I cannot figure out why it took such a long time for me to get comfortable with the idea of professional grooming. I suspect it had a lot to do with the admittedly baseless fear of being perceived (not sure by whom) as vain, coupled with the poorly reasoned notion that male grooming is an overly feminised pursuit, best left to women.
Fortunately for me, I recently realized that the reasoning above is as irrational as things can get. The way I see it: there is little sense in caring about the clothes, shoes and scent I wear but not about the condition of my skin, beard and hair. I am quite glad I self corrected.
Acting on my new found interest in grooming and skin care I decided to go to town (literally) and I popped into Cutters Barber and Cigars in Maboneng, a joint I will definitely be frequenting going forward.
Relatively small in size, Cutters Barber and Cigars is refreshing and tastefully furnished. From the pair of beautiful leather couches sitting on either side of a chess board right in the middle to the understated whisky table across the room, almost everything looks hand-picked, aged and perfectly designed to be where it is.
After we exchanged greetings and petty pleasantries, Amon the therapist and one half of the management of the joint, led me to the small table decked up with my pre-ordered whiskies of choice: Laphroaig and Talisker, top picks both aged 10. As you can imagine, I had already warmed up to the place at this point. With my freshly poured welcome dram in hand, I examined the array of cigars before sitting down on the couch whilst Amon gave me a full explanation of everything he was going to do to my face and head.
With smooth jazz sounds in the background, we started off with a hair-cut, followed by a shave and a facial treatment, all of which were masterfully executed by a truly experienced hand. Clean, cutting edge equipment (zero pun intended) handled by a smooth hand. Amon who is a seasoned and professionally trained therapist, casually informed me that he plied his trade as a therapist in a number of top hotels in Johannesburg before the establishment of Cutters Barber and Cigars. He uses carefully selected products for each treatment, such as the London Grooming after shave, Red Dane skin cream for men, which he used for the facial treatment as well as the Barbarian, from the Captain’s Beard as his beard oil of choice. He emphasizes that from the products they use, the jazz music in the background and the whisky they serve, the finest and only the finest will do at Cutters Barber and Cigars.
Despite it being a Monday evening, the experience left my face feeling quite clean and fresh and my spirit uplifted, with all Monday blues fully behind me. Open seven days a week, Cutters Barber and Cigars is truly worth visiting. With a clean head and face, I stuck around for a bit, enjoying my smooth whisky, relaxing cigar and soothing jazz music. Try top that for a Monday!