Gentlemen,
To be honest, Im really very angry and deeply disappointed.
I thought after a few weeks of acceptable shaves with my Merkur HD and C&E soap I might try something a bit different and see if any local barbers still offer straight razor shaves. My aim is eventually to move into st8 razors a bit down the track so I thought I would go and get a professional shave to see how good it can be.
Well, to my surprise in my rural medium sized town, I found a barber who offered str8 shaves.
Let me relay to you my experience Ive just had with my local barber.
In a friendly way I asked him if he did these shaves regularly. After he assured me he does them all the time, I shelled out the $12 and got ready for an experience.
He re-emerged carrying a scuttle and synthetic brush. Fair enough I thought. Then it happened. I should have reconsidered at this point; It struck my eyes white hot like a fresh iron from the fire; Gillette canned goo was to be the lather for this shave.
I reconsidered my first reaction of actual fear and thought that surely, with correct technique, the shave will be fine.
Perhaps it was the fact that he never massaged the lather onto my dry face at all (in fact, he more or less painted it on 21st Century Boy style but with fewer strokes; see http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=XM5bL69mqok), perhaps it was the fact that he applied no hot towel before the shave, perhaps it was the fact the razor was not stropped while I was there and probably hadnt been stropped or honed for a good while, or perhaps it was the barbers technique (or lack there of) cringing as he cut carelessly and cruelly, but the sheer amount of blood letting and dark red razor burn made me rethink ever shaving again. Ever.
Before the shave (and after) my face was dry and cold and in desperate need of hydration or really any sort of prep. Anything would have been better than nothing. The brush was mostly a waste of time as it was used to just dab and drizzle the pale green lather around my face and neck with the odd drop of water escaping onto my shirt.
To say that my skin was irritated and felt cut to shreds wouldnt be an overstatement, if only just. The long lines of scarlet billow running down my face and the red strawberry fields under my neck had me longing like mad for a good soothing aftershave balm. Oh how I desired so deeply for my Zirh Soothe, or even some Nivia Extra Soothing. Like the desert misses the rain, I longed for these. And a time machine.
He offered me some Tabac aftershave. It was alcohol based, but I really didnt care. I just needed something anything on my skin. Perhaps water would have been best under the circumstances or if I was thinking clearly I would have declined the offer and picked up some Nivia Extra Soothing Aftershave Balm on the way back to the office. He applied a healthy dose, not to much. The smell was quite nice (I must point out the positives in a train wreck) and it only stung a little for a little while and the field of red that covered all area beneath my jaw dissipated. But worst luck, there were four or five nicks, one absolute Freddy-Kruger in particular, which continued to weep. Out came the liquid styptic and on came the pain!
While the smaller cuts singed, stung and stopped running red, my Reddy-Freddy cut continued to weep fourth undeterred by the holy-water-on-Dracula burn of the styptic until some cold dry dusty winter wind on the trudge back to the office dried the scarlet enough leaving behind a wonderful flaky thumbnail sized red-black spot.
There was so much to be criticised and only a couple of positives, two of them being that it was close to BBS and that I am comfortable that now, at the age of 23, I have my worst shaving experience behind me. It wont get any worse than that.
After the shave he then applied a piping hot towel to my face telling me that this was the best part of the shave. Yes you read correctly. After the shave he gave me the hot towel. Im not getting the order wrong he did. After the hot towel, he gave me a cold towel which was welcome considering the life dripping from my lip, chin and neck. I was astounded that the towel wasnt put on before this is back to school stuff.
Afterwards, I spoke to him giving him an appraisal of some his method. I asked about the order of doing the hot towel after instead of before the shave and queried how wise it was to use pressurised shave foam instead of spending 30 seconds to whip up a lather from a good shave soap. Unfortunately, he told me that he wasnt sure where I was getting my info from, but hes taught at tech (college) and it sounds like something from the 50s thats out of date. He also told me, bafflingly, that the reason I had so many cuts and redness was that my whiskers were too soft and not used to a real blade and that after a few years, the face adjusts. So soft whiskers are hard to cut and you should do a hot towel after the shave. Are we all getting this?
Despite my attempting to have a good conversation about shaving with him, he was convinced I had nothing meaningful to say about any of his methods or products.
Im frankly really disappointed, and some 10 hours after the event, my face is still so sore and my deep cut is still weeping since Ive come home out of the cold.
Now I come to you, the truly wise and informed, seeking now what I desperately need. How do I recover from this butchering? I considered not shaving again for about four days and applying Zirth Sooth or Nivia Extra Soothing Aftershave Balm on every morning and night and cleansing my face with Nivia Extra Soothing Facial Cleanser twice daily before applying the balm (a nice gentle non-soap cleanser). What are my options? Are there any routines I could follow to help me? Is it worth putting an actual band-aid over my deep throat cut? How on Earth am I going to undo all this damage when I run a DE razor with Derbys over it every day?
This forum has seen me change a corner in the way I think about shaving and opened the door to the possibility of a healing of my neck and chin area and irritation free shaves. Oh how, with a few flings of fates fickle blade, all the hard work, concentration and preparation exited via the window. My neck is worse than ever. I come before you with open hands and nothing to offer but a broken humble spirit. Please help.
Thanks for your time just the same,
Chris (Big-Bad-Razor) Byrnes
To be honest, Im really very angry and deeply disappointed.
I thought after a few weeks of acceptable shaves with my Merkur HD and C&E soap I might try something a bit different and see if any local barbers still offer straight razor shaves. My aim is eventually to move into st8 razors a bit down the track so I thought I would go and get a professional shave to see how good it can be.
Well, to my surprise in my rural medium sized town, I found a barber who offered str8 shaves.
Let me relay to you my experience Ive just had with my local barber.
In a friendly way I asked him if he did these shaves regularly. After he assured me he does them all the time, I shelled out the $12 and got ready for an experience.
He re-emerged carrying a scuttle and synthetic brush. Fair enough I thought. Then it happened. I should have reconsidered at this point; It struck my eyes white hot like a fresh iron from the fire; Gillette canned goo was to be the lather for this shave.
I reconsidered my first reaction of actual fear and thought that surely, with correct technique, the shave will be fine.
Perhaps it was the fact that he never massaged the lather onto my dry face at all (in fact, he more or less painted it on 21st Century Boy style but with fewer strokes; see http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=XM5bL69mqok), perhaps it was the fact that he applied no hot towel before the shave, perhaps it was the fact the razor was not stropped while I was there and probably hadnt been stropped or honed for a good while, or perhaps it was the barbers technique (or lack there of) cringing as he cut carelessly and cruelly, but the sheer amount of blood letting and dark red razor burn made me rethink ever shaving again. Ever.
Before the shave (and after) my face was dry and cold and in desperate need of hydration or really any sort of prep. Anything would have been better than nothing. The brush was mostly a waste of time as it was used to just dab and drizzle the pale green lather around my face and neck with the odd drop of water escaping onto my shirt.
To say that my skin was irritated and felt cut to shreds wouldnt be an overstatement, if only just. The long lines of scarlet billow running down my face and the red strawberry fields under my neck had me longing like mad for a good soothing aftershave balm. Oh how I desired so deeply for my Zirh Soothe, or even some Nivia Extra Soothing. Like the desert misses the rain, I longed for these. And a time machine.
He offered me some Tabac aftershave. It was alcohol based, but I really didnt care. I just needed something anything on my skin. Perhaps water would have been best under the circumstances or if I was thinking clearly I would have declined the offer and picked up some Nivia Extra Soothing Aftershave Balm on the way back to the office. He applied a healthy dose, not to much. The smell was quite nice (I must point out the positives in a train wreck) and it only stung a little for a little while and the field of red that covered all area beneath my jaw dissipated. But worst luck, there were four or five nicks, one absolute Freddy-Kruger in particular, which continued to weep. Out came the liquid styptic and on came the pain!
While the smaller cuts singed, stung and stopped running red, my Reddy-Freddy cut continued to weep fourth undeterred by the holy-water-on-Dracula burn of the styptic until some cold dry dusty winter wind on the trudge back to the office dried the scarlet enough leaving behind a wonderful flaky thumbnail sized red-black spot.
There was so much to be criticised and only a couple of positives, two of them being that it was close to BBS and that I am comfortable that now, at the age of 23, I have my worst shaving experience behind me. It wont get any worse than that.
After the shave he then applied a piping hot towel to my face telling me that this was the best part of the shave. Yes you read correctly. After the shave he gave me the hot towel. Im not getting the order wrong he did. After the hot towel, he gave me a cold towel which was welcome considering the life dripping from my lip, chin and neck. I was astounded that the towel wasnt put on before this is back to school stuff.
Afterwards, I spoke to him giving him an appraisal of some his method. I asked about the order of doing the hot towel after instead of before the shave and queried how wise it was to use pressurised shave foam instead of spending 30 seconds to whip up a lather from a good shave soap. Unfortunately, he told me that he wasnt sure where I was getting my info from, but hes taught at tech (college) and it sounds like something from the 50s thats out of date. He also told me, bafflingly, that the reason I had so many cuts and redness was that my whiskers were too soft and not used to a real blade and that after a few years, the face adjusts. So soft whiskers are hard to cut and you should do a hot towel after the shave. Are we all getting this?
Despite my attempting to have a good conversation about shaving with him, he was convinced I had nothing meaningful to say about any of his methods or products.
Im frankly really disappointed, and some 10 hours after the event, my face is still so sore and my deep cut is still weeping since Ive come home out of the cold.
Now I come to you, the truly wise and informed, seeking now what I desperately need. How do I recover from this butchering? I considered not shaving again for about four days and applying Zirth Sooth or Nivia Extra Soothing Aftershave Balm on every morning and night and cleansing my face with Nivia Extra Soothing Facial Cleanser twice daily before applying the balm (a nice gentle non-soap cleanser). What are my options? Are there any routines I could follow to help me? Is it worth putting an actual band-aid over my deep throat cut? How on Earth am I going to undo all this damage when I run a DE razor with Derbys over it every day?
This forum has seen me change a corner in the way I think about shaving and opened the door to the possibility of a healing of my neck and chin area and irritation free shaves. Oh how, with a few flings of fates fickle blade, all the hard work, concentration and preparation exited via the window. My neck is worse than ever. I come before you with open hands and nothing to offer but a broken humble spirit. Please help.
Thanks for your time just the same,
Chris (Big-Bad-Razor) Byrnes
but that's not really a good thing to do.
