CLOSE SHAVE

By Shanna Hogan
Photos by: Ross Mason

Out front of the shop where Igor Ilyabayev works, a helix of red, white and blue stripes revolve slowly inside a classic glass barber pole. Inside, customers, all men of course, recline in soft leather barber chairs sitting ever so still for their straight-razor shave, complete with hot lather and a splash of cologne.

Meanwhile, the issues of the day are being discussed in the ever-bustling waiting area. Sometimes the topics are light, like the weather, but sometimes more serious things are discussed, like politics. Every once in a while somebody will ask a really important question, like whether the Diamondbacks’ Justin Upton will ever bat over .300 for an entire season. In other words, guy stuff.

This barbershop is of the old-fashioned variety, and while the air conditioning blasts patrons as they enter on this hot summer afternoon, the nostalgia is perhaps just as rousing.

“Clients come in and hang out all day and talk guy stuff,” Igor says. “It’s more than a barber shop. It’s like a home away from home.”

Igor is the franchisee of two V’s Barbershop locations, a throwback barbershop designed to give customers the feel of an old-fashioned lowering of the ears. Every haircut includes a hot lather neck shave and ends with a shoulder massage.

For Igor, the decision to become a barber was an easy one—it was in his blood.

“I come from a family of barbers,” he says. “My father is a barber, my brother is a barber, my uncle is a barber and my aunts on both sides of my family are barbers. I was meant to be a barber.”