12.04.2008

Hot Lather Shave in Calumet City

About a month ago, Alex, Shannon and I had a great Chicago day. We started in historic Pullman, with it's excellent architecture and socialist roots. It was very cool, but the point of the trip down south was my hot lather shave by Alex. Shannon wrote a great post about this (and took all of these pictures) so I'll try not to overlap too much, but make sure to check it out. Note that she posted about this the same day and I'm just now getting this done nearly a month later. Can't rush it!

Alex works at the shop her father has owned since the 70's. It's in Calumet City (a blue collar town just south of Chicago) and old men start lining up at 6 am for their haircuts every day except Sunday. When Alex first told me she was working here I asked her about hot lather shaves because they've always fascinated me. It was a pretty great experience all around.



The wall of history. There are many cops in her family so there was a lot of CPD related photos.



This was taken on one of the bigger raids her dad was part of.


I saw a magazine wrapped in black plastic and new I was in for a treat when Alex told me I could open it up. Who doesn't love a good Penthouse? Forum is the best part.


The welcome mat...




Before we got down to business she got as close a shave as possible with the clippers. She also uses these for all the fades she does.



Part of the hot later shave is having your face repeatedly wrapped in hot towels. While the close shave is nice, this part is definitely the most relaxing.


mmmmmm.....


There's a machine that dispenses the actual hot lather (hence the name) for the shave.






Steady...







Thanks again Alex. Rich's Den and Pano's gyros (not to mention historic Pullman) are amazing.

4 comments:

bk said...

Any razor burn?

Shannon Darling Dearest said...

I want to work at Rich's Den!

dapeen said...

You have an amazing face to work with....and LOOK AT!!! aaahaaaaaa. Really my favorite part was when you got to meet my dad that had been cocktailing all Sunday afternoon. Us barbers are pretty bitch'n

Tim said...

To answer The Raptor's question, I did have some mild razor burn. Any time I use a razor to shave that happens. The razor burn after Alex's gentle touch was considerably less than after a home shave. Normally Alex takes 10 minutes for a job like this, but she took a good 30 on my sweet face.