Hot Towel Shave

A traditional hot towel straight razor shave in Sudbury. Forty minutes in the chair, most of which is preparation, because the preparation is what makes the difference between a shave and scraping your face with a blade.

What happens in the chair

• Hot towels. Two or three, as hot as you can take, resting long enough to soften the hair and open everything up. This is the step that gets skipped at home and it is the one that matters.
• Pre-shave oil, then lather. Brushed on and worked in rather than squirted from a can, so the hair is lifted rather than flattened.
• First pass with the grain. A straight razor, held taut, following the direction the hair grows. This takes most of it off.
• Re-lather, second pass across the grain. Not against it. Going against the grain is how you get a shave that is smooth for four hours and an ingrown-hair problem for four days.
• Cold towel, then balm. The cold closes everything the hot opened. The balm goes on because a freshly shaved face has had its top layer taken off whether you felt it or not.

Who this is for

Anyone who wants it properly smooth for something — a wedding, a funeral, a photo, an interview — and anyone who has simply never had one done. It is also the one to book if you are taking a beard off entirely rather than shaping it.

If your skin reacts badly to razors, or you get ingrown hairs on the neck, say so before the towel goes on. There are ways to work around both, but only if they are known about first.

Booking it

This one genuinely needs booking ahead. It occupies the chair for forty minutes and it cannot be squeezed in between two walk-ins — if you turn up hoping for one on a Saturday afternoon, it will not happen.

What it costs

$35, flat.

Book a shave or see every service and price.