never realized that he had actually gotten inferior shaves after the cartridges and goo became his norm. He's now back to DE shaving, and wanted info on where to procure soaps and what not. He didn't care about new razors, as he said he had several from "way back when". He even offered me a few of them, but I politely declined since I have too many of my own, and my wife would surely give me the stink-eye if I brought home more razors. He did make me take a free haircut though. I told him to check out Ebay and see what some of his razors might bring if he felt he wanted to part with some of them.
Anyhow, it was kind of cool turning a sixty something year old barber back to the old ways and seeing him be happy about it. I'm curious to see how much stuff he will have bought by the next time I go in for a cut.
Best of all: He could spread the word.
