Shave And a Hair Cut in Mendham (Video)

The blade is sharp, and its wielded with expert, efficient hands.

Bob Romeo moves unerringly down the side of his client’s face and along the jaw line, pausing only to clean his razor on a warm towel. If his customer is nervous, it doesn’t reflect in his posture which is relaxed.

“When is the last time you used a styptic pencil?” the man asks Romeo, referring to the old barber’s tool used to seal minor cuts. “Do you remember the last time you cut someone?”

Romeo pauses, wipes the blade and shrugs.

“I actually can’t remember,” he says.

The razor and hot towel shave has become a staple at the Men of Mendham barbershop, which Romeo and his wife Maggie opened less than a year ago. It had been two decades since a barbershop had been in operation in Mendham, and the community has embraced the business wholeheartedly.

“I tell you this is the best thing that has happened to Mendham,” says longtime resident Jerry Cleary. “I’ve been here since 1971, and we haven’t had a barbershop in 20 years and it has been missed.”

The shop, catering to men with its muted color scheme and flat screen televisions is as stocked with modern amenities as it is with throwbacks.

“I think people like coming here because its like coming to a man cave,” says Maggie Romeo, who gave up an administrative job in New York to work at the shop greets customers when they arrive, checks their coats and provides them with a beverage while they wait. “Some men don’t feel comfortable in a salon. Its louder, and not what they are looking for.”

Traditional barbershops have been harder to find in New Jersey, as until recently the licensing was tied into a cosmetology degree. “I’m actually a trained beautician,” Bob Romeo says. “I actually went to school for it because I was working the make-up counter in Macy’s in New York and I wanted to make more money.”

The Romeos' last shop was in Chester, and it was the feedback they received from Mendham residents visiting that alerted them to a market they were missing out on.

Opening last year, Men of Mendham keeps the traditional staples of barbering, like the straight razor shave.

“The shaves are just incredible,” Cleary says. “I told my son-in-law and grandson about this and now they come here for the shaves.”

“Very few shops do them anymore, and I don’t know why that is,” Bob Romeo says. “Maybe its because its hard. Maybe its laziness.”

The Romeo’s niche market has responded to not only the facility and services offered at Men of Mendham, but to the Romeos themselves.

“I injured myself and couldn’t come in for a haircut,” Cleary says. “They offered to come to my house and give me a haircut there. That’s the kind of people you are dealing with here. Class.”