Two days of Scapicchio Academy Level 2 in Ghent, with Jaroslav Christoff, Joffrey Meyus and a familiar face from California.
One of the things I enjoy most about teaching is seeing what happens when experienced barbers give themselves permission to become students again.
They arrive with their own habits. Their own way of holding a razor, preparing the skin, approaching a difficult patch of beard. There are years of work in those hands. My job is to give them something useful to add to that experience—and sometimes a good reason to question it.
This time, I welcomed Jaroslav Christoff from Prague and Joffrey Meyus from Belgium to ROMAIN in Ghent for Scapicchio Academy Level 2. Tania, an Academy alumna from California, also dropped in to watch, revisit the material and spend some time with us again.
What a group.
There is something deeply satisfying about bringing people together around a craft like this. Different backgrounds, different journeys, all gathered around a chair and a blade. And having a former student return simply to look again always means a great deal to me. You can revisit the same subject with more experience and discover something you barely noticed the first time.
From the stone to the chair
We began with theory. Understanding the skin, the tools and the decisions that shape a shave. I then demonstrated both a face shave and a head shave, taking the time to explain what I was doing and why.
That “why” is where I like to spend my time.
It is easy enough to watch a movement. Understanding the decision behind it takes a little more attention. What am I looking at? What am I feeling through the razor? What would make me change my approach?
Then we brought everything closer together.
While one barber shaved, the other worked on honing. Then they changed places.
The stone. The chair. Back to the stone.
I particularly enjoyed this rhythm. It shortened the distance between learning something and discovering what it meant in practice. The edge we had been discussing became an edge we could prepare, work with and assess. Questions from the shave came back to the honing station. What happened at the honing station returned to the next shave.
Honing and shaving became one continuous conversation.
For me, that connection is essential. I want a barber to understand the relationship between the work done on the stone and the experience of the person sitting in the chair.
Opening the spice cupboard
The best way I can explain my approach to Level 2 is through cooking.
These barbers already know how to cook with salt and pepper. They can make a good meal. They have experience, skill and people who trust their work.
What I try to offer is access to a much larger spice cupboard.
All those ingredients they may have heard about, tried occasionally or never quite understood. I want to lay them out, explore their character and explain how they can work together.
Of course, emptying the entire cupboard into one dish would be a disaster. Knowing what to use—and when to leave it alone—is part of the craft.
The same judgment belongs in shaving.
A towel helps me manage temperature during a service. The soap we use has its own chemistry, including its alkalinity. A razor has a particular grind and an edge whose geometry deserves attention, right down to the apex.
We explored these details and the choices they give us. When might I reach for a full wedge while working with sensitive skin? What else matters in that decision? How have I prepared the edge? How am I handling the razor? What is the skin in front of me telling me?
These are the ingredients I want my students to understand.
With experience, they can begin to combine them deliberately. They gain more ways to approach the person in their chair, and a clearer understanding of why they are choosing one approach over another.
That is where the work becomes interesting.
Coming back the next day
The value of this alternating approach became even clearer on the second day.
We could return to the work with the previous day still fresh in our minds. There had already been time to shave, hone, question and make adjustments. Now we could revisit those decisions and see how the understanding was developing.
I could see a real evolution over the two days.
That is one of the pleasures of teaching a small group: you get to follow the process closely. You can spend time on the details, return to a question and help someone connect an idea to what they are actually doing with their hands.
There is a particular satisfaction in watching those connections form. The theory begins to belong to the person using it.
And that is what I hope they take home.
The work continues
Two days give us a great deal to work with. The next part happens in their own shops, through practice, repetition and attention to the people they shave.
For Jaroslav and Joffrey, the road may eventually lead to Level 3 and the opportunity to become Scapicchio Academy Ambassadors. I would be proud to see them take that step when they are ready.
For now, they have more to explore, more to practise and a wider range of choices at their disposal.
Jaroslav and Joffrey, thank you for the energy, the trust and the work you brought into these two days. Tania, it was a pleasure to have you back in the room.
This is a part of my work I value enormously: sharing what I have learned, seeing how someone else makes sense of it, and watching that knowledge travel into another pair of hands.
The spice cupboard is open. I look forward to seeing what you make of it.
Keep learning. Put it into practice.
That’s the Protocol.
Want to join the Scapicchio Academy at ROMAIN in Ghent, belgium?
Get in touch to plan your 1-on-1 training with Master barber Stijn De Sutter and take your straight razor, honing and shaving services to the next level. Send us a Email
Ready for the real thing?
If you want more than just a good story and you’re ready to sharpen your craft (or your own look), you know where to find us.
From straight razor training and honing on natural stone to classic shaves and serious beard work in the chair, ROMAIN Barbershop & Academy in Ghent is where it actually happens—no noise, no shortcuts.
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Academy info, courses or questions
Email: info@romainghent.be and we’ll take it from there.
Website ROMAIN: http://www.romainghent.be
Website Scapicchio Academy: http://www.scapicchioacademy.com
