Take a rainy forecast as permission to indulge in high-end grooming self-care. You deserve it.
By James Long
Despite what you may have heard from your local meteorologist, rain can be a boon in summer and having your own backup rain date plan can ensure that, however disrupted by the weather, you can still have a great day.
My favorite rain date activity is indulging in personal pampering at my local barber. This experience not only refreshes and revitalizes me but also carries a sentimental value—the memory of my first Manhattan haircut with a hot towel shave from Kyriacos Demetriou, whose barbershop was just around the corner and whom The New York Times, in his glorious 1999 obituary, called “a master barber” and said his old-fashioned barbershop on Manhattan’s Upper West Side “was such an authentic butterfly in amber that it went into the Museum of the City of New York.”
A haircut and shave are more than just grooming routines, they’re rituals. The barbershop, with its classic chairs, the hum of clippers and the scent of aftershave are timeless, a vestige of my father’s days. My shorter summer haircut is tailored to beat the heat, my barber’s skilled hands ensuring that every, er, remaining hair is perfect, to be followed by his careful, unhurried hot towel shave, the lather a luxurious and soothing treatment, the razor leaving my skin smooth and rejuvenated.
These moments of pampering not only make me rise from my chair, look in the mirror and feel like a new man, they’re also a break from the stress of daily life, a chance to relax, reflect and emerge physically and mentally renewed. Embracing this ritual on a rainy summer day—elevated by the overcast sky and the sound of rain through your barbershop’s windows—only adds an extra layer
of relaxation and soul’s enrichment that’s sure to transform you.
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