By Sam Abuya
A Kenyan barber has been making headlines for using an axe to give his customers all manner of haircuts.
Julius Mwangi, a barber at Kiambu County, one of the counties surrounding the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, is not your ordinary barber. He has gone a mile further to attract more customers – using a rather conventional tool to give his clients quite a unique form of shaving – ‘axe shaving’.
Three months ago, Mr. Mwangi whose trade of shaving people started way back in 2014, decided to be a bit more innovative and started using an axe, yes, the normal axe you know to shave people at his Clippers Kings barbershop.
According to Mr. Mwangi, famous people were frequenting his barbershop and that’s when he decided to be innovative in order to attract even more clients and that’s how he settled on using the well-sharpened axe to shave, something which he says has worked, at least so far.
The ‘axe shaving’ has, however, come with its own share of challenges as he confesses: “When people hear of a barber shaving with an axe, they are curious to know where. Some come to see and take photos with the axe but prefer not to be shaved with it. Some come full of fear, but I help them overcome it,” he said.
When compared to the shaving machine, an axe according to Mr. Mwangi, gives a smoother cut which is a perfect pick for those who do the Jordan style. He also observes that the ‘axe shaving’ is a good pick for those people with full beards.
The axe, according to the barber, can be used in fade-ins and semi-jordan cuts. However, notes as well that the ‘axe shaving’ cannot apply in all the styles that a machine can.
It costs roughly five US Dollars to get the a haircut using the axe. The father of one says he’s working on getting a much lighter axe because the one he is currently using is a bit heavy.
Mr. Mwangi keeps the axe thoroughly clean and sharp to avoid spreading any form of infections to his clients. He also uses the ultraviolet steriliser machine to make sure its free of any bacteria.
