I had a professional barbershop shave today at Merchant & Rhoades in Chicago.
The shop is smaller than I expected, but very clean and beautifully decorated. It's a high-end and old-fashioned barbershop. Ornate chairs, lots of wood in the stalls, barbers in white coats, and so on.
The product area in front was stocked with a wide variety of men's grooming products (soaps, shampoos, pomades, but especially a lot of shaving products, including many razors and brushes). They are beautifully displayed and the front clerk was helpful and friendly.
I checked in for my appointment (11:30am on a Friday). All the stations we occupied, but the place did not feel crowded. I was leaving town, and the clerk offered to store my suitcase.
The barber came to get me right on time for my shave. As I was getting settled, someone came to ask if I'd like my shoes shined. He removed my shoes to take them to his shine station and put a brand-new pair of spa slippers on my feet.
The shave experience was very relaxing, much like a spa treatment. The barber chair was fully reclined. The prep involved several hot towel wraps with a pre-shave balm applied in between. The barber applied hot shaving foam and used a straight-edge razor. She made multiple passes going with, across, and against the grain. She used short, deliberate, confident strokes. Post-shave was more hot towel wraps, followed by a couple of cold towel wraps. She also used an electric clipper to trim my nose hair, which was quite unexpected. Finally, she spent a couple of minutes massaging my entire face with a generous amount of a post-shave moisturizing balm.
By then, the shoe shine man came back to put my shoes back on with a beautiful shoe horn. Perhaps most unexpected, the whole process ended with a fairly rugged shoulder massage administered with what I think of as an old-fashioned hand massager strapped to the barber's hand (Something like this). Once I got over my initial surprise, it actually felt quite good.
The whole appointment took precisely 30 min and was quite enjoyable. I would say the quality of the shave was excellent, with the exception of a couple of the trickier spots on my beard, which were not as close as I can shave them at home.
Overall, a very enjoyable experience which I would recommend as a nice way to relax and treat yourself.
The shop is smaller than I expected, but very clean and beautifully decorated. It's a high-end and old-fashioned barbershop. Ornate chairs, lots of wood in the stalls, barbers in white coats, and so on.
The product area in front was stocked with a wide variety of men's grooming products (soaps, shampoos, pomades, but especially a lot of shaving products, including many razors and brushes). They are beautifully displayed and the front clerk was helpful and friendly.
I checked in for my appointment (11:30am on a Friday). All the stations we occupied, but the place did not feel crowded. I was leaving town, and the clerk offered to store my suitcase.
The barber came to get me right on time for my shave. As I was getting settled, someone came to ask if I'd like my shoes shined. He removed my shoes to take them to his shine station and put a brand-new pair of spa slippers on my feet.
The shave experience was very relaxing, much like a spa treatment. The barber chair was fully reclined. The prep involved several hot towel wraps with a pre-shave balm applied in between. The barber applied hot shaving foam and used a straight-edge razor. She made multiple passes going with, across, and against the grain. She used short, deliberate, confident strokes. Post-shave was more hot towel wraps, followed by a couple of cold towel wraps. She also used an electric clipper to trim my nose hair, which was quite unexpected. Finally, she spent a couple of minutes massaging my entire face with a generous amount of a post-shave moisturizing balm.
By then, the shoe shine man came back to put my shoes back on with a beautiful shoe horn. Perhaps most unexpected, the whole process ended with a fairly rugged shoulder massage administered with what I think of as an old-fashioned hand massager strapped to the barber's hand (Something like this). Once I got over my initial surprise, it actually felt quite good.
The whole appointment took precisely 30 min and was quite enjoyable. I would say the quality of the shave was excellent, with the exception of a couple of the trickier spots on my beard, which were not as close as I can shave them at home.
Overall, a very enjoyable experience which I would recommend as a nice way to relax and treat yourself.
