I used to get my head shaved at a Russian barbershop about once a month before I graduated from clippers at home and started lathering up for myself. The most interesting thing was that I got my shaves from four different barbers during that period. One of them was a woman and another was a very young man. I noticed absolutely no difference in the quality of my shaves between the four of them. Each time was uniformly perfect, and they all used a straight razor.
I believe the secret is that they were all trained in the European tradition of being apprenticed to a master in their profession and were all taught a singular method.
The other thing that I found entertaining, was that this shop is located directly across the street from an Art of Shaving shop in midtown Manhattan. Although their primary business in giving haircuts, they also do a fair amount of shaves, and at $15 a pop compared to the $45 across the street at AoS.
If you haven't experience it yet, I hope you find a full service barber or an Art of Shaving location nearby.
It can be a very relaxing sort of spa treatment.
