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 July 14th, 2025.
Today on the Show:
New Razor from Razor Emporium
Wet Shaving Scams on the Rise. How to Defend Yourself
Best Cheap Wet Shaving Products
Collector Series: Oliworks: Some Amazing Stuff!
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New Razor from Razor Emporium “The Page”
Description from the Website:
“Introducing The Page – the newest addition to the Rex Supply Co. collection and a proud evolution of our commitment to American craftsmanship.
Machined in-house at Razor Emporium in Phoenix, Arizona and anodized locally in Tempe, The Page is our first double edge safety razor crafted entirely from aluminum. The Page will be offered in Aircraft Aluminum & Jet Black. This material offers a lighter weight without compromising the precision, balance, and performance synonymous with the Rex name.”
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Wet Shaving Scams are on the Rise
Scams are on the rise in the wet shaving world. I bever thought I’d ever cover this, but it’s important to be cautious when purchasing from the BST forums. Here are some tips to protect yourself:
- Do your research.
- Avoid purchasing from overseas from people you do not know
- Always use Goods and Services when paying with Paypal.
- Ask for references.
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Best Cheap Wet Shaving Products
Some of the best wet shaving products aren’t the most expensive. Just because they’re cheaper doesn’t mean they don’t work.
Some of my favorite cheap products:
-VDH Soap
-Gillette PermaSharp DE
-Old Spice After Shave
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Collector Series: Oliworks: Some Amazing Stuff
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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!!
Next Show: 7/28/25
Transcript (Machine-Generated)
Transcript generated by Transcript LOL
00:00 – 00:28
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 July 14th, 2025. Hey guys, welcome back to the podcast and boy do we have a good show for you today guys.
00:28 – 00:45
I’ve got some interesting stuff going on in the wet shaving world that I am very excited to talk about. We’ve got, we’ll just get right into it. We’ve got a new razor from Razor Emporium that debuted on July 4th. I thought that was a really cool, definitely cool marketing campaign for this razor.
00:46 – 01:02
and definitely was a good time to launch it. And we just started to see a few of the first video reviews actually come out two nights ago. So I wanted to talk a little bit about that. The conversation of the week is wet shaving scams are on the rise.
01:02 – 01:13
And this is something that I’ve noticed a lot. I’ve been seeing a lot. It’s a lot in general with a lot of things going on out there and with a lot of hobbies and stuff. But we’ve seen it in wet shaving more and more often.
01:14 – 01:23
How to defend yourself, what to look for. I’ll tell you everything that I know about that. Yes, I have been scammed in the past. Best cheap wet shaving products.
01:24 – 01:37
This was a thread on Badger & Blade that I really thought was interesting. Best cheap wet shaving products, meaning stuff that I would say would be under $20. What are your go-tos? I have a go-to for each category that I wanted to discuss with you.
01:37 – 02:22
Collector Series I saw a couple of them come out and I saw the kind of like the archives on their website and most of them are one-off so they do a couple of versions of them but you know it’s really a lot of craftsmanship on that really interesting pictures and I thought it was a cool concept so I want to discuss that as well. So guys without further ado let’s get on with the show. So Razer Emporium came out with a new Razer called The Page.
02:22 – 03:11
100% made by them in their warehouse and it’s a CNC machined razor from aluminum. And it’s actually a three piece razor and it’s completely made by CNC machining and I guess they anodize it in different colors if you want to do that. It comes in new packaging with Rex and Razor are the same company as you guys know. and it comes with their blades and ready to go and it’s actually a reasonable price under $200 so a lot of people have been talking about this razor and it debuted the pre-order was on July 4th So I thought it was really cool for the debut on July
03:12 – 03:16
4th, All-American Razor. It’s actually under $100. I’m sorry. I thought it was $175.
03:17 – 03:36
It’s $75. And the first reviews came in. They’re a little bit of a milder razor, but it looks like I have a feeling that Matt and his team at Razor Import are going to come out with something a little bit more aggressive or milder or different versions of aggressiveness with these razors because they can with now completely making the razor in-house.
03:37 – 03:50
So this razor is not like the other ones made out of stainless steel. Again, it’s made out of aluminum, anodized in different colors, so you can get a different color. I believe this one was black that I’m looking at. And it is made completely in-house with our new CNC machine.
03:50 – 04:57
I know you guys know we talked about it a few months ago, about them purchasing the machine and learning from another, from I believe it was Gates, the other razor company that taught them how to use it, and they’ve been using that CNC machine since. So here’s the final Razer Emporium Review Moving along to the conversation of the week, which is something I think, I’m surprised I haven’t mentioned it sooner. I think it’s a big deal and I think it’s something we need to watch out for because it is becoming more and more common than we thought. So scams are definitely on the rise in the shaving world, which is something that I thought I’d never ever would have to cover this.
04:58 – 05:10
When I started wet shaving, I noticed how great the community was. I was helped out by so many people. So many guys gave me a hand when I first started. They were like, yeah, let me send you this, let me send you that.
05:12 – 05:40
The friendship, it was just so nice. Everybody was so cool with the wet shaving world. And I thought, this is the hobby I want to be in because there was no scams and it didn’t seem like there was any problems. After about 10-15 years of wet shaving becoming mainstream, there have been some scams out there and a couple guys have been reporting that, you know, hey I got scammed out of a razor, I got scammed out of some money, I got scammed out of a trade.
05:43 – 06:06
Here’s a few things to do to make sure keep yourself safe in the wet shaving world. When you are working with the BST or selling through an individual and not going through like an approved vendor or like a secondary site such as Amazon, eBay or something like that. So here’s what I do. And I recommend that if you have any other notes or anything like that, please definitely send them to me.
06:06 – 06:13
But I recommend you guys do the same. So number one, do your research. Understand what you’re purchasing. Know it inside and out.
06:13 – 06:36
If you are purchasing something that’s high-end, such as an expensive razor or brush or something along those lines, make sure you do your research on the item and the seller. Understand that the item might be counterfeit. Not so much in the wet shagging world. I think we don’t see many fake items, right?
06:36 – 06:50
We don’t see a lot of fakes, but we do see items that may not be damaged, that may be damaged, or you may never get it in general. Like they say, oh, it got lost in the mail, or I never sent it, or you may do a trade and somebody may say, yeah, I’m going to send it to you and then you never get yours. That happened to me. That’s what happened to me.
06:52 – 07:10
So do your research on both the seller and on the item itself. Now if this seller is somebody that you do not know and have no affiliation with or your friends don’t know this person either, then really ask a lot of questions. Say, hey, where are you located? When are you going to ship if I purchase this?
07:11 – 07:43
do you have any you know what what type of PayPal or what type of payment you want to you want to you want to use and just listen to them there’s a couple of things that they may say that will that will honestly turn you on or off to the transaction and we’ll go over that in the next and the next two steps Avoid purchasing from overseas if you do not know the person. Now granted guys, I am all about international sales. Wet shavers are all over the world.
07:44 – 08:13
But the problem is, guys, with international shipping, it can get lost in the mail a lot easier than it can if you ship domestically. So I would avoid a ship, a person, a seller that’s outside of the country if you do not know them or you’re not backed by some form of protection, such as PayPal. or Amazon, eBay, somebody that can protect you so you actually can get your money back if that item never shows up, right? So, avoid overseas unless you know the person.
08:14 – 08:30
And when you do ship overseas or you do or they are going to ship to you from another country, make sure that you use one of the, you know, DHL, a shipping service. So, or DHL or another big service that works. So DHL is guaranteed. It’s international.
08:31 – 08:47
You can buy from anywhere. It’s quick and it may be a little bit more expensive but you can almost guarantee you will get your item with that. So I recommend using a major shipping service such as them if you do actually purchase from overseas. Always use goods and service when paying with PayPal.
08:47 – 09:02
Never send friends and family. This person that you’re buying the razor from or you’re buying their soap from or your brush, they are not your family, they are not your friend. Pay the fee and get the protection. It’s a transaction.
09:02 – 09:28
So therefore, you will be protected if your item doesn’t come by PayPal for a certain amount and you can file a claim if you don’t get it. If the seller does not want to go PayPal’s goods and services and you’re willing to pay the fee, run. Because this person is definitely scamming you. Nobody will ever say no to that, especially when you’re covering the fee and they’re getting the same amount of money that they should be getting.
09:29 – 09:47
It’s a percentage. Make sure you just figure it out properly and pay the person the right fee. If they say no to that, flag, leave the transaction right away. Just say thank you very much no matter what and only avoid doing any business with that person unless they are local and you want to just go meet up with them and pick it up, right?
09:47 – 10:24
Because I have a feeling if you do that, you’re not going to get your razor back or your soap or your brush. You’re not going to get your item and you’re going to lose your money because it’s friends and family and you can’t get it back. You can’t track it. Ask for references If they did, that person will definitely jump and say, yes, I did.
10:24 – 10:41
I had a great transaction. They’re good. I highly recommend them. If they didn’t, then I would say, if they say, no, it’s not a good transaction, or they don’t respond, then it might be another part of the scam.
10:42 – 10:53
I would probably stay away. So just be safe in that area, guys, especially with the references. Make sure you know the other person’s, like, not their friend or anything like that. And then just ask them, you know, a few questions.
10:53 – 10:58
Hey, I just need a few minutes of your time. What’s up with this guy? Is he good? Can I trust him?
10:59 – 11:11
Did you have a good interaction with him? Done. So really, in short, guys, make sure you protect yourself. A few things, like I said, never use goods and services when you’re doing a sale.
11:11 – 11:27
Always use a reputable shipping service, such as DHL if it’s overseas, USPS, UPS, FedEx. I like to do stuff FedEx now because I think it’s quicker. I don’t mind paying a little bit extra money because USPS is slow. It’s not very quick sometimes.
11:28 – 11:35
But you know what? As long as I’m protected, I’m good. If the person puts in a flat rate box, It’s protected for up to a couple hundred bucks. You’re good.
11:36 – 12:20
But for high-end transactions, definitely you want to work on doing that as well and just making sure that you get your item with the proper amount of insurance and everything so you are protected. And so is the seller. The seller also is investing in you. Watches are way worse than wet shaving and one guy always says, I don’t know if you guys have ever watched Luxury Bazaar, it’s a pretty cool YouTube channel.
12:21 – 12:43
A lot of people like the guy, they hate him, but the guy who runs the company, Roman, says, never, and I like this advice, buy the seller, not the watch, right? So I’m saying buy the seller for the razor or the brush, not the watch. Not the razor itself, buy the seller, right? If you know a good seller, you’re gonna get a good product.
12:43 – 13:03
You can rest assured your product will come in good shape. Another couple things, guys, is with shaving brushes, make sure, because brushes are astronomical in price right now, make sure you get a lot of pictures and ask these questions. Make sure it does not shed. It doesn’t have any scratches or dings in it.
13:03 – 13:22
or chips because this will totally ruin your experience with buying a shave brush from a seller, especially if you’re spending a lot of money. So just ask those questions. Make sure you take a look at it. You could see if you could start seeing some hairs on the brush rising up over the other ones, that means the brush is shedding and that means you want to stay away.
13:22 – 13:49
If you look at the handle and you see any chips, cracks or like anything, blemishes or anything like that, Stay away because it’s a bigger problem. So just make sure you watch yourself because that’s the item I got burned on was a shaving brush where I got it and was shedding like crazy and I tried to say, hey guy, man, I got this brush that’s not doing too good and the guy disappeared. So I never could find him again and I was out. Luckily it wasn’t a lot of money, but it was still, you felt like you were taken.
13:49 – 13:58
So it still wasn’t a good experience. I’m sorry I forgot to mention that. Shaving brush is important. Make sure you do your due diligence on that.
13:58 – 14:26
That’s one of the ones that I think become the most damaged or the most deviated from the actual listing itself, right? And not a good way. So moving along guys, there’s a lot of talk about best cheap wet shaving products on the forums right now, which I thought was really cool. I am a fan of cheap stuff.
14:27 – 14:35
And that doesn’t mean that it’s not good stuff, right? Cheap stuff. And I’m not talking about $40, $50. I’m talking about $10 and maybe $20, under $20.
14:36 – 14:49
So a couple guys are like, what are your best wet shaving products under $20? Cheap stuff. and some of them are really good, some of them, hey, not so much. And just usually it’s not so much the quality level, it’s just the material level.
14:49 – 15:20
Like, so a cheap safety razor might be made of plastic instead of metal. A cheap brush might be, you know, again, a boar hair and plastic for the handle instead of maybe something turned really cool and badger. and then there’s some really cool like over-the-counter, drugstore, Walmart, grocery store, like aftershaves and lotions that are really good too. So here are my top three cheap items under 20, well under $20.
15:20 – 15:30
Some of them, I think two of them, actually all of them are under $10. So here they are. Vanderhagen soap, the original one. You can’t see too much of that anymore.
15:30 – 16:07
That was my favorite all time. cheap soap I know it smelled pretty bad it was nice and fresh smelling I thought and for some reason like I went to go use mine the other day and I don’t have anymore I ran out so I used up mine and I went to go buy it and I noticed that they only do the luxury one now I can’t find the regular unless I want to pay like 30 or 40 dollars kind of like what will happen to Williams or discontinued it sounds like oh man that’s a bummer I really like that soap but it looks like I’m just gonna have to move on from it So Vanderhagen soap under $20, under $10 I think is a great soap for cheap stuff, readily available for the new one, the luxury edition.
16:07 – 16:15
I think it’s in like a black box. You can buy it on, I think Target has them in stock. You can get it on Amazon. But yeah, I love Vanderhagen products.
16:16 – 16:32
For a razor, Gillette Permasharp D. This razor is like, honestly it’s like $8 here in the United States, but in other places like $3. This double edge razor comes with blades. It’s made of plastic and I think some of them have metal on it.
16:32 – 16:39
The more expensive ones have a metal head. They’re really good for what they are. They’re nice and mild. They shave well.
16:39 – 16:52
Great to travel with. Great for head shaving. I’m not a big fan of the blades it comes with. But if you use your own blades, it’s actually a really good razor for like $7 or $8 shipped to your house.
16:53 – 17:25
And that’s overpaying for it, I think. I think it’s more of a $3 or $4 razor. Subscribe in US English And finally for an aftershave, I gotta go with grocery store or Walmart’s big box store Old Spice. Guys, Old Spice is always classic.
17:25 – 17:42
I think it’s still, even though the new formula is different, not a lot of people like it compared to the old one. I’m gonna give credit where credit’s due. It’s good and it works well and that classic scent is just nice. It is a nice refreshing scent sometimes to have.
17:42 – 18:14
So I’m gonna go And finally guys to finish off this podcast this week Collector’s Series by Oliworks. This is some amazing stuff. 3D printed, CNC machined, usually with two-tone color. The one on the show notes here, the picture I put, the first one is like an ocean scene, a wave.
18:14 – 18:41
I think they’re textured, they look really cool, and they look really fun. They’re a little bit on the expensive side, around $400, and they’re usually one-offs, so you’d have to buy a custom. But I do think it’s really one of those cool razors out there and I’m going to showcase more custom stuff here in the future because I think carbon shaving does some really good work with some of the Damascus steel stuff and some really different items. Wolfman does some great stuff as well.
18:41 – 18:50
But really these razors are fun. These look like a fun razor to shave with and collect. and I thought it was really, really cool that they came out with this. So, salute you Olliworks.
18:50 – 19:16
Another item that’s made in the United States, a small company that’s been making some really good pieces and been very popular and getting a lot of reviews out there. So, it’s olliworks.com, so check them out guys if you get a moment under the collector series so you can see those pictures and see some more in-depth detail on them and some more versions of it because I think it’s really cool and again, looks like a really fun razor to collect. All right, guys, that concludes the show for this week.
19:16 – 19:44
Remember, our show is powered by sharpologist.com, what your father didn’t teach you about shaving. A special thanks to MarkMantic59 for everything that he does for the wet shaving community, and especially for you guys, the listeners, for supporting the podcast for almost at the 10-year mark. We’ll be at 10 years in a couple of months, a few months. So don’t forget to check out my blog site, ShaveStraightAndSafe.com and always feel free to email me at Joe.WetShavingNews at gmail.com.
19:45 – 20:04
And also my book, The Modern Guide to Straight Razor Shaving is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, several other books websites and in brick and mortar at the Pasteur’s Pharmacy in New York City. So our next show will be on the 28th of July. Guys, until then, shave straight and shave safe. Bye bye now.
