I HATE shaving.

If you have seen me lately you know from the photo on my previous entry that I shaved my beard off. I was going to keep it on until Noreascon to see how I would feel about having one in the long term. But The Wife and Kids didn't like it one bit and they all conspired to not give me any affection until I shaved. So, of course, off it went.

Now one of the biggest reasons I was growing a beard, frankly, is because I HATE shaving. Always have. And every time I attempt to let it go for a long period of time, there would be something like a job interview or a special occasion that made me shave as it wasn't grown in enough to look decent.

Well this time I decided that if I have to have the beard shaved off didn't mean I have to do it myself. As I said before, I HATE shaving. I decided to go to a barber shop in the next town that still does the lost art of facial shaving complete with straight razor, soapy shaving cream and hot towels. The barber is even an old little Italian guy that's been doing it before I was born.

I entered the shop and noone was there. I was first. Amazing given that it was a Saturday Morning. The old Italian guy met me. "You needa cut?"
"No, actually, I was in for just a shave."
"No cut?"
I took off my baseball cap to show that what was on top was shorter than my beard. "Nope. Just a shave."

He sat my down into his chair and got out his shaving supplies. From what I can tell he doesn't have too much call for shaving anymore. he mixed up the cream and put it on my face and started shaving. Leaning back in the chair I just closed my eyes and enjoyed it. I started thinking about the opening scene in The Untouchables when Al Capone was getting a shave. Luckily my barber didn't nick me - but I wasn't packing anyway so we were cool. When he was done he splashed me back into reality with good ol' fashioned 80% alcohol after shave that stung like a mutha. "Alla set" he said.

I asked him how much I owed him and he said "Seven". Wow. $7 for a first class old fashioned barber shave. Amazing. I gave the guy $15 and told him to keep it. I was well worth every penny. Because, as I might have told you, I HATE shaving.

If you have the chance, I highly recommended it. Despite the low cost, I won't make it a habit as I want to make a special treat for myself 2-3 times a year. I hope can not break my own promise and go more often.

It'll be hard, though. Did I ever tell you I HATE to shave?