Bill Wade, Post-Gazette Reporter Dan Majors has half his face shaved by Whitney A. White Sr. at The Barber Shop in the Union Trust Building, Downtown. Majors shaved the other half with a Gillette Fusion razor.

By Dan Majors, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The Barber Shop in the basement of the Union Trust Building, Downtown, is exactly what you'd expect in a traditional barber shop.

Founded in 1955, it is starkly simple: Well-worn elevator chairs beneath the mirrors. Seats along the wall for waiting customers. The air has the sweet, clean smell of hair tonic.

There is nothing fancy about Whitney A. White Sr.'s shop. Even the name -- The Barber Shop -- couldn't be more straightforward. The extent of his advertising is the rotating barber pole outside the shop.

"In this business, word of mouth goes a long way," he said. "A billboard doesn't tell someone how good their haircut was."

Or their shave.

It's different in the personal grooming industry, where millions of dollars are spent on advertising.

Gillette, for example, just launched its new five-bladed Fusion razor with a high-profile marketing campaign that included a commercial during the Super Bowl and the shaving of Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger's beard on "Late Show With David Letterman." The company, which owns 73 percent of the national market for shaving products, has bought numerous ads in men's magazines and produced a state-of-the-art interactive Web site. There are elaborate displays in stores across the country.

CBS, J.P. Filo via AP David Letterman shaves Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger on Letterman's show on Feb. 6, the Monday after the Steelers won the Super Bowl. Click photo for larger image.

According to Eric Kraus, vice president of external relations for Gillette in Boston, it's much ado about much more than just the addition of a fifth blade to a hand-held razor.

"The Fusion represents a significant amount of technology that has been in development for several years. With the Lubrastrip and the precision trimmer blade and the balanced handle, it has 70 patents," he said. "It's not the number of blades. It's the technology."

So we put it to the test.

Mr. White was sporting enough to agree to shave half of my face with his old-fashioned straight-edge razor, complete with professional barber hot-towel treatment. I then shaved the other half with the new Fusion Power, an $11.89 purchase that comes complete with a triple-A battery that supposedly stimulates the little hairs to stand up for the chopping.

According to Mr. Kraus, all the Fusion doodads are what contribute to the perfect shave. Without it, men shaving with five blades in the morning would have all kinds of operator errors, streaking their faces with nicks and slices. But by housing the blade strips as the Fusion does, the chance of cutting yourself is greatly reduced.

When I finished my shave unscathed, Mr. White asked me to compare the two sides myself. To be honest, I thought the barber shave was smoother and closer. But then came the twist that might have technically voided the test.

I gave the left side of my jaw another couple of strokes with the Fusion.

From there, it was off to consult with my "panel of experts."

First was Sherry Deberson, hair stylist and makeup artist for Pittsburgh theaters, Local 3. She doesn't shave people, but she has experience trimming beards and mustaches and she applies make-up to faces.

"Your left side is much smoother," she said, picking the Fusion side. "[The right] side, you have a little roughness."

Well, that might have been my fault. Remember, I was interviewing Mr. White while he shaved me, so he might have been distracted.

Next was licensed cosmetologist Marjorie Fleisner, a hair stylist at Salon Nuvo on Sixth Street, Downtown. She isn't licensed to do straight-razor cutting, but she is experienced in waxing, coloring, cutting and perming. And she once shaved a man's head on the stage of Heinz Hall during a performance by the symphony.

"They're really, really close," she said before likewise picking the Fusion side. "But each side has some growth. I can feel nubs on both sides."

Ms. Fleisner pointed out that a man shaving himself would likely use a surer force with the blade.

Bill Wade, Post-Gazette Dan Majors shaves with a Gillette Fusion as Whitney A. White Sr. watches at The Barber Shop, Union Trust Building, Downtown. Click photo for larger image.

Next expert was "Fantasy," a dancer at Blush, the gentleman's club on Ninth Street, Downtown. You see, in the TV commercials, whenever a man finishes a close shave, a beautiful woman emerges behind him to stroke his face.

"This side's softer," Miss Fantasy said of the Fusion side of my face. Then she did what she called "the dancer thing," which involves brushing my cheeks with hers.

"Cheeks are really important when you're dancing for customers," she said. "Because you rub up on customers, and if they're all scruffly, they hurt you. A smooth shave is much better."

The fourth expert was Dr. Suzan Obagi, assistant professor of dermatology and director of UPMC cosmetic surgery and skin health center. By the time I arrived at her Wexford office, it was three or more hours after my shaving, so I might have had a bit of a shadow growing.

I climbed into her patient's chair under the overhead lights, and she conducted her clinical tests. First with her hands, then with her dermatascope, a light with a 10x magnifying glass for close-up study.

"The left side is closer, the stubble is shorter and it feels smoother," she said. "And under my scope it looks shorter as well. But visibly, just looking at you, it looks the same."

Bill Wade, Post-Gazette Pittsburgh Public Theater make-uo artist Sherry Deberson picked as smoother the half of Major's face shaved with a Gillette Fusion. Click photo for larger image.

Like the other experts, Dr. Obagi expressed surprise that the store-bought gimmick razor shaved closer than the professional barber. But how important is a close shave?

"There are patients that you don't want to get that close a shave," Dr. Obagi said. "Curlier hair that bends back into the skin causes a foreign body reaction, pimples and bumps and potential scarring.

"But if you're actually able to feel this smooth, you're probably doing a pretty good job of removing that dead layer of skin."

And Dr. Obagi expressed sympathy for the barber.

"It's harder with a straight edge, I think," she said. "I do a lot of surgery. When you have the razors like [the Fusion] and they're angled, it's kind of idiot-proof.''

The final test was a cheek-to-cheek contest at Magee-Womens Hospital the next day, where I went after shaving my entire face with the Fusion. Leah M. Kelly, a nurse of 15 years, is unit director for the Postpartum Newborn Nursery, so she's got hands-on experience with babies every day. And she has had two babies of her own.

"It's very comparable," she said after feeling my cheek. "But not quite as smooth and soft as a baby's bottom."

Still, that's a pretty good shave. But as most men will tell you, there will always be something special about lying back in that barber chair and feeling that hot towel wrapped around your face ...