Open the booking page and there are six shaves on it. Traditional Shave, Premium Shave, Traditional Head Shave, Premium Head Shave, and two beard details that include a shave. Go looking for help and the internet offers you articles comparing a “hot towel shave” against a “straight razor shave” as though they were rival services you had to choose between.
They are not. That comparison is the single most common piece of misinformation in barbershop content, and it sends people into the chair asking for the wrong thing. Here is what the words actually mean, what separates the six, and which one belongs in your calendar.
”Hot towel” and “straight razor” describe the same shave
A hot towel is a step. A straight razor is a tool. Neither is a service, and at this shop you cannot have one without the other.
Every shave on our menu is a straight razor shave. Every shave on our menu uses steamed towels. The Traditional Shave runs 30 minutes: a steam towel, hot lather, a pass with the grain, a second lather, a pass against it, and a cool towel to finish. The Premium Shave runs 45 and builds our signature men’s facial around the same blade work. There is no version where you get the towels and someone reaches for a cartridge razor, and no version where the blade comes out cold.
The reason the internet says otherwise is that a lot of barbershop blogs are written to fill a page rather than to answer a question. Read a few of the “straight razor vs hot towel” posts and you will notice what none of them will tell you: whether the two can be combined, what either costs, how long either takes, or who should avoid them. They describe a preparation step as if it were a product, then invite you to book.
So the real question was never hot towel or straight razor. It is how much service you want wrapped around the blade, and what part of you is being shaved.
What the towels are for, briefly
Worth knowing, because it explains why the 30 minute version is not simply a rushed 45.
The heat and the damp are doing something specific to the hair before the blade arrives. The American Academy of Dermatology puts it plainly in its razor bump guidance: “Shaving at the end of your shower or holding a warm, damp washcloth to the area you’d like to shave loosens the hairs and causes them to swell, so they’re less likely to curve into your skin and cause bumps.” That is a dermatology body describing a home workaround, and it is the same mechanism a barber is using with better equipment and more patience.
The AAD’s other instruction is about direction: “Shave in the direction your hair grows or you’re training it to grow.” Our Traditional Shave goes with the grain first and only refines against it on a second pass over fresh lather, which is why it is two passes rather than one aggressive one.
If you want the deeper version of this, including the razor manufacturer’s own admission about how long hair actually takes to soften and why most men never wait that long, we covered it in our honest look at whether a hot towel shave is worth it. That post answers “should I do this at all.” This one answers “which one.”
Traditional or Premium is one decision, not six
Here is the structure nobody explains at the counter. “Traditional” and “Premium” are not different shaves. They are the same shave with a different amount built around it, and the pattern repeats across the menu.
On the face and on the beard, Premium means the Traditional service plus our signature men’s facial: a cleanser, an exfoliating scrub with a massaging power brush, steam towels with essential oil, a post-shave clay mask, toner, a chill towel and a moisturizer. That facial is $60 when you book it by itself, and the step up to Premium is $25. It is the rare upgrade that costs less than the thing it adds.
| Service | Traditional | Premium |
|---|---|---|
| Face shave | $75, 30 min | $100, 45 min, plus the facial |
| Beard detail with shave | $75, 30 min | $100, 45 min, plus the facial |
| Head shave | $68, 30 min | $80, 30 min, plus a scalp clay mask |
The head shave is the exception worth reading twice. Premium there is $12 rather than $25, it does not change the appointment length, and it does not add the full facial. It finishes the scalp with a clay mask. Smaller upgrade, smaller price, and the menu is honest about it.
Then pick what is being shaved
With the Traditional and Premium question settled, the only thing left is the obvious one, and it is the part the “hot towel vs straight razor” articles never get to.
Your face. The Traditional Shave at $75 or the Premium Shave at $100. This is the classic service, and it is what most people mean when they say they want a barbershop shave.
Your head. The Traditional Head Shave at $68 or the Premium Head Shave at $80. A scalp is not a jaw. It is a larger, more curved surface with a different growth pattern, it is harder to see while you work, and it is the one shave that genuinely cannot be done well on yourself.
Around a beard you are keeping. The Traditional or Premium Beard Detail with Shave, $75 and $100. This one confuses people because the word “shave” is in it. You are not losing the beard. The barber shapes and details the lines by hand, then the straight razor and hot lather clean everything outside them, so the beard reads as intentional rather than grown out.
The head shave has an aftercare problem, and it is worse here
If you are booking a head shave, this is the part that matters more than the $12.
You are removing the thing that has been shading your scalp. The Skin Cancer Foundation is direct about the consequence: “With minimal or no hair to shield it from damaging ultraviolet (UV) rays, the skin on the scalp can develop redness, flaky patches and a rough texture.” Those rough patches have a name, actinic keratoses, and the Foundation notes that “about 5 to 10 percent of AKs turn into skin cancers, and some of those become large and aggressive.”
Their recommendation is a hat rather than sunscreen alone, and a specific kind: “Look for hats labeled UPF 50+, which provides similar protection levels to SPF 50 in sunscreen.” They also point out that a baseball cap covers only about a quarter of the head and leaves the ears, neck and chest exposed, which is most of what a freshly shaved head needs covered.
We are on Main Street in Dunedin. The sun here comes off the water as well as out of the sky, and a scalp that has never been exposed goes from protected to fully exposed in one 30 minute appointment. Nobody is going to tell you not to shave your head. We will shave it for you. But walk out with something on it, and make the hat a real one.
The $48 one with no razor in it
One genuine trap on the menu, and it is ours, so we will flag it.
The Precision Beard Detail is $48 and 15 minutes. It shapes the beard and cleans the lines and that is all. No lather, no straight razor, no shave. It is a good service and plenty of men book nothing else, but if you came in wanting the blade and the hot towels, this is not the one. The razor belongs to the two details that say “with Shave” in the name.
So which one do you book
Short version, by what you actually want.
- You have never had a barbershop shave and want to find out what it is. Traditional Shave, $75. Thirty minutes, the full blade work, no facial. Book the Premium later once you know how your skin responds.
- You have something on the calendar and want to look right for it. Premium Shave, $100. The extra $25 buys a $60 facial, so it is the clearest upgrade on the menu. Book it a couple of weeks before the real date as a trial run first.
- You shave your head yourself and are tired of missing the back. Traditional Head Shave, $68, or Premium at $80 for the clay mask finish.
- You are keeping the beard but it has stopped looking deliberate. Traditional Beard Detail with Shave, $75, or the Premium at $100.
- You want the beard shaped and nothing else. Precision Beard Detail, $48. Fifteen minutes, no razor, and the cheapest honest answer on this page.
- You want the whole thing in one sitting. The Premium Package is $180 for 75 minutes and puts the premium haircut, the premium shave and the facial together.
If you are between two of them, call the shop and describe what you are actually trying to fix. We would rather put you in the $68 chair that solves it than the $100 one that does not, and we will say so on the phone.
Book a shave or look at the beard details if the beard is staying.
