by Gayle McBain WHEN it comes to close shaves Hasan Ayan knows his stuff.
The Turkish barber is an expert with a cut throat razor and his traditional shaves are proving popular right here, thousands of miles away from home, in the centre of Bolton.
Hasan, aged 33, trained in his home town of Isparta in Turkey but moved to Bolton almost five years ago He works at Original Hair Studio in Bridge Street and his skill is a big hit with town centre workers.
His shaves include hot towels and authentic Turkish after-shave and moisturiser.
In Turkey men pop in for a shave every two days, often calling in to a barber’s shop for a shave before starting work for the day.
Cut throat razors — rarely used here in Britain — can be bought everywhere in Turkey.
“In Turkey you buy them like you buy a packet of chewing gum here. They are sold in all the shops,” he explained.
Hasan is married to nurse, Dawn, aged 44, and the pair met in Turkey, while Dawn was on holiday there.
They were married in Turkey and, when they moved to Bolton, Hasan was delighted to get work doing the job he loves.
Shaving with a cut throat razor is a skill and Hasan was happy to prove his expertise by giving The Bolton News features editor, Andrew Mosley, a make-over.
First he cut his hair — Hasan is also an experienced hair stylist — and then he set to work with the shaving foam applied with a brush.
“It takes half an hour to do a shave properly,” explained Hasan, who carefully shaved Andrew’s face without one nick to be seen, or felt.
Following the double shave hot towels are applied and Hasan also includes a relaxing head, shoulder, arm and back massage as part of the treatment.
Hasan has settled well into life in Bolton. He speaks very good English, and although he misses his family he contacts them every couple of days.
“We are able to talk over the internet so I don’t get the chance to miss them too much,” he said, adding that he and Dawn would visit them in the summer.
The weather in Turkey, he said, is much like ours in the winter but he said spring was “absolutely beautiful” and the summers are “very hot”.
He said: “I know you don’t get very warm summers here, but I don’t mind it. I prefer it when it’s not too hot.”
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