Took the leap out into space and just got the haircut done today. Picture’s with my phone as I’m working in a Barnes and Noble between the haircut and seeing a play in two hours, so lighting and quality aren’t the best. I’m damn excited to see how it goes over though; and making a point of it to avoid putting any photos on facebook. I want to see reactions in person.
I really like how it turned out though. And lord does it feel good to have less hair to deal with.
I went to a men’s barbershop after I did some quick research and found one relatively close to me. It was my first time going in a traditional barbershop since I was 11. The specific place caught my attention when it said I catered specifically to men:
“Barbering is not as popular as it used to be. A lot of men have moved on to salons for their grooming needs. The schools that teach barbering have become quite rare. We only opened this shop because we needed a place to work. In turn, we found that a lot of guys are frustrated with their salon haircuts and are often times uncomfortable with the idea of even going to a salon. It’s kind of strange to say, but we are somewhat of a specialty shop because we only cater to men. We specialize in cutting men’s hair and shaving their faces. You won’t get a bunch of mediocre pampering services that a lot of salons use to lure their customers. Instead you will get high quality service delivered by licensed barbers.”
Definitely was worth the extra time and money over some silly salon cut. Taking off all that hair and getting this looking clean took them longer than the usual appointment – but they didn’t rush it. It was also the first time I’ve ever had a straight edge razor shave before, which was nice.
Oh, and their online reservation system is the easiest and most elegant type of thing I’ve ever seen (I go through a lot of this type of stuff with ticket purchases and dinners before hand). If you’re starting your own company and need something like this on the website, go through it and just cancel the appointment in the confirmation email. I made a reservation with them an hour before the appointment and was done with making the appointment before I had consciously decided to go here. That’s how you know you site is streamlined.
I also talked to them about the issues I had told Tanner in the comments of my last post. Basically that my hair is generally obnoxious as hell when performing a cleaner, styled look. They gave me some recommendations on conditioner and I bought the product they pushed at the store – Layrite. I’ll see how it works, but so far it’s held up well after a couple hours.
Haircut – 19 dollars + tip (6 this time for dealing with my hair)
Layrite – 15 dollars
Not a bad investment for what I got out of it.
If you’re a man in Chicago, it’s a damn nice place to get those hairs of yours cut.
It’s nice to see young men patronizing a barber shop instead of those foo-foo salons. And good to see a place with young barbers keeping the trade alive. The only strike against that place is they don’t have a spinning barber pole outside (at least what I can see on the pictures). haha
When I was a small kid, my dad took me to the barber shop that was in the basement of Klaus Department Store – used to be around Diversey and Milwaukee – LONG gone. Hair cut was 2 bucks and add a tip of 2 bits. Yeah, I’m that old.
You’re way in the city; out in the ‘burbs, I found myself a place with some Italian barbers – heavy accents and shots of Anisette around the holidays.
Stopped going, though, cause there ain’t nothin’ left to cut, in my case. Just use an electric clipper and trim what’s left down to the skin. Trim my beard myself, too. Man, if I had thick hair like you, I’d let it grow down to my shoulders…..haha.
Looks REALLY good! The short sides nod slightly to conventionality; the top says “individual” without a hint of hipster pseudo-defiance. And as my mom would say, “I can see your face!”
@ Carnivore
Haha, yeah I tried the shoulder length cut. Honestly, before today it was down to mid-shoulder blade. The problem was through the whole growing period it’s so thick and dry that nothing I could do would tame it. I either put it back in a pony tail as all the pics I’ve put up here show, or it’s down and I get comment’s that I look like a “rock star” or belong in a hair band. Doesn’t work with what I wanted to cultivate.
Man, I understand the old school barbershops though. I miss the one from my childhood now that I know enough to miss it. Seems like that’s how a lot of men are though – this place was packed and had a lot of walk ins while I was there too. No chair stayed empty longer than it took to clean up. As I was talking to him, what started out as a two person place 8 years ago is now a 7 chair barbershop; which I feel is huge growth in that amount of time.
You know, that pomade you linked to is associated with Hawleywood’s which is the place I just went to recently. It was AWESOME. I only got the back of my neck straight razored (unexpectedly, I thought he was using a multi-bladed razor until I saw the distinct straight-razor handle style in my peripheral vision). It was a great experience, heard some killer stories, enjoyed the fuck out of every barber even though I was mostly interacting with the dude cutting my hair. $25 and I tipped em $10 just because it was so awesome of an experience. Will have to try that pomade if you like it.
@ Suz
Thanks. I think it will help me avoid some of the ‘hipster’ comments I get for being a man in his late 20′s with a sense of fashion. The long hair + fashion was simply too close to the “hipster ideal”
@ Aneroid
Hah! I was the same way on the neck straight razor with me not expecting it.
I’ll let you know how the pomade turns out. Tanner asked me via email to do so as well.
I also have to figure out what aftershave they use there, or see if this smell is from the pomade itself. I can still smell it on myself and I love it. Simple and masculine; I didn’t even notice the smell on myself till I had left the barber. If I figure it out I’ll post it here too
@Leap
That’s cool about the aftershave, although I still think that my beard wax is kick ass. Craig’s, I talked about it in my hair thread here:
http://aneroidocean.wordpress.com/2012/09/07/hair/
I have yet to hear anything but gushing about the smell from women and of course, first thing’s first, I love it.
Also, after he shaved my hairline, he used some kind of science-fiction looking/sounding old-school contraption that had paddle type things and vibrated the skin back there. It was neat.
Oh, here’s a link to the beard wax online:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/34803501/craigs-beard-and-stache-butter-wax
The various barber shops I’ve used have always used Clubman brand of talc to load the brush before dusting the neck. There’s also Clubman aftershave. All with the same typical barber shop scent. http://www.clubmanonline.com/clubman-after-shave-lotion-6-oz.html Walgreens carries it. Don’t know if that’s what you had.
Speaking of which, for shaving, try using a safety razor.
http://boldanddetermined.com/2011/01/01/live-like-a-spartan-stop-using-disposable-razors/
http://carnivorescave.blogspot.com/2012/09/im-all-wet.html
Here’s three great places with good supplies, including excellent after shave choices.
http://www.vintagebladesllc.com/
http://www.westcoastshaving.com/
http://www.classicshaving.com/Home.html
@ Carnivore
Nice, thanks for all the links and info – sorry they got caught on spam. I’ll definitely be checking some of these out and see what I like.
funny, I actually just got a safety razor and can’t wait to shave and use it
“And lord does it feel good to have less hair to deal with.”
Speak fer yerself… lol. i’ve had ‘less’ hair to deal with for some time now grumble grumble.. hehe. no need for me to hit ye’ole barber shop when a quick glide of the electro clippers will do.
having said that, the cut looks good. dare i say you look as wise and worldly as my Grade 7 science teacher, minus the salt and pepper.
Keep it up and do tell us how the reactions go.
looking sharp