What the work is
Heat and moisture do two things at once. Water swells the hair shaft and softens it; warmth relaxes the skin and the follicle opening around it. A softened hair on relaxed skin can be taken with a single light pass, and the number of passes is the whole of the comfort question — razor burn is not caused by a sharp blade, it is caused by going over the same ground repeatedly with a dull one.
The direction matters as much as the sharpness. The first pass follows your growth rather than opposing it, and only then, if the shave calls for it, is the blade taken across. Cutting a whisker flush at the surface leaves it where it belongs. Cutting it below the surface is what sets up an ingrown hair later in the week, and on curved hair that is the difference between a close shave and a week of bumps.
The towel is not ceremony. It is the part that makes the blade unnecessary to force.
The preparation
Cleansed, oiled and wrapped in hot towels before anything else happens. This is the stage that decides how the rest of it feels, and it is not shortened because the room is busy — the room is never busy.
The blade
A single ground edge, stropped, taken with the grain first. One pass that works beats three that argue with the hair, and a straight razor allows the angle to be changed continuously across the contours of your face.
The recovery
Cool towel, then a finish chosen for your skin rather than for its scent. Alcohol closes a shave quickly and costs you comfort for the rest of the day; what is used here does not.
One chair, one hour, one man. There is no clock on the wall and nobody is waiting behind you.
Inside The Shave
The read
Growth direction is mapped before the first towel. It changes across the neck on nearly every man, and shaving a neck as though it grew downward is how most men acquire the irritation they assume is permanent.
Cleanse
Oil and surface debris are removed first. A clean surface lets the water reach the hair rather than sitting on top of what the day left behind.
Hot towels
Applied, replaced, and left long enough to do the actual work. Hydration is a function of time as much as temperature, which is why the towel is not a gesture lasting ten seconds.
Pre-shave oil
A thin barrier between the edge and the skin, so the blade travels on oil rather than on you. It also keeps the hydration in the hair while the lather is built.
The lather
Built in a bowl and laid on with a brush, which lifts the hair upright and puts water where it is needed. Lather from a can lies the hair flat and does the opposite.
The first pass
With the grain, edge to skin at a shallow angle. This is the pass that removes most of the beard and leaves the skin with nothing to complain about.
The second pass
Across the grain where your face permits it, and skipped where it does not. Not every neck earns a second pass, and forcing one is how a good shave becomes a bad week.
Cool and finish
A cool towel to settle the skin, then balm matched to it. You leave with a shave that is still comfortable at nine that evening, which is the only test that matters.
With a haircut
Most men book the shave with the hair. Taken together, the shave follows the cut so nothing taken from above lands on freshly shaved skin.
Who this is for
This is for a man who has somewhere to be and wants to arrive at it settled rather than merely shaved. It is also for a man who has given up on shaving comfortably — who shaves against the grain every morning because nobody showed him another way, and who has decided the irritation is simply his skin. It usually is not.
This is not for a man who wants it done in fifteen minutes. The preparation is most of the service and it does not compress. If an active skin condition, open lesion or an inflamed rash is present on the area, the shave waits — that is a conversation with a dermatologist first and a barber second.
How it begins
You book a time and arrive without having shaved that morning. The first minutes are spent reading your growth and your skin, and you will be asked what your current routine is — not to correct you in front of a mirror, but because the answer usually explains the irritation you came in with.
If your skin or your growth argues against a second pass, you are told so in the chair rather than finding out the next morning. A shave that looks closer at the time and costs you two days is not the better shave.
Where the work happens
The work happens at the Atelier, 18 N Marengo Avenue in Pasadena, by appointment only. Men come from Pasadena, San Marino, Glendale, Burbank, Arcadia, Monrovia, South Pasadena, Altadena and La Cañada Flintridge.
Questions
How long does a hot towel shave take?
About forty-five minutes. The preparation is most of it — cleansing, oiling and the towels take longer than the blade does, and shortening that stage is what makes a shave uncomfortable rather than close.
Is a straight razor shave closer than shaving at home?
Closer, and usually calmer. A single ground edge taken with the grain on hydrated hair removes more in one pass than a cartridge does in three, and fewer passes is what leaves the skin settled rather than raw.
Will it cause ingrown hairs?
Properly done, it reduces them. Ingrown hairs come from cutting the hair below the surface of the skin so it re-enters as it grows, which is a hazard of stretching and repeated passes rather than of the razor itself. The first pass here follows your growth for that reason.
Should I shave before I come in?
No. Arrive with a day or two of growth so there is something for the blade to take, and so your growth pattern can be read before the first towel.
Can I have a shave if my skin is sensitive?
Usually, and often it is the better option — fewer passes on hydrated hair is gentler than a daily cartridge. If you have an active rash, an open lesion or a diagnosed skin condition on the area, see a dermatologist first and book afterwards.
Can a shave be combined with a haircut?
Yes. The pairing is listed when you book, and the shave is taken after the hair so nothing cut above lands on freshly shaved skin.
Further reading
- The Beard and the Skin Beneath ItThe skin under the beard is the skin the razor meets.
- Scalp InfectionsWhat a barber is watching for, and when the answer is a doctor.
- Hard Water and Your HairWhat Pasadena water leaves on the skin before you ever lather.
- Scalp HealthThe same skin, the same rules, a few inches higher.