UNDER THE
BLADE
The old-fashioned
straight-razor shave is
making a comeback
SHAVING IS NOT A GROOMING RITUAL THAT MOST MEN TEND TO ENJOY.
It’s usually performed first thing in the morning before the eyes are even fully with a splash of water,
a faceful of aerosolized goop, and a laborious scrape of sharp metal across the face. But there is a better
way to clear the facial landscape: tilted back in a chair, then covered in steaming-hot towels and lathered
with thick foam, while a licensed professional skillfully prunes your visage with a straight-edge razor.
If your only experience with the professional shave is watching
De Niro get his neck nicked in the barber’s chair during The
Untouchables,you’re missing one of the greatest luxuries available to
the post-adolescent male, and one that’s become popular again.
“I believe there is a big comeback in the straight-razor shave,”
says Nate Richard, the barber-in-residence at the newly revamped
Fred Segal Beauty in Santa Monica. Derek “Buck”Williams, who
is launching his own mobile shave-and-a-haircut service between
stints at The Barber Shop Club on Melrose, agrees.“In the last three
or four months, I’ve seen a 30 to 40 percent increase [in shaves].”
 And why not? If women can get plucked, buffed, waxed, and
polished on a regu-lar
basis, can’t a guy
allow himself the
occasional luxury of
professional atten-tion
to his most
visible asset?
That’s where a
new breed of barber
comes in: razor-wielding Rembrandts dedicated to bringing
back the lost art of the shave. For $100 and up (depending on
distance and time), you don’t even need to leave your home or
movie set. Just call Williams and the 39-year-old barber who
hails from the D.C. area will arrive at your door. Give him 20
minutes and he’ll give you the smoothest face you’ve had since
your tenth birthday.
 It’s almost like having a personal valet:Toting a rolling bag packed
with exclusive Men-U products imported from the U.K., Williams
dresses in a blue Oxford-cloth shirt with French cuffs, a black vest and
black pants, all of his own design.“It’s part of the service,” he says.“I’m
launching a clothing line, too; it’s all called ‘Future Styles by Buck.’”.
Williams applies warm water, then rubs on a facial wash. “I
like Men-U because it has tea tree oil and witch hazel — which
was used as an astringent back in the day — and the bottles are
really small and portable.” The facial wash is followed by hot
towels tothe pores, then Williams uses Men-U’s Italian-made
boar-bristle shaving brush to work a minty shaving cream
into a thick lather, raising the hairs. He shaves every inch of your
face twice, running his hand along the skin to check for errant
hairs. His final flourish is a bracing
bay rum aftershave.
At Fred Segal Beauty, Nate
Richard (who’s known simply as
“Nate the Barber” on his business
cards) ends with a bay rum aftershave
as well, but that’s where the similarity
ends. A boyish 29 with tattooed arms
and slightly spiky hair, he looks more
like a Stray Cats guitarist than a bar-ber.
Richard lives on a house boat in
Long Beach, and as he shaves it’s hard
not to notice the skin ink; a banner on his bicep
reads “tools of the trade” as it wraps around a
comb and scissors, and a straight-razor tattoo
graces his right hand.“I want to be a barbershop
missionary,” exclaims Richard mid-shave.“I want
to make the barbershops cool again.” In his white
smock and hand-customized Vans surf shoes, he
seems well-suited for the task.
He plies his trade out of a separate room at
Fred Segal Beauty (“Guys don’t want to be out
on display,” he says. “And I don’t want people
walking around while I have a straight razor in
my hand.”) For $35 he gives your face a twice-over
shave: once with the grain using hot lath-er,
and once across the grain with shaving cream
and a boar-bristle brush, with the hot-towel
treatment in between. When he’s finished, you
don’t feel as much shaven as reborn.
As befits the trust level between a guy and
the man who holds a razor to his neck, neither
barber will divulge the names of his celebrity
clients. “What’s said here stays here, man to
man,” says Richard before pointing out that a
former Seinfeld cast member was coming in
sometime soon. “He had to cancel last time;
something about his piano lessons.”
Future Styles by Buck can be reached at
, and Fred Segal Beauty in Santa
Monica can be reached at .
More information about the Men-U line of
products is available at www.men-u.co.uk.
— Adam Tschorn
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