Hot Towel Straight-Razor Shave

This is the shave people mean when they say "a real barbershop shave." It starts with pre-shave oil worked into the skin, followed by a hot towel wrap to soften the beard and open the pores — usually more than one towel over the course of the service. From there we build a layered lather by hand and work the straight razor through it in sections, shaving with the grain of your hair growth rather than against it, which is the single biggest factor in avoiding irritation and bumps.

A straight razor gets closer than a cartridge or safety razor for one simple reason: it's a single, rigid, extremely sharp edge cutting the hair right at the skin, with no guard or pivoting head between the blade and your face. Done correctly — proper prep, correct angle, shaving with the grain — that closeness doesn't have to mean irritation. It's also part of why barbershops largely moved away from straight razors decades ago as disposable and cartridge razors made an at-home close shave good enough for most people without the skill, time, or sanitation requirements a straight razor demands; a barbershop shave is essentially the version of that experience that never went away.

If you're prone to ingrown hairs or razor bumps (folliculitis), tell us before we start — we can adjust technique, blade angle, and how tight we go around sensitive areas like the neck to work around it rather than make it worse.