Hitman 2’s ‘Shave Mumbai’ challenge is without a doubt one of the game’s strangest challenges. The challenge involves heading to the game’s Mumbai location, disguising yourself as a barber, and…shaving a bunch of men’s beards. That’s it, just giving a bunch of dudes a shave. However, activating this prolonged shaving excursion requires a little prep work, hence the need for this guide.
Hitman 2 Shave Mumbai Challenge Setup
You don’t need any special equipment for the Shave Mumbai challenge, just your default loadout is fine. Make sure you have a silenced pistol equipped and that you’re starting at the default level start point.
When the level loads up, run straight ahead and look for two glowing signs to your right. Past those signs is a road leading north which you want to go down. Just make sure you avoid the marked NPC who’s on the lookout for assassins. Keep running down the road and when you reach a fork turn left.
Becoming the Barber
Continue straight and you’ll run right into the barber’s shop, the one with the mural and some customers standing outside. Turn to the right but be careful since there’s an enforcer guard who’ll raise the alarm if he spots you. Stay hidden in the crowds and hook around to the back of the shop when the guard’s back is turned. Once you reach the back of the shop, keep going straight and you’ll see a staircase you can go up.
Proceed up the staircase and hook around to the left to find a doorway with a beaded curtain. Inside you’ll find the barber and a female NPC. The quickest way to deal with them is to just shoot them both with your silenced pistol. Take the barber’s disguise and grab his shop key off the nearby table. Then, head downstairs to the ground level and into the main shop area. Pick up the straight razor off the counter and then look to your right. On a nearby wall is a panel which you can use the key on to open the shop for business.
Now comes the slightly tedious part. To fulfill the challenge requirements, you have to shave a total of 15 customers. You can offer a shave to waiting customers by standing at the outer booth. Once you start shaving a customer, you can stop as soon as the ‘Finish Shave’ prompt comes up. You’ll still get credit even for the prematurely-ended shaves. Do this a total of 15 times and the challenge is done. Just make sure you don’t accidently select the ‘Kill’ option during a shave.
For more Hitman 2 guide content, be sure to consult our Bite out of Crime and Deadlier Art challenge guides.