Chin up to shaving

Shave and a haircut: 2 bits.

It may cost a lot more than the two bits of old, but the traditional barbershop shave is making a comeback.

Even as the service disappears from old-style barbershops, a new generation of chins is discovering the indulgent pleasures of the hot-towel, warm-lather professional shave at upscale salons, men's spas and speciality retail shops.

And some licensed haircutters are discovering that those long-ago shaving lessons from barber college weren't such a waste of time after all.

Change in trend

“In most US states, you're still required to do a shave for the barbering test and, in most cases, that's the last time a barber picked up a razor in his career,'' said Carl Cwiok, a master barber at the Art of Shaving shop in suburban Arlington, Virginia, US.

“That's been changing in the last three or four years. But it can be hard for us to find guys who have experience,'' he said.

Cwiok is in charge of recruiting barbers for outlets of the Miami-based Art of Shaving chain, which has 25 “barbershop spas'' nationwide.

A growing number of area venues offer hot lather shaves for $35 to $45 (Dh128 to Dh165).

One place downtown offers a shave-and-haircut package for $115 (Dh422) and takes about 90 minutes.

“There has been a big resurgence,'' said Michael Lubecki, a barber at Grooming Lounge, a barbershop spa.

Lubecki said he gives three or four shaves a day, the most since the start of his career in the late 1960s, and notes that he is working just one of the shop's six chairs.

“When I was working at unisex salons, we didn't even offer it,'' he said.

Still waiting to see the resurgence is Darryl Grymes, a 14-year master barber and one of the razor jockeys who have been approached by the Art of Shaving.

Grymes said the brisk trade in shave customers that used to be referred by hotels has slowed to a trickle.

Concern for infection

Only about once a month does he have to heat up the barber towels in the microwave and insert a new disposable blade in his straightedge handle.

In this age of high concern about infectious disease, most barbers no longer use bone-handled razors sharpened on a leather strop. “We hardly get them at all anymore,'' Grymes said.

He pulled out his tattered barbering manual and opened it to show 14 basic shave strokes that are still the industry standard.

The hardest, he said, is number 14, coming up under the lower lip.

The return of the shave is welcome to old-timers who feared that barbering's signature service — the word barber refers to the beard, after all — was going the way of fleams, leeches and other ancient tools of the trade.

“It's just getting bigger and bigger,'' said Charles Kirkpatrick, executive director of National Barber Boards of America, an association of state licensing groups.

It's coming back

“Some states had talked about doing away with the shaving requirement [for certification]. But the shave is coming back in spas. They're selling 'em the works.''

At the Grooming Lounge, a shave is as much about pageantry — and high-end retail — as personal hygiene.

There is no red-and-white pole marking the storefront, and the well-appointed rooms of dark wood and black leather smell more of cappuccino than witch hazel.

On a recent evening, three men waited their turn, watching sports on a flat-screen television and sipping complimentary beverages.

The shave itself starts with hot towels from a steam caddy. The towels, wrapped around the face so only the nose is exposed, are followed by hot lather and moisturiser massaged brusquely into the skin.

Only after three rounds of the towel-lather routine does Lubecki or one of the other shavers apply the blade.

Or rather, blades.

The Grooming Lounge has sacrificed the menacing romance of the straight edge for the modern multi-bladed safety razor. Lubecki's is a Gillette Mach III with a deluxe metal handle.

Close to straight edge

Still, they swear that the heat, the oil and two passes with the Gillette produce a shave every bit as close as a straight edge. “It gives you about an extra day,'' Lubecki said.

“You'll wake up tomorrow and it will still feel like you just shaved yourself,'' he added.

Like many clients, Larry Leadman of Silver Spring, Maryland, went to the shop because his wife gave him a gift certificate for a shave and a massage.

“The shave was awesome, and I immediately got suckered into buying some of their special shaving cream,'' Leadman said.

A customer, T.K. Maloy, was getting a shave one recent afternoon. “It's always been a weakness of mine. It's just really relaxing,'' said Maloy.

“Of course, you have no choice but to relax when someone is wielding a sharp knife near your face.''