Becoming a Barber: Week 9

Hey Shavers,

During my 2nd week of Phase 2, I performed 7 haircuts and 4 hot towel shaves. Up to this point I had only cut caucasian hair, but I got more learning experience with 2 black clients this week; I’m happy to say that I didn’t mess up their natural wave patterns. Coincidentally, I’ve had several shear-over-comb clients, which require more precision than just clipper cutting; the majority of our Barber Zone customers generally ask for clipper cuts or fades. I welcome the diversity as I want to be a well-rounded, traditional technique barber. I also got to experience/endure cutting hair for 3 children, and the impatience and wiggling that they contribute.

In my 2 months at the AIB Barber School I’ve started to get a reputation for shaving, which is natural, I suppose, since I want to specialize in that service. I haven’t shaved any non-student clients yet, but I’ve got several students that regularly ask me to shave them.

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Recently redditor Frank (/u/young54) on /r/Wicked_Edge posted a thread asking if any wet shavers were local to the Tampa Bay area, in Florida. I responded and we corresponded some; he’s been traditional wet shaving for the past 2 years. After class Saturday, I met up with Frank at a local mall food court and we enjoyed a meal and talked about various things wet shaving. He purchased an unused synthetic shaving brush from me and I was happy to gift him several samples of various shaving creams and soaps that I own.

This week, I was also able to persuade Anthony, a newly enrolled student, to try traditional wet shaving; I supplied him with a synthetic shaving brush and several shaving cream samples, and he was going to purchase a MicroTouch One Razor. He told me about his desire to eventually own his own cigar shop, with an adjacent barber service.

Until next time, Shave Well!

Handsome Rob (Instagram)

“I’m handsome, and you can be handsome too!”