What is it about 'wet' shaving and hot towel shaving?  Do you even know the difference?

Wet shaving is, as most of us know it, shaving at home with some form of razor and gel/foam/soap and water.  Many people prefer wet shaving over dry shaving (with an electric or battery shaver) because it tends to give a closer, smoother finish.  This is certainly true in my experience although no doubt some will claim that dry shaving can be just as good.  Maybe it's just down to personal preference but wet shaving certainly works better for me.  I am 100% confident that I get a closer, longer lasting finish with a blade.

Within the wet shaving community there are a few preferences as to which blade is best.  I am sure most men have spent more than a fair proportion of their time investigating the different cartridges available and feel exasperated every time a newer, 'better' and invariably more expensive one comes out.

I have in the past had a few hot towel shaves with a straight razor (of which, more later) and developed and strange interest in shaving matched only by my obsession in comparing which beer is best value in the supermarket aisles.  Oooh....that one works out at 3p per litre less than that one!  Anyway, I always quite fancied getting all the traditional shaving paraphernalia but never quite got round to it.  That is until I qualified as a barber.  I suddenly had an excuse to indulge and indulge I did.

My first step was to get a DE (double edged) razor.  You know, the sort your granddad would have used before cartridges came out.  After comparing many, a very unsubtle hint led to my wife getting me a Merkur 32HD razor.  A beautiful piece of equipment which whispers elegance far more subtly than Gillette's latest re-invention which must be designed with boy racers in mind.

After reading blogs by other shaving aficianados, I opted for Feather Hi-Stainless blades.  With 10 blades costing between £4 - £5, some basic arithmetic should soon help you to realise that after the outlay on decent equipment, this is actually going to work out to be a very cheap way to shave.  I addition, I bought a pure badger hair brush, beautifully soft and absorbent, and some good quality shaving cream and post shave moisturiser by the Bluebeard's Revenge, winners of FHM grooming awards 2013.  I was almost in shave heaven.  I can now shave extremely close (closer than a cartridge) for a fraction of what it used to cost me. My shave also lasts a day or so longer too before the 'shadow' appears.

I said this was almost shaving heaven because, in my mind, shaving heaven is having someone else do all the work for you.  Good quality wet shaving at home takes patience and time.  You need to run your fingers across your face, cross checking for any parts that aren't as smooth as the rest.  You have to pull your skin taught at strange angles to get the best cut.  Shaving heaven is what I do to other people.  I do all the hard work while they just lay there and relax.

To start with I cleanse and exfoliate the skin, using good quality products, warm water and sponges.  This also starts to prepare the beard.  I then apply oil to the beard while the towels are warming up, massaging it into the facial hair.  The towels are then applied, usually 2 or 3 in rotation, to really open the pores and soften the hair.  Next is the shaving cream applied generously to the facial hair with a pure badger hair brush and some hot water.  Now for the James Bond moment, blade meet face, face meet blade.  I navigate the contours of the face nice and lightly, taking as much hair as the blade will allow.  Then comes the second pass - pretty much a repeat of the first - hot towels, shaving cream and start again, predominantly in the opposite direction.  I tend to run my fingers over the client's face to feel where the stubble is still rough.  I also try to avoid any areas which have become irritated (or possibly even bled a tad).

Once I am satisfied the shave is complete, I apply a cold towel to the face to close the pores, prevent infection and sooth any irritation.  This is far less aggressive than aftershave and doesn't sting at all.  It usually puts an abrupt ending to any bleeding too, although a dab of alum may be required.  Next I apply alcohol free toner to tighten the skin further followed of course by moisturiser.  This makes the skin look very healthy and leaves a middle aged man looking and feeling much younger.  When I see a de-bearded middle aged man sit up after a shave looking about ten years younger, it never ceases to amaze me.


I have 'enjoyed' being shaved in various places (geographically!) from Mexico to Iraq, experiencing a variety of techniques.  Some are certainly better than others but I hope to take the best of what I have learnt both formally and from experience and apply it in my work.  It is almost as therapeutic for me to perform the shave as it is for the client to be shaved.

I am now shaving in Stanningley, west Leeds.  My main business comes from cutting hair but I hope in time to introduce to more people the joys of a 'proper' shave both at home and at my salon.  You will go a long way to find a shave this good at this price.

No, not Donnie Wahlberg (of NKOTB fame)...but Philip Nicholas.  Why am I here, where do I come from, what do I do and why?  I can imagine these are some of the thoughts of local people and other barbers.  Maybe they don't ask themselves this at all, but humour me. Here goes for my first ever blog...

I have bored myself stupid with talking about how I left the Army to become a barber, and probably those around me too.  However, I can't escape the fact that it is a subject which interests people.  Otherwise, they wouldn't ask, right?  I must admit it is an unusual move so here's the short version of the story.

I moved from Plymouth to Pudsey, Leeds in 1984 at the age of 12.  I went to a local school and as the eldest child in a family of six (plus a dog and 2 cats) I couldn't wait to leave our rather crowded home.  To break free of being the eldest kid who had to mediate the arguments between the other 3, to set the example of good behaviour to them, to babysit them, to be the most trusted person to do the chores etc.  I know...poor me!

I left home at the age of 17 to pursue a childhood dream of joining the Army.  I did 5 years, met my dream wife and left the Army aged 22. When we decided our marriage was stable enough, I re-joined and did a further 15 years.  I worked in the equivalent role of a HR generalist, dealing with payroll administration, discipline, training, absence, travel, blah-de-blah. I still had to run around like an idiot with a rifle and big 'bergen' on my back, in line with the Army's ethos that everyone is a 'soldier first', but my day job was sat in front of a computer, meeting deadlines, doing various administrative jobs.

I often wondered what I would do when I left the Army, knowing that the administration side of things was not the most stimulating or financially rewarding career path.  So, I was kicking ideas about for quite some time for my last 6-7 years of Service.  Once I decided that I relished the prospect of self-employment, I then had to decide what I would actually do.  I had to consider what I was good at, what I enjoy doing, and other things which gave me some other form of pleasure/interest.

I decided that I kind of enjoyed being attended to by a good barber, but that the whole barbershop experience was generally very poor. It was my mini-eureka moment and I got some very dubious looks when I presented the idea to my wife. The idea was tossed around very casually until about 2011/12 when I was stationed at RAF Leeming in North Yorkshire.  I started investigating if/how I could make this idea a reality.  There were very few courses on offer and the best seemed to be in the City of London.  To add to the expense of the courses, I would have to stay in London for 10 (?) weeks.  In October 2012 I was promoted again and posted to Germany.  The idea of barbering kind of took a back seat for a short while until it was announced in June 2013 that I would be made redundant in the December.

I then went from training to go to Afghanistan (again) to taking a very serious look at barber training. Slight change of focus there! We moved to an Army house in York and I travelled daily to an academy in Leeds where I found an affordable, flexible course which resulted in me achieving NVQ Level 2 in barbering and also doing the level 3 modules in shaving and facial massage.  Well....I HAD to offer something other than just a haircut, especially after enjoying hot towel shaves in Kuwait, Iraq, Mexico, Germany, Dublin and York.  I use the term 'enjoyed' loosely as some were better than others.

My training was completed just before my discharge date. We wanted to move to Pudsey where our children were already at school, so I set about looking for premises in the area. We moved (yet again) in Jan 2014 and after a couple of setbacks I found my current premises in Stanningley and things have taken off from there.

I had decided very early on that I didn't want to compete head to head with everyone else on price. I wanted to charge and offer a bit more. The plan started to unravel - the Chesterfield settees, a range of freshly ground coffees, free beer, free WiFi, customer record cards, loyalty cards, Sky Sports on large screen TV and many, many other ideas for creating an environment blokes would come to because they like to, not because they have to.  I wanted to be different and attract people who may otherwise have gone into town.  It is testament to this vision that at least two other barbers have now started adopting some of these ideas.  At first I thought, "what a cheek!" but I soon took it as a compliment. 

Men deserve better than to be treated like second rate citizens. When you compare the average barbershop to the comfort and hospitality offered to ladies in a hairdressing salon, second rate is actually not even close. I don't like sitting on a polyprop chair reading out of date newspapers in an environment that's like a dentist's waiting room. How often have you ever been sat there in silence, wondering whose turn it is next? There may be no music but at least it's less than £5. Yes, there's a reason it's cheap and (arguably) cheerful.....

I once read an analogy that compared the cost of barbering to coffee. Most people, when they go into town, don't choose to go to the market for the cheapest coffee they can find, do they? They go to Costa or Starbucks or somewhere similar. Why? Because it's nicer and they feel they deserve something better than the cheapest around. So why do so many fellas look for the cheapest haircut? Why look for the cheapest most uncomfortable experience you can find? Sure, a #1 all over is a #1 all over wherever you go. However, the whole experience and perceived value can vary greatly. Why go for the lowest common denominator?

My final issue is time. If a ladies' hairdresser said to their client that they are the cheapest and fastest around, they probably wouldn't last very long. Most women would rather pay at least a bit extra and have their hairdresser take their time. Why do barbers dictate the opposite for men? Fellas, take a bit of pride in yourselves and demand more from your barber. It should be a pleasure, never a chore!

So, here I am. Looking to look after you 'because you're worth it!" (Can I have some pickle with that cheese?)