I’m jealous of my husband’s new hair-cutting place. When I tagged along on his recent visit to Arthur Razor, a fine establishment of gentlemen’s grooming in Acton, on arrival he was offered a drink by owner and senior stylist Tony. Options went beyond the cappuccino or tea served at my hairdresser—G&T? Whiskey? How ’bout a beer? The husband chose the last, a tasty Curious Brew. This was my first pang of envy.
The second came when I parked myself on the waiting couch in the wood-panelled salon and checked out the reading materials. No Vogue or other scrawny-model publications or celebrity gossip rags, but lots of cool-looking magazines like The Ride (topic: bicycles), Wax Poetics (music) and Elephant (art and visual culture). Groovy music I didn’t recognise was playing from the iPod, good enough to rock out to.
But this is neither bar nor bookshop, so how was the cut? The husband has tricky hair: thick, nearly shoulder-length and in ringlets. (If you have curly hair, you know how hard it is to find someone who knows how to cut it.) His hair easily puffs into a triangle shape and must be beaten back like dense jungle undergrowth. Tony employed some kind of twisting-cutting, twisting-cutting method that neither of us had seen before. The result was a still-long haircut that suits the shape of his face, with no triangle, no Sideshow Bob. The husband was happy, and so was I.
In addition to stellar haircuts, Arthur Razor, as the name implies, offer shaves with a traditional open razor. Continuing his commitment to hirsuteness, the husband sports a full beard and so sadly missed out on this old-school experience. On the new-school tip, the salon also has a grooming room for massages, manis and pedis, facials, even waxing (the husband showed no interest in a back wax—perhaps having been traumatised by that scene in The 40-Year-Old Virgin). Arthur Razor are also admirably community-focussed, an ethos shared by us at WLM, and Tony took the time to recommend to us local places to get a bite, a drink, and a bottle of wine.
Alas, Arthur Razor is for men only. Since most salons are at least aesthetically aimed at women even when they’re for both genders, I suppose I shouldn’t moan too much. I highly recommend sending your man there—it would make an excellent Father’s Day gift, and you get the gift of a well-groomed dude.
You’ll find Arthur Razor on Churchfield Road in Acton; visit their website for services and prices.
