February 2008 - The Parklander Magazine

Grooms Deserve To Be Pampered Too!The barber’s tale of the Attorney, Salesman and the Skid Row BumWWhen Steve Holbrook, the owner of Coral Springs Styling & Barber Shop(located at 1951 N. University Drive), volunteered to style some of theParklander’s Engaged Couples guys, it seemed to be a natural. After all, wehad a wonderful success with the ladies last year.The sad truth is, unlike with the distaff side, there is rarely such a thing asa “makeover” for a man. There is not much a typical guy can do withregard to his hair. The possibilities are limited — short or long on top;short or long on the sides; part left, part right, no part; sideburns long,sideburns short, no sideburns; back square or back curved; hair spiked ornot spiked. Color? Perm? HARDLY EVER!!DominicPavlinicWhen we reached out to the guys, only two volunteered (or more correctly,were volunteered by their fiancées) — Philip Snyder, a Florida StateAttorney, and Dominic Pavlinic, a pharmaceutical sales representative forMerck. Both are obviously employed in positions that require aconservative appearance — no Mohawks or tinting here. So when theyshowed up at Steve’s spacious shop, they were not given a makeover.PhilipSnyderWhat they weretreated to was asensuous, hedonistic experience.And now, the razor is finally brought out.Having previously softened the beard, its bristles surrender more readily tothe razor. The face is kept moist to ensure the maximum closeness of theshave.Upon completion of the shave, another hot towel is applied and then anyresidual lather is removed. Still another hot towel, on which Steve poursOsage Rub, a mentholated antiseptic which also opens one’s nasalpassages. To rouse the subject from his silent, blissful reverie, Steveconcludes the ritual with a final cold towel and a dose of SeabreezeAntiseptic.Steve explains: "The last towel and antiseptic calms the skin,closes the pores and invigorates." Then it’s back to Alan for the finalstyling, who surprisingly comes up with the particular gels Philip andDominic respectively use to style their hair.Oh yes, what do a Florida State Attorney, a pharmaceutical salesrepresentative and a Skid Rowbum have in common? Theanswer is, Steve has shavedthem all. Steve learned thecraft of hot shaving at barberschool in New York City,and the subjects he practiced onwere the Skid Row bums.Each (they arrived at different times) first received a shampoo, whichincluded some scalp massaging. Then he was taken to the barber chair ofAlan Anderson, who has been a barber at the shop for more than two years.Alan discussed with each of them their styling desires and their hair care,and then barbered away, continuing to consult with them throughout theprocess. After Alan completed his cutting, but before he did the finalstyling, Steve led the brave volunteer to the back of the shop for the piece deresistance, a hot shave.This is a timeless shaving ritual honed to perfection by Steve beginning withthe first wrapping of the face in a hot towel. This is followed by theapplication of hot lather.The hot towels and hot lather are applied twice priorto the first pass of the razor.This is done to soften the beard and the skin.28 FEBRUARY 2008Mark Twain had this to sayabout barbers and barbershops:“All things changeexcept barbers, the ways ofbarbers, and the surroundingsof barbers. Thesenever change. Whatone experiences in abarber’s shop the firsttime he enters one is what healways experiences in barbers’ shops afterwardstill the end of his days.”This is true of Steve andthe Coral Springs Styling and Barber shop. Both Philip andDominic vowed they would return for another wonderful experience.