The hand-lettered sign advertising a $15 haircut, the decorating scheme that leans heavily on mounted striped bass: Both hint at the old-fashioned allure of the Roswell Village Barber Shop.

And then there’s Ray Espinal. One of three barbers at the family-owned shop, he works in black wingtip shoes and a white dress shirt and tie. He specializes in something men want but seldom get: the close shave.

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Bob Andres / bandres@ajc.com

Ray Espinal presses a cold towel to a client’s face after a shave. He uses a hot towel before the shave to soften the whiskers.

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A barber who works with a straight razor is hard to find, said Jerry Dore, a marketing executive who had to shop around to find Espinal.

Dore’s been coming in for weekly maintenance for the past four years. He needs to look well-groomed for business.

He can handle touch-ups at home with the safety razor. But some jobs are best left to professionals.

“You can tell when someone does their own face,” Dore said. “It’s not smooth.”

The technique

Espinal, 68, has been shaving faces for 40 years. When he started, in the Dominican Republic, the blade was sharpened against a leather strap and reused. Now, for health reasons, everyone gets their own. And the casing is lightweight and modern. The blade folds into a narrow plastic handle.

The process takes all of 15 minutes. The skin is prepped with a facial moisturizer, followed by a warm, damp towel. And then some hot lather from the machine mounted on the counter.

Espinal moves swiftly, clearing whiskers with the right hand, and sweeping away lather with his left thumb. First one way, then back over the skin in the other direction.

“If you want to do a good job, this is the most important,” Espinal said.

The atmosphere

The men in the other two chairs are chatting with their barbers. But it’s quiet in Espinal’s corner.

“This is a serious moment,” Espinal said. “You have a blade in your hand.”

Espinal moves in a semicircle around the upturned face.

Usually by this point the customer is silent, relaxed, eyes closed. Sometimes they fall asleep.

“This is when you trust the barber,” Espinal said.

When Espinal is finished, his customer’s cheek is pink, smooth and baby soft. Dore runs a hand over it and checks the sharp edge of the mustache and beard. No nicks.

“I can’t possibly give myself a shave like this,” said Dore, 69.

Women like to be pampered with a manicure and pedicure. For men, the professional shave is the same thing, Dore explains.

The barbershop, a fixture in Roswell since 1963, has a mostly male clientele. Women rarely come in.

For 30 years, Espinal lived in Queens, N.Y., where he had his own shop. He moved to Roswell eight years ago, following a sister. He prefers Southerners to New Yorkers, summing them up as “easier.”

He makes a living on haircuts, not just shaves. The latter go for $10, and he has about 15 clients who come in weekly. The regulars are few in number, but loyal.

“When they try me, they stay with me,” Espinal said. “You have to have experience to shave. Very easy to bleed.”