Eyeball Shaving

The tradition of ‘Eyeball Shaving’has been practiced for centuries in China.  Customers must lie still while the barber pulls their eyelids apart and uses a razor to scrape the eyeball and clean up any residue found in the socket. A small iron stick is also used to dab the eye itself. The whole ‘shaving’ process takes about 5 minutes.

The key to eyeball shaving is the flexibility of wrist, while the hand should be held steady, and the shave gentle. The razor stimulates the production of grease to moisturize the eye, and encouraging the person being shaved to tear-up, and so feel fresh and comfortable when they reopen their eyes. It is said to be an effective treatment for conjunctivitis, or ‘Pink Eye’, and for removing specks of dust on the cornea.

It requires intense craftsmanship, and while some older barbers are comfortable performing this treatment, very few apprentices dare to try.