What is a Barbershop Shave?

[rbscebu]

Definitely worth a try!! Let us know how things work out (PLEASE).

The hardest part for me is going to be not shaving Sunday. I need to have enough whiskers on Monday morning so that the barber earns his exorbitant fee.

It will be interesting because most Filipinos only grow facial hair on their upper lip and chin area.

 

[rbscebu]

This morning I had my first barber's shave in almost 40 years. My previous one was when I was a student at the University of New South Wales at the Students' Union barber.

The barber shop I visited this morning is less than 1km (about 1/2 mile) from where I live in Cebu, Philippines and opened about 4 months ago. This was my first visit there. I prepared for this shave by abstaining from shaving yesterday so as to get my money's worth this morning.

The shop is well appointed with comfortable reclining chairs, modern decor and good air conditioning. I arrived at opening time, 8:30am, so that I would not have to wait. Although the shop has four barber chairs, only one barber was in attendance at that hour. I was immediately seated in the barber's chair by his very cute female assistant who applied the necessary protective cape and towels, etc.. (This barber knows what pleases a man!)

The shave commenced with a pre-shave balm and a warm moist towel wrap. I think that while applying the balm, the barber was also mapping my whiskers. While the balm and towel were doing their work, the barber reached for his Dovo 5/8 SR and gave it a gentle stropping on a leather strop hanging from his work counter.

The warm towel was removed and the barber applied the lather. The only downside of this shave was he used canned goo!. Still, it worked and did the job.

The shave then commenced. This barber knows how to get and keep his SR sharp and comfortable. Slash McCoy must have taught him the Method. The shave was mainly XTG with a little touch-up here and there as he went.

Once my barber was satisfied with his blade work, the cute assistant wrapped my face in a cool moist towel while the barber put away his equipment. Once the girl has finished cleaning my face, the barber then applied a facial scrub to my whole face. The scrub was cleaned off and then he applied a post-shave balm. All was good.

While receiving my shave, I got into conversation with the barber - as men do. My barber was born and raised in Cebu. His papa was also a barber but now retired. My barber attended a 12-month part-time barber course while helping his papa in his then barber shop, and my barber commenced barbering 22 years ago. He says that he really enjoys his work and all the interesting people he meets.

The end result was that I received one of the most comfortable shaves of my life with a near BBS finish all over, only DFS on the upper lip. Absolutely no irritation and of course no skin damage.

The whole shave process took a little over a half-hour and cost was PHP 120 (about USD 2.50). Australians are normally lousy tippers, but in this case I made an exception and tipped my barber an extra PHP 80 (about USD 1.50). He received this like I was one of the last big-time spenders - he must know what Australians are like.

Was it worth me giving up the enjoyment of my SR shave yesterday? Yes. In future I will continue to use this barber whenever I need a haircut and include a shave with each visit.