This afternoon my son wanted a haircut as we are seeing the last client for this year tomorrow so I thought I may as well do same male grooming and have a cut throat hot towel shave and the hot wax ears and nostril treatment. I tend to get this done every 6 months or so as I find the nostril hair pulling with hot wax an event and not something I find fun. You may get lucky or unlucky depending on how hot the wax is and finding a happy medium is not always on offer. In your head you are saying don't be such a pussy and keep a straight face so this can be challenging.
The Syrian barbers are everywhere which in our area we have 4 all within walking distance. Before they arrived on the scene there was very few male barbers and you tended to go to a normal hair dressing salon. I would estimate I have been supporting the same barber shop now for around 10 years and have tried only two other establishments in that time only for those to be more of a painful event and decided it was safer to stick to what I know.
I presume they are Syrians as this is not a topic that has been raised especially with someone giving you a shave with a cut throat razor. I tend to keep quiet and very still as I am not looking to get cut. I knew the original barber shop owner and he was Syrian so just presumed the staff are all from that region.
There were some parts I did not enjoy but you have to sit and take it because it is too late to jump and run. I counted at least 3 foaming sessions so it was a very close shave and the chap was rather thorough. There were no other customers around so I got the full attention. The slapping with after shave I thought was a little excessive with a heavy burning effect followed by a hair dryer blowing directly onto the face which numbed the shaved part. I have never experienced that before and not sure if I want to again lol. Each barber has his different technique so there are bound to be a few surprises good or bad each time. Maybe I will dodge him next time, but the again you can't exactly say no I am waiting for the other guy.
The shave and grooming took roughly an hour and when it came to settle up I was a little stunned as the price was R120 which is roughly $7. I could not pay $7 for what I had and paid R200 which is and extra $5 totaling $12. There are moments in life when you just feel bad and feel what you experienced was worth a whole lot more. This is very rare when these situations occur as most times we are stunned at the price of items and this is never on the cheap end. When these situations occur they are welcome surprises and why I do not mind paying extra or tipping heavier.
When I was in the UK a few weeks ago whilst window shopping in one of the shopping centers I noticed a male barber who had a pricelist in the window. What I had today being a cut throat shave with hot towels was 50 GBP which is roughly $66 which is insanely expensive. This is roughly 10 x more than what I was being charged and I had extra things done as well. They say everything is relative and you cannot convert yet how can you not when the difference is that high. The GBP is 22.5 to 1 with the Rand and how anyone could justify a hot shave for R1100 or 50 GBP is just madness.
What is this really worth and I honestly do think for SA in the R200 range and the UK with higher costs of living possibly 20 GBP, but no higher and definitely not 50 GBP or 70 GBP which is totally absurd. How much would you be prepared to pay and is this expensive in your country? Like I said earlier this is not a monthly treatment I would indulge in and is more like every 6 months.