Image courtesy of UC Davis School of Education

Happy Veteran’s Day! In celebration of the men and women who serve and have served this country, today’s post is dedicated to the flat top.

Now, we know that technically the military haircut is the high and tight with extremely short sides. The flat top is a similar style to the high and tight, but can be adapted to different lengths. It’s a classic, clean look that balances precision and strength, a great haircut for any guy.

The flat top is a great look, but it’s essential to ask around and find a barber who is well versed in cutting flat tops. We’ve got at least one barber at each Weldon Barber who has perfected their flat tops, so be sure to call ahead and ask so you can schedule with a specialist.

Tawney from the South Hill Weldon provides some insight on the benefits and downsides of the flat top (P.S. Feel free to schedule your flat top with Tawney!).

Benefits:

-The flat top is a low maintenance cut that always looks polished, even if you just jumped out of bed.

-In order to style your hair all you need is some American Crew Fiber or Defining Paste. If you’ve been wearing a flat top for  a while now, you may not have to use any styling products at all.

Downsides:

-In order to maintain your flat top a cut every 2-3 weeks is advised.

-Since the flat top is a difficult cut to achieve, you need to schedule your appointments with the right barber!

As a thank you to both former and current military we offer 20% off all Weldon services at every shop, every day.

Left to Right: Senior Barber and American Crew Educator, Elicia Leivia, Dana Ward, co-owner of Weldon Barber, David Raccuglia, founder  of American Crew and Steven Ward, co-owner of Weldon Barber.  

The above photo is from an American Crew event in Seattle. A few members of the Weldon team spent the evening with David Raccuglia, the founder of the world’s most popular men’s grooming line, American Crew. Raccuglia is not only the founder of American Crew, but he is also a phenomenal barber, hairdresser and photographer (he actually shoots all of American Crew’s photography!).

Four of our most popular products at Weldon are American Crew. It’s nearly impossible to find a guy who doesn’t like American Crew Fiber, Forming Crew or Defining Paste for styling his hair. We love that David and American Crew have considered guys in the world of hair…if every guy might still be stuck using the wife’s mousse. Thanks American Crew.

We also came across this interview with David Raccuglia from About.com and thought we would share a piece of advice from Raccuglia himself:

Dave Alexander (About.com): “David, like me, you’re moving into middle age. You always appear to be very stylish and somewhat cutting edge. What advice do you give clients looking to maintain an edge as they get older?”

David Raccuglia : “I’m going to be 50 this year and I’ve got a lot of guy friends who look at me as being this very stylish guy and the think of themselves as regular Joes and the advice I give them is always very simple. To me, style and trend are such a different thing. I think for a man to be stylish is very easy — a little bit of facial hair, growing your sideburns down a little bit longer, taking a good look at a trend and adapting it to your style as opposed to abandoning your style for a trend. Guys who are balding can get a great haircut with a clean taper in the back. Go to a stylist who understands head shape and male-specific design. Don’t fall into a category where you’re comfortable. Push it, you know. Every guy I know has the opportunity to be stylish and it’s really simple things. I think facial hair can be one of the most attractive things on a guy. It’s such a simple way for a guy to change his look. What length depends on the face of the guy.

If you look back to the 30s, 40s or 50s, a very stylish time, men tried a lot harder. Guys today get a little sloppy and comfortable. No disrespect, but leave your golf clothes for the golf course. And hair is so important. I don’t understand when somebody says to me, “oh it’s so expensive to go to a stylist,” but they go to Starbucks for a $3 latte six days a week. That’s $90 on a coffee habit! So, tell me what’s more imporant, your hair or your coffee habit? I go to 7-Eleven to get a $.50 cup of coffee for my caffeine and go get a $90 haircut. I just think it’s so important to be relevant and understand just what a statement your hair makes.”

Pretty good advice guys…so if you’d like to check out the rest of the interview, click here.

Here’s a Weldon Shaving tip from Elicia in Kirkland:

When you’re shaving be sure to shave with the grain first. Next stroke take the razor against the grain for a smooth, close shave. Your hair may grow differently across your face so take the time to look at the growth pattern to prevent razor burn!

We know that most of the time you guys don’t like to shave. It’s the hassle of doing one more thing, right? But here’s a new perspective we’d like you to adopt–consider shaving like brushing your teeth. It’s a necessary part of your daily routine! Your girlfriends and wives will thank us for this…

So, wakeup, shower (with a quality shampoo AND conditioner), SHAVE (using a pre-shave and exfoliating scrub), apply deodorant and brush those pearly whites. Looks like that shave fits into your morning perfectly!

We know the shampoo and condition is one of the greatest parts of the hair cut. Although we can’t offer you the amazing scalp massage at home–you can get a piece of the Weldon experience everyday by using the same terriffic products.

Here’s what you need to recreate the shampoo at Mill Creek, Kirkland, Issaquah, Spokane Valley and South Hill shops:

American Crew Daily Shampoo Gently cleanses the scalp with natural extracts such as Rosemary, Thyme and Panama Bark

American Crew Stimulating Conditioner Invigorates the hair and scalp with Panama Bark, Rosemary, Thyme, Peppermint and Menthol

The Downtown Spokane and 5 mile locations use:

Aveda Pure-Formance Shampoo Leaves hair calm and healthy with the rich, spicy and refreshing aroma with kunzea, citrus and certified organic essential oils of spearmint, vetiver, and lavender

Aveda Pure-Formance Conditioner Moisturizes, conditions and adds shine while contributing to overall healthy hair using ingredients like kunzea, citrus and certified organic essential oils

Listen guys…we know it’s easy to say “to-may-to”, “to-mah-to” when it comes to shaving. We live in a word with a plethora of cheap disposable razors, abrasive after shave lotions and itchy synthetic shaving brushes. But when it comes to your face, there is no reason to endure red, bumpy razor burn for a few bucks. Although it may not be as inexpensive as using your fingers, we love a genuine badger hair shaving brush.

It may sound a bit over-the-top…like your Grandmother’s giant mink coat, but a genuine badger hair brush can better be compared to a genuine pig skin football. It’s the real thing, it’s high quality and it handles quite nicely!

Use a genuine badger hair brush rather than a cheap boar’s hair brush (take a second to think of boar’s hair…yes, it is stiff and prickly). Badger hair is comfortable on your face and holds water to ensure the perfect lather. Bigger badger hair brushes hold more water and create a thick later more quickly, but a smaller one will work too.  Just soak your brush in hot water for a few seconds, get some shaving cream on there and brush it up and down your face until you’ve got a nice, frothy lather.

At Weldon we’ve got all kinds of badger hair brushes (some available at our locations and some we can order special for you!) in different prices and levels of quality.

Here are your options for a nice shave.

Pure Badger Brush: The hair for this brush typically comes from the tails and the back of the badger The hair is gray and it is an ideal option for a great shaving brush without a huge price tag.

Fine Badger Brush: The fine badger brush comes from the back of the badger. It has a cone-like structure so the tips are thinner than at the base of the hairs. Fine badger brushes are softer and  create a better lather. They are more expensive because the hair is rare! You’ll be able to tell if you’ve got this kind of brush because the color gradient is light-dark-light.

Silvertip Badger Brush: The ultra-premium, rather expensive brush is the Silvertip. The hair comes from the neck and is the softest, rarest and most expensive kind of badger hair. This is the most luxurious option of Fine Badger Brushes. In the winter this neck hair gets extremely light tips-hence, the Silvertip.

Now that you know more than you ever cared to learn about shaving brushes and badger hair, ask our barbers about the amazing Art of Shaving brushes and make your morning shave a pleasant experience. No disposable razors of rough shaving brushes allowed.

Thought we’d share our #1 product at Weldon Barber on the blog today. Unfortunately we have more the one! So, here are our six “#1″ products at Weldon.

• Sharps Kid Glove Shave Gel Goes on smooth and transparent–perfect for accurate shaves. Plus, it’s kid glove smooth!
• Sharps Guck In A Puck Hard Anti-gravity lift and shaping without the “stiff-as-a-helmet” head
• American Crew Stimulating Conditioner Silky hair and invigorating peppermint and menthol for happy mornings and healthy hair
• American Crew Fiber Full, pliable hair that’s got a strong hold without the super shine
• American Crew Forming Cream A natural shine with medium hold
  
• American Crew Defining Paste It’s all about texture and definition for various lengths

Ahh…football season is back. Time for tailgate parties, touchdowns, hot wings on Monday nights and, yes, another year of Brett Favre. Whether you are a crazy fan of the Seahawks, the Cougs or the G Prep Bullpups–we’ve got some tips for sporting some team spirit this year.

First off let’s just say that we encourage all the team spirit you can muster. Wear your Matt Hasselbeck jersey or embrace the “painted stomach” look. But, if you’d like to take it to the next level, here’s a hair tip from some folks that know hair: check out ICE Spiker Colorz by Joico. It’s a temporary hair color that washes out with a shampoo, but it’s also got amazing hold to achieve whatever style your looking for. Perhaps a purple and gold fauxhawk that screams “Go Dawgs!” or a

Weldon’s got your Spiker colorz for whatever team you’d like to support. Spiker comes in blue, pink, white, red, metallix gold, metallix blue, metallix green, metallix silver, vapor white, techno pink and techno blue.

SKIN

1. Follow a specific skin care regimen. A simple regimen to follow is Sharps Daily Prep. Start with the Daily Prep Foaming Face  Wash,  followed by the Skin Tuner, Daily Prep Tuning Face Lotion.

2. Wear sunscreen. Trade out the Daily Prep Tuning Face Lotion for Sharps Dail Prep Oil-Free Sunscreen Face Lotion SPF 15 to get in some good old SPF.

HAIR

1. Update your style: If you’ve got a full head of hair, instead of parting your hair to one side, push it forward. Use American Crew’s Defining Paste and use your hands to pull hair to the front. Add some texture with your fingers and the Defining Paste for a more modern.

2. Go lean on the sides: If you get your hair cut shorter and leaner on the sides it will slim out your entire face.

3. Camoflague: Take care of those pesky gray hairs with combed in color. At Weldon we offer Camouflage Color. It will camouflage your grays and blend with your hair…don’t worry, just because you’re adding a little color doesn’t mean you don’t have to look like Elvis!

Thank you Spokane for voting Weldon Barber as the best barbershop in The Pacific Northwest Inlander! Talk about a pat on the back. We’re so glad that you enjoy the products and service we offer at Weldon. Our staff works so hard to create a welcoming atmosphere and provide the highest quality service. It feels good to be recognized. Thanks Man!

Congrats to all the other winners of the Pacific Norhtwest Inlander’s Best Of!

AND Thank you Spokane!