'JUST try to relax," says Shanie Waite, sensing I was more than a little tense as I gripped the sides of the chair and my knuckles turned white. But relaxing is easier said than done when someone is closing in on you with a cut-throat razor in their hands.

It had started pleasantly enough. Settling back into the big, black leather chair, my head resting on the sink, Shanie had placed a hot towel over my face, apparently to open the pores and soften the beard. Then, it was a delicately applied layer of herbal oil, soothing already relaxed bristles still further and providing a film to stop the razor from dragging.

After the oil, came the shaving cream itself, massaged into my skin in deeply relaxing circular movements. By now, I was beginning to see the attraction of a cut-throat shave. I should have known it was too good to last.

Fears of transmitting disease means only disposable blades are used, but if Shanie was trying to reassure me when she unwrapped the blade in front of me and inserted it into the razor's handle, she was being very optimistic.

I tried to give off an aura of calm, but it was fooling nobody. I felt my shoulders tighten and my stomach churn. I kept reassuring myself that it was perfectly safe, these razors could no more cut me than Victor Kiam's Remington, but it was no use.

"I can feel you tensing up, I can sense that," Shanie kept saying, and I was afraid my nervousness would be transmitted to her, affecting an otherwise perfectly steady hand. It was only when she started, with small, downward strokes of the blade across my cheek, that my heart-rate began to slow, and the danger of hyperventilation eased.

Apparently, I was her most nervous ever customer, but not everyone who calls in for a close shave at her Darlington salon is so tense. "I had one guy in and he was literally going to sleep, he was in his own little world," she says. "People ask me how it takes so long, but it's not just having a shave, it's the full relaxation, the preparation and everything that goes with it."

Once my entire face had been shaved, Shanie began again, only this time shaving against the growth of my beard, making the shave extra close. This phase complete, a cold towel is placed over my face to close the pores, followed by an astringent, to tone the skin. A soothing gel is on hand in case of any nicks, but remained in its bottle throughout my visit.

Shanie then applies a moisturiser and massages the entire face, and I have to admit that it was at this point that I really began to relax. It was perhaps a bit late, but by now I was starting to feel very comfortable indeed. To finish off, there is another moisturiser, and finally a cologne.

About an hour after I had gingerly eased myself into the chair, the whole process is complete. And it is a process which is increasingly drawing customers into Shanie's shop, Chaps, in Darlington's Haughton Road.

"More men are starting to pamper themselves now and I don't see why they shouldn't, because women do," she says. "Men's grooming is getting more and more popular and men are taking more pride in their appearance.

"It's going really, really well. I'm getting a lot of customers and everyone seems happy with the result. I've got some really good clients who are coming in once a fortnight, and every time they come in they're buying one or two products from my range and building up the full collection."

Some regulars come in for a shave before a special occasion, or if they have been treated by their wives or girlfriends.

Shanie's business has been given valuable help from the Darlington Women's Business Network.

"Every couple of weeks we will meet and it's all women who have just started out or who are wanting to start out," she says. "It's somewhere to go and get advice and talk to other people who are having problems similar to you.

"They have given me so much support. To know you can pick up the phone and ask them any question you want is fabulous."

A hot towel shave costs £9.95, and, despite my anxieties, I cannot fault the result. It was easily the closest shave I have ever had - it was two days before I felt the need to put razor to skin again - and not only that, but my skin felt fresher and cleaner than it has since long before the first patches of fluff started to appear on my chin.