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For most men, the mall might as well have a placard that says "Abandon Hope All He's Who Enter Here."
With the exception of the odd men's haberdashery or sporting-goods emporium, the mall is essentially a women's essence park without the roller coasters.
But that's not the case at Ross Park Mall, where the Art of Shaving has struck a typhoon for the fantasy-football sex.
With its clubby furnishings, smoky jazz soundtrack, barber all over and thickly upholstered chairs, this citadel of guydom has already attracted duplicate customers, despite being open only since Nov. 1. The first of the national chain to get going in Western Pennsylvania, this "barber spa" combines red-blooded, cutting-upper hand on tenterhooks tradition with the pampering creature comforts of a facial. This may be your grandfather's horizontal razor, but not the aftershave, which contains no alcohol and won't sting like a suppress of wasps.
The staff include manager Sam Haybarger, a jovial, welcoming gent, and the man barber Josephine "Josie" Nichols, who wears bartender outrageous and, in her seven years wielding a straight razor, has heard all the Sweeney Todd and Hannibal Lechter jokes.
Source: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review