What Happens During a Hot Towel Shave?

Thirty minutes, a hot towel and a straight razor. Here is exactly what happens in the chair, who it suits, and how it differs from a beard service or the KO package.

Most people book a haircut because they need one. Almost nobody needs a hot towel shave. They book it for what the thirty minutes feel like, and some of them end up putting it in the calendar every few weeks.

If you have never had one, the whole thing can sound a bit much — a straight razor, a stranger, your throat. It is far less dramatic than it sounds. Here is the service from start to finish, in order.

What a hot towel shave actually is

A Classic Hot Towel Shave is a full facial shave done with a straight razor, with hot and cold towels either side of it. It is $27, runs about thirty minutes, and it is on the menu at Maple Ridge, Walnut Grove and Willowbrook.

The razor is the part people fixate on, but the towels are what make it work. Heat softens the hair and opens the pores, so the blade has far less to fight. That is the whole trick, and it is why a barbershop shave feels different from the one you do standing up in four minutes before work.

The thirty minutes, step by step

Every barber has their own rhythm, but the service runs in this order:

• Pre-shave consultation and skin prep. A quick conversation — how your skin normally reacts, whether you get ingrown hairs, whether you want the neckline kept or taken right down. Then the face is cleaned and prepped.
• The hot towel. Laid over the face to soften the hair and open the pores. This is the part that lasts long enough for you to stop thinking about your phone.
• Lather, with a brush. Rich lather worked in with a traditional shaving brush rather than squirted out of a can. The brush lifts the hair as much as it spreads the soap.
• The straight razor shave. Worked in sections, with the grain first. Your barber will move your head for you; you do not have to do anything except sit still and stop talking for a minute or two.
• A cool towel compress. Closes the pores back down and calms the skin.
• Aftershave balm. A premium balm to hydrate and settle everything down, rather than the sting of an alcohol splash.

That is six steps in half an hour, which tells you how little of it is rushing.

Who books one, and when

Three kinds of people, mostly.

The occasion. A wedding, a christening, a funeral, a big interview, family photos. Anything where you want to look like you made an effort and you do not want to find a nick at nine in the morning.

The reset. Someone who has had a beard for two years and wants it gone properly, not hacked off over a sink.

The regular. People who simply like it, and put it in the calendar every few weeks the way other people book a massage. This is the group that surprises first-timers.

Shave, beard service or KO?

Four things on our menu involve a razor or a hot towel, and they are not interchangeable.

Classic Hot Towel Shave — $27, about 30 minutes

A full facial shave. The beard comes off. Book this when you want a clean face.

Head Shave, straight razor — $33, about 30 minutes

The same technique, applied to the scalp. Book it here if you shave your head and want it done properly rather than with a guard-zero.

Beard services — $24 or $29

These keep the beard and shape it. Beard Regular is $24 and about fifteen minutes; the Elite Beard Service is $29 and adds oil and a neck massage. We wrote a whole piece on the difference between the two.

The KO Package — $111, about an hour

Worth being precise about this one, because people assume it includes the shave. It does not. The KO is an adult haircut, an eyebrow, ear and nose trim, a hot towel treatment, the full Elite Beard Service and premium products. The towel is in there; the straight razor shave is a separate booking.

How to turn up

• Come with a day or two of growth. Not a month, not clean-shaven.
• Say something if your skin is sensitive. If you get ingrown hairs, razor bumps or eczema, tell your barber before they start rather than after.
• Skip it if you have an open cut, a cold sore or a fresh sunburn on your face. Rebook for the following week.
• Give yourself the half hour. Turning up with ten minutes to spare defeats the point of the service.
• Get a drink first. There is a beverage bar in the shop and you are about to sit still for a while.

Afterwards

Your face will feel tighter and cooler than usual for an hour or so — that is the cold towel and the balm. Leave it alone. No aftershave with alcohol in it that evening, and no going straight into a hot sauna or a long run if you can help it.

A good shave lasts a couple of days before you notice anything, and about four or five before you look like you did beforehand. If you want to hold the edges sharp in between, a line-up is $15 and takes ten or fifteen minutes — the same logic as keeping a haircut sharp between visits.

Quick answers

Does it hurt?

No. A straight razor in a trained hand is more comfortable than a cartridge razor at home, because it is sharper and it is not being dragged over the same patch four times.

How long does the service take?

About thirty minutes, and it is priced at $27.

Can I get a shave and a haircut in one visit?

Yes — book them as two services so the time is there. If you want the haircut and beard together instead, the TKO bundles an adult haircut with a beard regular for $55 in about forty-five minutes.

Is it available at all three shops?

Yes. Maple Ridge, Walnut Grove in Langley and Willowbrook in Surrey.

Can I just walk in?

You can try, and if a chair is free you are in. For a thirty-minute service it is worth booking.

Do you shave heads as well as faces?

Yes — that is the Head Shave at $33.