01
$48The Classic Cut
Scissor-and-clipper cut, hot lather neck shave, hot towel finish. The everyday cut, done with care.
Toronto, since 2014
The cut is a craft.
The chair is the destination.
Forge is a heritage barber shop on Ossington. Hot towel shaves, scissor cuts, beard work. Six chairs, four barbers, and a hundred years of trade between them.
Established2014
Master Barbers04
Walk-In ChairOpen Tue–Sat
SignatureThe Hot Towel
01The Cuts
Six cuts.
Every one a portrait.
Our cuts are short on novelty and long on craft. Whether you walk in for the everyday classic or sit for the eighty-minute ritual, the same four hands have been shaping cuts like this since most of the new shops on Ossington opened.
See full price card02
$58The Sharp
Skin fade or tight taper, scissor work on top, beard line cleaned. For when the cut needs to land precisely.
03
$80The Hot Towel Shave
The full ritual. Steam, lather, single-pass straight razor, post-shave balm. Eighty minutes of slow craft.
04
$38The Beard
Beard shape, contour, line work. Hot towel finish. Walk in with a beard, leave with a portrait.
02The Ritual
Eighty minutes.
Steam, lather, single-pass straight razor.
The Hot Towel Shave is the cut Forge was opened around. Two hot towels. Brushed lather, stand mixed, never canned. One pass with the straight razor, against the grain. A second pass with the grain. Cool towel, balm, finish. We hand the chair back when the man in it cannot remember the last time he sat down for an hour.
Read the Ritual03The Barbers
Four chairs. Each with a name on it.
At Forge, you book with the barber, not the brand. Every cut on our floor is the work of one of these four. Pick the chair that suits the cut you want.
01Marcus Vega
Master Barber, Founder
22 years at the chair
Marcus opened Forge in 2014 after fifteen years cutting in shops across London and Toronto. He trained under Spanish straight-razor masters and still keeps a Mappin & Webb razor from his grandfather on the back wall. He runs the master chair and trains every barber who joins the shop.
Hot Towel ShaveClassic Scissor CutHeritage Lines
Book with Marcus
02Dilan Ahmed
Senior Barber
11 years at the chair
Dilan apprenticed in Istanbul before joining Forge in 2017. His skin fades have a precision that gets noticed. He is the chair to book if you want a cut that holds its shape four weeks later.
Skin FadeTight TaperBeard Sculpt
Book with Dilan
03Rohan Bedi
Senior Barber
9 years at the chair
Rohan came up through the Vancouver scene. He brought textured-hair expertise into the shop and a voice loud enough that you can hear his chair from the front door. Booking with Rohan is booking entertainment alongside the cut.
Textured HairCurl WorkModern Pomp
Book with Rohan
04Noor Haddad
Apprentice Barber
3 years at the chair
Noor joined the shop in 2023 after completing the program at the Modern Barber Academy. She works the apprentice chair under Marcus and is the only barber in the shop who gets the steam towel temperature right on the first try.
Classic CutBeard TrimHot Towel
Book with Noor
04 · The Shop
Built around the chair.
Forge opened in 2014 in a former dry-goods store. We kept the original walnut floors, the pressed-tin ceiling, and the cast iron radiators. Everything else was made for this room. The chairs were rebuilt from 1920s Koken frames. The mirrors came out of a closing barbershop in Brooklyn.
We are a small shop on purpose. Six chairs. Two of them stay empty most of the day so the work is never rushed.
Read the shop story05Visit
On Ossington, between Argyle and Bruce.
284 Ossington AvenueToronto, ON M6J 2Z6
Bike racks at the door. Green P parking on Argyle. Ossington streetcar stops at our corner. The Bloor line is a fifteen-minute walk north.
This Week at Forge
- Tuesday10:00–19:00
- Wednesday10:00–19:00
- Thursday10:00–21:00
- Friday09:00–21:00
- Saturday09:00–18:00
- SundayClosed
- MondayClosed
Closed Sundays and Mondays. Walk-in chair last seated 30 minutes before close.