After years of getting my hair cut at any unisex salon that was handy, I decided to start frequenting a downtown barbershop. Every part of the process was the same since I was a kid, except one. Before shaving my neck at the hairline (with a straight razor, no less), the barber applied some sort of unguent that causes a very warm sensation on the skin. Could this have simply been hot lather? Or is there a certain product barbers use to prep areas for the blade?
It’s simply shaving lather. It was warmed by the dispenser. Some may use an exothermic reaction.
Did he dispense it from a little gizmo on his counter that whirred when he pressed it? I love that sound and the warm lather on my neck. I’m pretty sure what you got was some fresh warm shaving soap.
ETA: Even some old school barbers I’ve been to have stopped using it. This makes me sad. I love the old barber experience.
Barbers traditionally use hot lather. There are little machines to dispense it. It’s usually a very basic shaving cream, something like plain old Ivory Soap. There could be all sorts of soaps or creams that might feel warm on the skin, but hot lather would be most common.
I am SO buying one of those machines right now…
Was the barber cheaper or more expensive than the unisex salon?
It was at least 4 dollars cheaper, as a matter of fact. 15 bucks not counting tip. (Speaking of which, I’m assuming it’s customary to tip unless the owner of the shop gives the haircut, right?)
Thanks for the responses everybody! Next time I’ll try to observe what’s going on as best I can without my glasses…
I remember consumer hot lather machines being a bit of a fad in the mid 70s. You would put your can of shaving cream in the dispenser and it would dispense it hot. (Maybe you had to buy a special type of shaving cream to do this.) A quick search shows that this type of machine is still readily available, both with special cream and those that take most standard cans. (I use a brush with cream that comes in a tube. If I get the brush hot first it has a similar effect.)
Owner gets tip too, I should think. Friend of mine owns a coffee shop; customers who know him well (well enough to know he’s the owner, but not family) tip, and he turns around and gives it to staff. But that’s just him; even if he didn’t, it shouldn’t be you who sets the protocol.
He’ll refuse if he wants to.
There was a consumer version of this back in the 1970s called “Hot Stuff”. It worked really well and heated up as the lather was applied. It didn’t seem to be on the marker for very long, I always assumed to must have had some adverse effects on some people.
Dennis
I used it in 1968, in Vietnam, where we had no running water and no hot water. Sounded like a great idea, but it was too expensive for daily use by the average GI. I never saw it again, but it came in a neat, spaceage-looking, aluminium conical container. It looked like a miniature rocket nosecone.
No adverse effects that I recall.
OMG, the insane pleasure of a hot lather straight razor shave of the back of the neck . . .
<<frissoning like an MF here>>
I just got a haircut Saturday and they do this. But it’s not nearly so nice on a 98° day!
Just as traditional as tipping is not tipping the owner. You can, of course.
Off the original topic.
I used to go to a small restaurant almost every work day and often in the evenings too. The husband and wife owners ran it. Great food, good price. I always tipped. But after a while we got to know each other so well. Met friends and relatives even.
I kept on tipping. But the whole thing started feeling weird. Them serving me. Tipping them. Just an odd little evolution of a situation.
Not that strange… I used to date a bartender and I always tipped her when she was on the job; the same as I would any bartender. It’s part of the territory, not part of the relationship.
Did she own the bar? If not, tipping is customary. You tip laborers, not capitalists. If you call Carl’s Plumbing and Carl is the one who shows up, you don’t tip him. Because he’s the one earning dividends instead of wages. If your pizza guy’s last name is Domino, pay exact change.
You tip plumbers? Even if it’s not Carl I have never tipped a tradesman.
Would you expect your employer or clients to stop paying you for doing your job, if you happened to get to know them?