The straight razor glides across my skin, severing the stubble under the blanket of shaving foam. Some strokes are long and calculated; others, short and quick, working around the contours of the mouth, nose and jaw. I’m reclined in a barber’s chair at John Allan’s downtown location as the steady hands of its master barber …
When I started John Allan’s in 1988, the men’s hair market was limited to barbershops, like Supercuts, and women’s salons. Major corporations, such as Gillette, dominated the product market, building their focus around shave and deodorant products. My intentions were to elevate men’s grooming beyond the generic and to encourage gentlemen of all walks of life to …
