You’re listening to Wet Shaving Talk powered by Sharpologist.com where we’re dedicated to preserving the art and skill of classic shaving. I’m your host Joe Borrelli and today is October 13th, 2025.
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Today on the Show:
Loosening The Handle Provides a Better Shave?
Are You Really Going To Cut Your First Strop?
Collector Series: P160 Shave Soap
Fall Seasonal Special: Coming up this October 27th 2025
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Does Loosening The Handle Provide a Better Shave?
A myth legend or does it actually work? I’ll tell you my thoughts.
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Are You Really Going to Cut Your First Strop?
Are you? Well, maybe. I personally have nicked every strop I’ve owned. It happens and when it does, it can sting! I’ll give you some advice and my thoughts on this!
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Collectors Series: P160 Shave Soap
One of the most if not the most collectable soaps of all time, P.160 Tipo Morbido Shaving Soap, was a staple for Italian Barber Shops for years. Available in “hard” and “soft” versions, this soap’s popularity emerged in the early 2000s with the advances of the internet. (This soap brought the popular “almond” scent mainstream”
In 2015, the company no longer produced p.160 and collectors went crazy over it. Some bars fetched as high as $500 on secondary sites.
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Fall Seasonal Special 10/27/25
The most anticipated podcast of the year is right around the corner. The 10th Annual Fall Seasonal Special features fall releases from all artisans and vendors alike. Fall is the #1 season for specialty items and the most fun in my opinion.
Click below for previous shows since 2016!
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Mantic’s New Site: The Black Coffee Life
MAntic has a new site dedicated to coffee: Check it out: https://theblackcoffeelife.com/
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Our show is powered by Sharpologist.com, “What Your Father Didn’t Teach You about Shaving”
Special Thanks to:
Mark aka Mantic 59
Most of All……….YOU!!!!
Don’t forget to check out my blog site www.shavestraightandsafe.com for the tips and interesting wet shaving stories!
Please feel free to contact me at [email protected]
Subscribe to my You Tube Chanel for videos regarding some interesting wet shaving content.
Don’t forget to check out my book “The Modern Guide to Straight Razor Shaving” available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and at Pasteur’s Pharmacy in NYC.
If you’re a vendor and would like to be featured on the show please contact me!!
Transcript (Generated using Transcript LOL)
You’re listening to Wet Shaving Talk, powered by sharpologist.com, where we’re dedicated to preserving the art and skill of classic shaving. I’m your host, Joe Borelli, and today is October 13th, 2025. Hey guys, welcome back to the podcast.
I am so happy to be doing this show today. After a little bit of a delay here, yes, I do understand guys, it’s been a lot this year. This year is for myself personally, it’s been a very busy year with my family, with my stuff, with basically my life. So it’s been a little difficult to get everything on time, but I’m still producing content, still going through, still wet shaving every day.
There’s no doubt about that. It’s just a little tough to get on the schedule, which I’ve been working on, and now I’m starting to get a better schedule of work and everything. I just went through a whole leadership change in my job, so I have two new bosses. My boss and my boss’s boss are brand new, so I have never worked with them, so learning that and stuff just been taking a lot out of me.
I guess if you wanna say stress-wise or whatever, I don’t really get too stressed out in certain situations, but that kind of just a different way of doing things. If you guys have been through job changes and stuff, you all know what I’m talking about. It can be a little strenuous at times, it can be a little challenging, but overall, it’s not the end of the world, and that’s something that I’ve come to learn in my, I guess, almost 43 years of life. So, and I’ll continue to learn, and some of you guys that are out there, you know, probably either nodding, saying, yeah, this happens, it’s part of life, just learning to adapt to it.
So, I took some time off from work, I took a vacation, usually I take about a week off in October every year, really to get ready for the holidays, being a retail manager, you know what’s coming up, especially living in South Florida. Most people come, the snowbirds and stuff, they come around this time of year, they start, November 1st starts our official season where we spike in sales, in the business, in traffic, everything. So the area gets a little bit more populated by about 30% where I live. So it is pretty…
A big change from the summertime when the weather has been really nice. Today was the first day. It was like 70 degrees outside this morning, which is beautiful. I know, I know, I’m preaching to the choir, but when you wake up every day and it’s in the 80s and it’s very humid, the humidity seems to diminish a little bit.
It’s nice and cool. It’s nice to take a walk outside and it’s something that I enjoy doing. That’s just a nutshell going on with that. I mean, also, guys, I’ve been working on my, I do have, I am an amateur mechanic, so I do like to work on cars.
I have an old Mustang that I’ve owned for years and years and years, and I’ve been saying, you know, this is the year I’m gonna finish it, and I’ve actually got about 70% of this car finished. So that’s been taking a lot of my time as well. and just really enjoying working on cars. My father, being a mechanic for over 40 years, kind of taught me how to do it, and I’ve been amateur, not professional at all, not certified, I just work at home.
I have a pretty extensive list of tools, and I love YouTube, because YouTube helps you out tremendously, and I really wish that was out when I was in high school, because I made tons of mistakes on cars when I was younger. I’ve been doing that and then also just wet shaving away. I just really enjoy wet shaving, keeping straight razors nice and sharp, using my double edge. Lately I’ve been using some newer double edge razors just to play around with them.
And I feel that sometimes I neglect them at times when I use certain razors. So trying to keep it, I guess if you could say, a nice variety of wet shaving products and keep going on that. But enough about me, let’s talk about the wet shaving world. So today on the show, I’m going to go over a skill such as loosening the handle of a double edge safety razor.
Does it provide a better shave, a different shave? What are your thoughts? What about shimming a blade? Does that help?
We’ll talk a little bit about that. I haven’t talked about that, I don’t think ever. And you know what, it is something that a lot of wet shavers do and it can provide a different shave. We’ll talk a little bit about what you can and what you can’t do with that.
Are you really going to cut your first strop as a straight razor shaver? I’ll tell you my thoughts on that. We’ll see if it’s yes or no, or maybe so. Collector Series P160 Italian Shave Soap.
This is one of the most collectible, if not de-collectible soaps out there, and it is amazing. If you’ve ever tried it, you know. If you’ve been around the wet shaving world for a while, you do know. If you’re fairly new, well, you may not.
We’ll talk a little bit about that one, because it’s no longer made. And of course, the fall seasonal special is coming up on the 27th of October. I’m already working on it. I’ve spent tons of time on it this year.
And I’m really going to do a different type of show. I’ll tell you a little bit about that, too, to go over, because this is the 10th one that we’ve done. So without further ado, guys, let’s get on with the show. So, I recently was reading and I just saw a couple of posts on this and a couple of people asked, does loosening the handle provide a better shave?
Does tightening the handle? Does shimming the blade on a double-edged safety razor, does it provide a better shave? So, if you look in the show notes, you can see the picture that I posted which is actually from the original, from a Gillette package. And it says the Gillette is made so that when the handle is screwed tight, the blade cannot cut the skin.
Some shavers find that they can secure better results by tightening the screw and then loosening it slightly, about 1 1⁄8 of an inch. This user, one-eighth, sorry, one-eighth of a turn. The user must find for themselves the adjustment which basically is best results for them, right? Is this a myth or a legend?
Does it actually work? Well, it somewhat, yes, does work, and the reason is, why would there be an adjustable razor, right? So Gillette saw this back in the day, right, when they were making three-piece razors, and they said, you know what? A lot of people are doing this.
They want a more aggressive shave. They want a milder shave. Why don’t we give them the option and make an adjustable razor? So what adjustable razor does, it adjusts the gap.
It adjusts the tension of the blade and adjusts the gap to make it either closer or milder, right, not as close. So when you untighten the blade, you make the blade, I think, in my opinion, which is pretty true, you make the gap a little bit larger, right? You’ll make it a little bit looser, or I’d say the gap will be changed to the point where it’ll be a little bit more aggressive, right? You’ll have a little bit more space, because when you tighten it up, it’ll tighten it, you’ll see the blade will concave a little bit, and you’ll have more of a, it looks like probably more of a, less of a gap, right?
A blade gap, which we call it. And it gives a little bit more of an aggressive shave. If you shim it up a little bit, that can give you a little bit more space, that can maybe make it a little bit, I would say, milder, right? It would be a milder shave.
So, that’s on that sense. A lot of people will like to adjust their shave and adjust the way they do it. So that customized shave came across really back in the late 1950s. And when they made the twist to open razors, you really couldn’t get too much of an aggressive, of a different shave with the blade, not the blade, gap blade exposure on it, right?
I think I said blade gap before. I really kind of, I think it changes the gap a little bit, but that doesn’t have too much to do with this. It changes with the blade exposure by slightly exposing the blade a little bit more, giving you more of an aggressive shave when you do loosen the handle. When they switched to twisted open TTOs, right, you really couldn’t do that because if maybe an eighth of a turn, you probably could, right?
And it wasn’t so much with a three-piece razor, it’s a lot easier to do. It would, I guess you could say, it would open up those doors a little bit, those silo doors, which can get in the way and it really wouldn’t hold the blade down. So you got to be kind of careful with that. I wouldn’t recommend it.
So that’s why you can do like a shim. And what a shim could be, they make shims, some companies make shims, like some 3D printing guys make, I know Frugal Shave makes one. But you can just take a regular blade, right? A blade, double-edged blade, and then take a pair of scissors or tight scissors very carefully and cut the blade part off.
Cut the cutting edge off. You can shim your razor like that and that will make it a little bit less aggressive, right? It’ll decrease the blade exposure if you wanted to shim it. So, you know, there’s a couple ideas there you can do with the razor.
So, when people ask, hey, does loosening the handle work? Yes, it does. It’s not recommended in modern day, but it does actually make your shave different. And Gillette, in Proof in the Pudding, right in the show notes is an excerpt right from Gillette where they said, hey, yeah, this will adjust it.
And this is where the idea for an adjustable razor came from. Because a lot of people wanted more aggressive, less aggressive. They were shimming it. They were doing all these other things.
And Gillette’s like, hey, you know what? We got this. We’ll make this. We’ll come out with it.
And whether or not Gillette was the first one to do an adjustable razor still is, you know, I guess is subjective. A lot of people think that Apollo made the first one. The Micron was one of the first adjustables, which is very true. It could be.
But for argument’s sake, we’ll say that Gillette did it, and that’s where they came up with the idea of the adjustable. Now, you can do this with a regular razor, a three-piece razor, or honestly, any razor you own. I’ve done it before, and shimming it and stuff can work, or you can get different blade gaps or blade exposures or different types of top caps and guards as well. So, that’s my thought on that.
Is it a myth or does it actually work? It does actually work. The only thing is, you know, we use some caution. If you loosen it too much, you might get some blade chatter.
If the blade moves around, you can cut yourself or you can get a really uneven, very, very terrible shave, like it won’t be very consistent and it’ll be kind of aggressive and cause some irritation. So just be careful with it. But understand, yes, it does work. And if you wanted to, there’s plenty of sites out there and stuff to show you some information.
But again, take it all with a grain of salt. It’s all subjective. A lot of people think this is the right way, that’s the right way, whatever. But there is, you know, different ways of doing it.
And remember, your mileage will always vary when it comes to wet shaving. So are you going to cut your first strop? All right, let’s do this scenario. Let’s see where you’re at.
You just started straight razor shaving, right? Or you decided, I want a straight razor shave. In order to do so, you have to purchase a straight razor, of course, right? And a strop to keep it sharpened at the bare minimum.
If you don’t want to go with the stones and with all that other stuff, you need to at least get a strop. Well, the first question is, hey, am I going to cut my strop? A lot of people say I should get a dummy strop or a cheap strop or a practice strop. before I do that because I’m going to cut it.
Well, are you? Well, to answer that question, I would say a big fat maybe, right? I personally have not nicked every single strop I’ve ever owned. Have I cut it to the point of no return?
No. Can you repair a nicked strop? Yes. So it happens, and when it does happen, the first time especially, especially if it’s a newer strop, it stings.
I have actually purchased strops that I’ve avoided using because I didn’t want to strop it. I didn’t want to make a mistake and nick it or slice it because I spent either a lot of money on it or I really wanted one. I’ll give you an example. I bought a Tony Miller strop.
I have a brand new Tony Miller strop. I was so scared to use it. It was still in the original packaging for years. Right?
Because I know Tony Miller is the modern strop gentleman. He’s the guy that’s been doing this, Hair Loom Strop Company, if you have never heard of him. He’s been making strops since I’ve been wet shaving, so a while. And they’re really special.
And honestly, I’m afraid he’s gonna retire soon and won’t be able to buy a new one. So I wanted to keep one in really good shape. and I didn’t use it, and you know what? If I use it, I’ve used my Illinois strops, I’ve used my straight razor play strops, all my other ones that I’ve owned, I’ve nicked them a little bit, and you know what?
A little bit of a very fine grit sandpaper, 1,000, 2,000 grit, can take out most nicks, and then a little Neatsfoot oil can take care of it and make it really nice and shiny again and work, right? Leather is very durable. It’s a very durable product. And with the proper care, you can have a leather strop for years.
The question of the day is, are you gonna cut your first drop? Well, you know what, a lot of people do, a lot of people don’t, but you know, if you do, it’s not the end of the world, so don’t worry about it. But yes, you are probably gonna cut your first drop. You’re also probably gonna cut yourself when you’re shaving with a straight razor.
It might be a little nick here and there, but I very, very rarely have ever met anyone who said they’ve never cut themselves with a straight razor or a safety razor, right? We’ve all done it, we’ve all nicked ourselves, we’ve all had a little bit of blood here and there, and you know, it happens. I wouldn’t put too much emphasis on this one, guys. If you do end up cutting your strop, big deal.
Everything will be okay. You’ll be able to get another one or fix your strop with a little bit of tools and elbow grease. You’ll have it back to normal. And finally, the collector series of this month, I cannot believe I haven’t mentioned this yet, and I was looking through the notes, and I was really looking to see, hey, what can I get for this, or what would be a great item to talk about, and there’s nothing
better than talking about P160 Tipo Morbido shaving soap. Now, this shaving soap was a staple for Italian barbers for years, right, years and years and years. It’s a scent that’s very known with Italian barbershops to the point where many people have replicated this scent in Italy as well. You know that almond sherry scent that you usually get with some Italian soaps?
That’s where this came from, P-160. Now, there is a whole line on this actual shave soap company, right? There’s a whole bunch of where the number P-160 comes from. There’s two different versions of the P160.
You have a hard and a soft version, the soft one being like a paste, almost like a cream, and the hard version being hard like a bar soap. And it really was like a staple for barbers and a lot of people who went to Italy or lived in Italy knew the scent and enjoyed it, right? They knew it and they felt, hey, this is what a barbershop should smell like. I agree with them.
Having never had a shave in Italy, I do know that just smelling it does smell very clean and fresh. So, it really, the soap’s popularity emerged really in probably the 2000s, early 2000s, when wet shaving became more popular on the internet, right? More guys would try it and they’re like, hey, I was in Italy, I tried the soap. Well, hey, I want to try that.
They look it up, they find it online. Pretty soon vendors picked it up. And now, and then you can get it in the United States with no problem, right? Or if you’re in Italy, you can get it just going to the store.
And a lot of people were getting into this and saying, this is a great soap. Well then, I think about 10 years ago now, maybe a little bit less, a little bit, give or take a year, P160, the company went out of business. They shut down, right? They retired, whatever.
I’m not sure what happened. And the P160 was out there and gone. And then I think Razor Rock took it. They made our own version of that soap, which is really nice.
It was very close to it. And they sold it for an affordable price, very similar. And it was great. It even had like similar packaging to it.
A friend of mine, a wet shaving friend, gave me a small puck of the original 160. I still have it. I’ve only used it a few times. And it still has that really good smell.
I’m keeping it as like a, really it’s a collectible item because I’m never gonna get real P160 again. And there was, I think Razor Rock was selling the last two or three kilogram block of it that they bought from the factory, from the actual manufacturer, to do like a donation of $10,000. So if you buy it, they would donate $10,000 to somebody or whatever. and they were charging $10,000 for it, so that was the end of that.
And you can find some people that have it here and there, but I mean, really, the most up-to-date version of this now, the newest version gets over 10 years old, so you’re not gonna get a very, you know, the original version anymore. You know, it’s got some age to it, usually soaps get hard when they get older, they lose their scent, but they still retain their latherability, so they’re still very good. But this is a soap, man, this is, if you haven’t tried it, it’s really good stuff. Razor Rock 160, I don’t know if they still make it.
I think I still have a little bit left there. I might have used all mine up. I really enjoyed that scent as well. And it was the closest thing to it, but also you can use, there’s a couple other scents out there that are very similar to it, got that ominousness to it.
You already know which ones I’m talking about. So I think a couple of them you can just look up the scent and you’ll see it and get your take on it. Really we salute you p160 even being out of the game for some time You are the collectible soap of the of the the episode and the first one. I think I’ve actually Featured on the show in the collector series All right, guys, so well, that concludes the podcast for this week.
I know a little bit shorter on content than usual, mainly because I’ve been working on, well, I’ve been working on that fall seasonal special coming up. And this is a really special one because this is the 10th anniversary of the fall seasonal special. I just went through it. I linked in the show notes every single episode that we’ve had with Sharp Biologist so you could see over the years how it’s gone through.
We’ve got 2016 through 2024 with 2025 coming up on the next show in two weeks. I’ve been spending a lot of time on that, so that’s kind of why I’m a little bit short on content and making it really fun for the 10th anniversary. I will do some throwbacks to the best of each year, I think, and I got a little bit of a couple of surprises coming up throughout the years of the Wet Shaving Talk podcast and this actual special itself. One thing I gotta say guys, I look forward to, even though we’re not talking one-on-one, I feel like I’m still talking to you guys and I hope that you guys find some solace with this podcast and listening to this stuff.
Especially try to make it around that 20 minute mark so when you go to work, that’s about the average commute so you can get it for a drive to work and be able to listen to the whole thing. And I think that’s what I really enjoy when I listen to podcasts. My commute’s about 45 minutes, so if I can get something in between that, I’m good to go and I don’t have to live in a cliffhanger. Guys, as always, feel free to email me at joe.whatshavingnews at gmail.com.
And don’t forget, our podcast is presented by Sharpologist, what your father didn’t teach you about shaving. Don’t forget to check out my blog site, ShaveStraightAndSafe.com, and take a look at my book, The Modern Guide to Straight Razor Shaving, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Pasteur’s Pharmacy in New York City. If you’re a vendor and you want to be featured on a show, you have any questions, always feel free to email me. And guys, until our next show, the fall seasonal special coming up in a couple of weeks.
Shave straight and shave safe. Bye-bye now.
