A close shave

When I was a teenager Italian Wild West movies were among my favorites films. I dreamt of being a cowboy (I owned cowboy boots and a hat), looking for villains while looking extremely cool. Among my favorite movies were the ones with the Italian actors Terence Hill and Bud Spencer. I still vividly remember a scene in which Terence Hill, ever-looking cool in his dirty clothes and blazing deep blue eyes, got a shave by a sleazy barber in a even sleazier Western town. While getting shaved Terence Hill aimed a big revolver at the barber's groin, just to make the barber was reminded of the delicacy of his job! Ever since watching this movie getting a shave looked too dangerous to me. Until recently. A good friend and travel-companion of mine, had a rule that he would always get a haircut at a local barber shop, wherever we travelled. The results varied but he has survived. So while staying in Cochin (Kerala) I decided to try my luck and get a shave. I asked my Indian tuk-tuk-driver for a good barber and he brought me to a man, probably in his late fifties, who had a small but clean shop five minutes away from my hotel. The barber could not speak English so he worked diligently in silence while my driver watched. It took him about ten minutes to give me a really thorough shave and applied lots of ointment and creams to my skin. However, the shave was only half of the story. As I wanted to get up he firmly pressed me back into the tiny chair and started to give me a vigorous facial massage with his well-trained fingers. So I got pinched, rubbed, stretched and patted all over for five minutes. The facial massage was then followed by a scalp massage and last but not least, a neck massage. I was in heaven! I guess the shave took him about ten minutes and I got another ten minutes of massage. The tourist price for the whole treatment: one USD, about double the local price. I can't wait to grow my facial hair!