Wet Shaving Talk For 15 January 2024

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 Jan 15th 2024.

Today on the Show:

I’m Back 

My Book is now available on Kindle

Shavemac discontinuing Custom Shave Brushes 

Proof Razors 

New Year : New You! How to pick a new look and/or scent. 

Maintaining a Clean Beard 

Now Available on Kindle 

My book is now available on Kindle for $9.99!  

Click here for more information 

Shavemac Disco Custom Shave Brush Option  

Longtime custom shave brush maker Shavemac has decided to discontinue the custom shave brush option.  There is still time to order one before the deadline. 

Regular brushes will still be available. 

Proof Razors

A new razor with a pivoting head and using half a DE blade. 

New Year : New You! How to pick a new look and/or scent.  

Happy New Year Everyone!!  

How that we have officially started 2024 how about a new look or scent?  Thinking about growing a beard?  Want to try a new cologne?  No time is better!  

I’ll tell you my thoughts! 

Maintaining a Clean Beard 

Growing a beard has been becoming more popular since the pandemic. More and more people are trying it.  I do have a few “pointers” to help direct you to having the perfect beard!

1. Determine a shape 
2. Maintain it! Especially when growing it out!
3. If you can’t then don’t

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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.

Are you interested in sponsoring an episode? Contact Me!!!

If you’re a vendor and would like to be featured on the show please contact me!!

Next Show: 1/30/24

Until then… Shave Straight and Shave Safe!! 

Please check out my book: “The Modern Guide to Straight Razor Shaving”

Transcript (Machine-Generated)

You’re listening to Wet Shaving Talk, powered by Sharpologist dot com, where we’re dedicated, preserving the art and skill. Classic shaving. I’m host Joe Borrelli and today is January 15th, 2024.

Hello everyone, and welcome back to the Wet Shaving Talk podcast on this first episode of 2024. First and foremost, Happy New Year, everybody. This has been a great start to the New year. Looking really looking forward to seeing all the new products coming out and just the excitement in the in the watching world and what the year will, will, will bring us.

Uh, first off, I wanted to say I am back. Everything is fine and nothing was wrong. I understand. I got a few emails saying, Hey Joe, when’s the next show? And it’s been about a month. Um, well, to be completely honest, this time of the year, uh, the holidays, it’s very tough on US retail workers as being a retail worker myself, it just takes a lot of time out of my day, and I put a lot of effort into my job during that time. So I usually kind of, um, the, the podcast kind of takes a second, I guess, second string take kind of a seat on the shelf. And usually I try to put out a show during that time. I just I couldn’t do it this year.

So probably moving forward, guys, I’m going to probably hold off on the last two weeks of the year and just, you know, kind of take those two weeks off, come back first, second week of January refreshed, ready to go with some good content. But it was a great holiday season, I have to say. You know, a lot. I saw a lot of great products. I saw a lot of new looks. I saw a lot of new products, uh, a lot of guys getting some good deals out there.

I think 2023 was a year of the of the wet shaving, uh, deal, I mean, sales, it was the most sales I’ve ever seen, most deals that I’ve ever seen. I’ve seen, you know, anybody every single retailer had something going on, you know, art of shaving. They went out and they came out with, um, a new like, uh, I guess straight razor campaign. They were selling for like 25 bucks, some of them 50 bucks. It was just really very exciting to see all the sales and everything. So it does make it look like that. Um, it’s getting more popular. What, shaving in that? We are here today, as I say, every year.

Uh, so what’s in store for 2024 for the podcast? Going to keep a regular schedule. Of course we’re going to get new stuff and we’re going to get a little bit more into, um, a little bit more of a men’s style and, and grooming and style and just and fashion type thing just to get more because I’ve been getting a lot of, of emails regarding, hey, I see how that works. But, you know, I want to start a new look. I want to get a new scent, you know, how do I do that? And I really don’t get into that much stuff. So, uh, this week we’re going to start off with that, a little bit of that. We’re going to get a little taste of that.

So first off a happy New Year everybody. Uh we’re going to talk about the new book. My book is actually available on Kindle now as of last week. So you can purchase it on Kindle and have an e-book copy of it for a little bit for, uh, about half the price of the regular paperback book. We have a shave Mac. Long time shave brush maker. Custom Shave Brush Maker is discontinuing the custom option as of February. So that’s some big news there. Uh, we’ll also go over a little bit of the rumors and a little bit of, uh, the, the you know, what the, the understanding of what’s going to go on with that company and, and see if they’re going to still be in business. Proof razors is a relatively new razor. They just redesigned their latest model and it’s pretty interesting. So we’ll talk a little bit about that. Uh, new year, new you. How do you pick a new look and or scent? A lot of people go through New Year’s resolutions. I’m a big one on New Year’s resolutions myself and some people looking for a new new look, new fresh start. That’s what I love about the new year. It’s a fresh start, fresh way to really just build upon your life and your with everything and every aspect of it. And what better way to do it than with a new look and or scent and maintaining a clean beard? This is a pet peeve of mine, guys. I see this a lot. I’m going to tell you the do’s and don’ts with a beard. It’s seeing that they’re becoming more and more, uh, popular. And that they are becoming more and more, um, accepted in the workplace. How to make sure your beard is maintained clean, and what is acceptable way of growing a beard, and how to look really good, and actually to really look presentable in every single occasion with your beard. We’ll get a little bit into that.

And also, guys, another thing just happened a few weeks ago. Uh, Art of shaving, if you want to talk about that, what’s going on with them? Uh, and we’ll, we’ll start to show off with that as well. So without further ado, let’s get on with the show. All right, guys, as you know, Art of shaving is one of the largest. What was one of the largest? Actually the only retail store for like, traditional wet shaving as asterisks. Yes. I know a lot of you guys are saying, oh, yeah, they’re not doing this and that. They sold this kind of razor.

But to be really honest, they did sell a lot of traditional wet shaving products. They closed their last two stores, their last brick and mortar stores, uh, over the holiday season, which is a little bit of a disappointment for me. So the one in Disney Springs closed down and also the flagship store in New York City. They decided to close down all retail locations, and they’re going to go solely online. Now, what does this mean to the wet shaving world or the wet shaving community? Not much. Honestly guys, since Covid, a lot of people have gone to the online shopping platform and they’re just not going into stores as much. And for something that’s special, like specialty, it’s probably hard to maintain a profit in a store that’s run by a corporation. Right? If it was an individual like franchise or something like that, probably be a little bit easier to make a little bit more, uh, but it’s hard to do that and probably turn a profit.

So the one last store that closed was Disney Springs location, which is the one I’ve been to. A little bummed out because I was going to I actually had a plan to go there, and they were talking about carrying the book that I wrote in their store until I guess now that’s not going to happen. But it was um, it was on the it was actually on the, um, on the table there. I went to talk to the store manager. Last time I was there, he said, yeah, they were going to carry it. It got approved. And then they decided, well, we’re in a closing. So that’s that’s it, that’s that. So Art of shaving, we salute you. We hope to see stores of yours maybe reopen in the future, but if not your the products are still very readily available online at and actually with good pricing as well. You can get a good discount on them now with sales and promotions that they they run.

Now available on Kindle. The modern Guide to Straight Razor Shaving is available. It’s 999 for instant download on Amazon. I put the link in the show notes right where, um, the actual picture is, so you can click right on that. You have the option of buying either the the paperback or the e-book Kindle version, which is something I got. That’s actually the most emails I received was, Hey Joe, when are you gonna have it on an e-book? I want an e-book. And you know the reason why I didn’t do it at first? Because everybody’s asking me why did you only offer paperback is, I guess because it was traditional wet shaving, and I wanted to keep it in, like an old fashioned format and actually have a physical copy of the book being able to be delivered.

And you have something to read, right and to hold. But I didn’t realize in this digital age how many people wanted the e-book. So as of January 3rd, it has been available. It’s 9.99 for instant download, and it will be, um, you know, around for quite some time. We’ve sold already quite a few of them. Uh, link is in the show notes, and also the possibility of a hardcover coming out in the next month. So that might be something that I might do if I get some if I generate, if there’s some interest generated for it.

So guys, if you’re interested for a hardcover version, give me a ring at my or send me an email at joette. Shaving news at gmail.com. So Shave Mac is discontinuing their custom Shave brush option, which was very misconstrued online when they actually announced it.

So if you’re unaware, if you’re unfamiliar with Shave Mac, Shave Mac has been around for about almost 30 years. He’s a custom shaver, excuse me, shave brush maker in Germany, and they’re available. Really? You can buy premade brushes or have a custom one. I do have one custom Ebene one, which is one of my favorite brushes. Custom not too. So they do. He does. Um, uh, Bert does. Custom tie every not so to your to your preference right. Or I think you believe he does. He has several knots of his own. But there he is decided to discontinue the custom shave brush option. And the deadline is I think mid February. So you order it now you’ll get it. Uh, mainly what he’s doing now.

A lot of people thought he was closing down. He’s not closing down. He’s just going to premade brushes. So it’s just gonna be like a web store. Now I think this will be. This is probably a good move. I can probably tell. I can tell you just I’m speaking to some other custom shave brush makers. There’s a lot of work that goes into this. There’s a lot of people that probably have ideas, change them a million times, or have the impossible idea. There are also guys that get on the list and order, and then they pull out at the last minute, right? They come out, they don’t want to do it. They say, oh, I don’t have the funds or anything. I just put my name on the list.

And that could be very frustrating. I know, I believe I spoke with, um, uh, Peter from Wolf Wolf Brushes and he said the same thing. Like, you know, that was probably he has a lot of people. They’ll go on the list and then time comes. They don’t do it or they just, you know, they’re they’re dragging or something. That’s why he’s so organized on his system. So I think this is probably one of the reasons here why this is happening. The brushes will still be available. And, you know, never say never. They might be able to bring back the custom brush option maybe in the near future.

But until then, guys, if you got about a month to get your your orders in, if you want one, get it. It takes about 2 or 3 months to get the brush, but it’s well worth it. I can tell you. Mine is one of my favorite parts of my collection and one of my favorite brushes, so I definitely highly recommend it. I also recommend his off the shelf brushes as well. I think they’re just as good.

Proof razors is a relatively new concept. This now. This razor uses a, has a pivoting head and uses half of a double edged blade. Right to work. It looks very much like the one blade with the same spring in it. I mean, this looks like it could be like a one blade option type razor, which is which. As you guys know, I’m a fan of the One Blade because it’s new technology with an old process or old, um, concept. Right? It’s the first of the traditional wet shaving razors with a brand new concept that was made in sin that we’ve seen. Right?

It’s not double edged. It’s not a single edge, really. It’s kind of it is a single edge, but it’s kind of its own thing. This razor kind of goes into that category. It’s been getting very good reviews, price points, about 150, I think for the aluminum. And I think um, which is I think fair enough in that with the technology and everything with that and they are now updating their they updated one of their razors and it’s coming out with an updated version. But if you haven’t seen them guys, I would definitely take a look. I’m searching on their website right now, and I’m really impressed with some of the reviews that they were on there.

And also the razor itself, it does look like it’s it’s high quality. It’s got that spring in there in the middle of it, and I’m sure it shaves very well. Now, if it’s anything like the one blade, I think you’ll be very pleasantly surprised with it. The one blade is a good razor. It’s the beauty of the one blade is you can use it kind of like a cartridge razor, or you can use a little pressure on it. It’s very forgiving and does work very well. Good quality. This one has magnets in it to keep, I guess to keep it together. It has a, uh. What’s new and different with the new one is they put stronger magnetic magnets on it, a little bit of a longer grip handle, and they, um. Made off like a flow through design to make it with bigger slots, just to make sure that glides right through and just doesn’t clog.

So I think they’ve they worked out the kinks in the first one, which I didn’t know if there was many to begin with. And now it’s coming out as a new version and I think version 2.0 or so, I don’t know what they’re calling it, but it’s definitely one of the cooler razors out there. New concepts. If you’re looking for something different or something for the new year, I would probably pick one of these up. I’m going to hold off right now myself, because I’ve just got so much stuff, and I’m actually starting to let some things go and sell it out, uh, to get some new stuff in. So but yeah, this is definitely on the wish list, so check it out, guys. Proof razor available in aluminum. Metal.

So happy New Year everybody. How to pick a new look and or scent or both. Right. Everything and or. All right. So new year, new you. Do you guys do anything different? So now that we’ve officially started 2024. Are you thinking about growing a beard? Are you think about getting rid of your beard or you want to try a new Cologne. This is the best time to do it. And I’m going to tell you why it’s a new year. You could start off with a big impression and you can also, you know, it’s like turning a page. That’s why I love New Year’s. I love New Year’s. I’m one of the few people that you’ll ever meet that loves Mondays. I love Monday because it’s a new, fresh start of the new look. Excuse me. New week, new look. I can start anytime, but I like Mondays. One thing. I have a very big tradition for Mondays and for for that.

And what I do is I make sure that I am, you know. Like to be 100% clean clothes like all my clothes cleaned Sunday. So I have everything ready. Iron shirt I like looking good on Monday because it gives me a good start of the week. Gives me a good kick start of the week. You know I drink good coffee on Monday. I usually I usually got eat a good lunch on that day. I like a good like strong start of the week to really just just to get the set the pace for the rest of the week of just a bunch of positive work and just and, and actually efficient work, which I think helps. And I’ve been doing this for years. So New year is like a big change. It’s like a it’s like a big Monday. You could start everything new.

So a lot of guys have been asking me, you know, they want to do some other stuff other than just wet shaving. So I’m thinking this is a great way to do it. If you’re looking to grow a beard, this is the time to do it. If you’re looking to shave your beard, do it. Look for a new look and how to pick out a new scent. So picking out a new scent. So there’s a lot of guys that you know, some of us have hundreds of soaps or whatever and different aftershave. You use something different every day.

But when it comes to Cologne, most guys have about three, 1 to 3 colognes that they’re really passionate about and one that’s their signature scent. If that’s if that’s you, you can pick it out. Your scent and the way to do so is one. Just go to the the mall, right. Macy’s or something like that. You can go and smell a bunch of different scents. Even if you’re looking for a traditional wet shaving product. Most of the scents have originated from some of that stuff, so you can get an idea of what you like your Google search. What’s similar to this scent? Like if you like Savage, right? If you want to see that, you know that Phoenix Aartisan accoutrements, they make a savage homage, right? They make something that’s similar to it. You can do that.

And that’s a great way to do to pick a scent or pick or get a new, you know, idea of what you want to, you know, basically smell like in the new year. So picking a new look in that really you first off, I would check with your significant other. Right. See what they like I get it, you want to do what you want to do and I do too. But you know what? Sometimes it’s fun to get some opinions from somebody else that’s got to see you every day. Right. So. Or deal with it.

So it’s, it’s pretty good idea to check with them or at least ask their opinion before you do something. Example, if you want to grow a Fu Manchu right, and your significant other isn’t too crazy about that, you may cause more harm than good by changing your look to that, right? So put two and two together. Think about it. Make sense? So yeah, kind of like consult other people a little bit. Ask them if that’s if that’s what they think you should look like. And then go for a look for yourself. You know, a new haircut.

I don’t talk much about haircuts because I don’t have any. I don’t really have any hair on the top of my head. So I’ve been shaving my head for many years and I think, um, you know, that’s an also another option as well, you know, taking a look at that. So new year, new look, new scent. Check out as many scents as possible by sample packs that if you want from certain vendors and get that scent and then get a nice set and then try it out and see how it works, right. If you get compliments at work, hey, that’s great. Sometimes I get compliments with my my, uh, Cologne that I wear.

Sometimes nobody cares, you know, that’s life. But as long as I like it and as long as you know, I feel like that’s me. I like to change it up every year to. I like to buy new Cologne here and there as soon as I’m out with it. Usually takes about a year for me to go through a bottle. When I’m done, I like to get something different, try it out unless I really like it, and then I buy it twice. So that’s I don’t think that’s ever happened. So no time is better guys to try something new. Do it now 2024. And if you have any good stories, send it to me Joel at wetshaving News at gmail.com and I will definitely share it on the show. Now here’s coming up with a big little deviation, part of the, uh, the podcast here, but does coincide with wet shaving. And, um, this is some good advice for you, uh, for you guys out there with a beard because, um, you know, there’s a lot of times that’s a pet peeves, especially with employers.

Me being one myself when I’m, when I’m looking at people and hiring them to with a beard because it is more accepted. Most workplaces accept it. Right. And it’s important to make sure you you maintain it. And a little bit of effort goes a long way with your look and is very, very much noticeable from other people. It gives you a nice, fresh look that makes you look like you’re putting in that extra detail into your appearance. So with more and more people doing it, here are a couple pointers. First off, determine a shape. When you are growing a beard, do you want your whole neck and everything to have a beard? Do you want only like a partial beard? Right?

That goes from your sideburn width all the way down to the end of your chin. That doesn’t go past your your chin line, right? The jawbone. Do you want it like half and half? Do you want just like a little line period, you know, or or something like that. Right. Do you want to do a mustache? Do you not want to do mustache? Do you just want to have your chin with, uh, you know, with, uh, facial hair and nothing else? Do you want to just do a goatee, you know, determine what you your look is? And remember, one thing that’s beautiful about this. You can change it, right? You can let some grow out. You can shave it. You can play around with it. Just, um, determine what you want to start off with first and then stick to it. Stick to that shape.

So maintaining it, especially when it’s growing out. This is another very important pointer or step with with a beard. Uh, if you have a beard and you have determining you, first you determine the shape and now you’re going to determine the the height, right. What is your height going to be. Do you want to do long beard. Do you want to do a shorter beard. Does your work allow you to have a certain beard over 1 or 2in thick? Think about this, that and then maintain it. Meaning trim it. And then kind of like, clean it up at least twice a week, right? Even if you’re growing a big beard, unless you’re growing like something and you want to look like, you know, have like a z.z top beard, which a lot of guys that listen to this do, you know, you’re going to have to kind of trim it up and just a little bit, even if it’s just a little bit eighth of an inch, it does look good when you do that. It looks uniform and clean.

Now, myself personally, I do grow a beard myself now, right? I, uh, my shape is I get it grow about about a half an inch under the jawline and I maintain my neck and then the points of my cheeks where it grows out to keep it straight. I do that every day. When I shave, I shave with a straight razor. Whatever razor I’m using, I do that and I maintain it to keep it lined and cut. And then every two days I trim it with a beard trimmer under the three settings. So I don’t have a very large, um, you know, like a, like a very thick beard. But I do have. But I do have somewhat of a more modern beard, like one of the shorter ones that most people do. Not a 5:00 shadow.

It’s, you know, it’s but it looks a little bit long longer than that. Excuse me. So looking at that. Know what you want your height and then maintain it. I do it every two days, so I do it Monday, Tuesday, whatever, just to keep it nice and fresh. Because when I go to work, I want I want to make sure I look good and I want to make sure I’m presenting myself well when I you never know when you’re going to have a meeting or a visit or something like that with some with corporate officers or anybody else, or especially if you’re doing, you know, zoom calls or something like that. I always want to look fresh and clean. And then if you can’t, don’t. All right.

So this is something that I see a lot. It’s kind of a pet peeve of mine. There’s some people are very blessed to have very thick facial hair. Right. You have a long you can grow a huge beard. Some people can grow it. Some people need to shave probably twice a day if they if they could. Right. They have a very thick beard. And there’s also some men out there that that can’t. Right. They have blotches, blotches of just bare skin on their, on their, on their face. And it just doesn’t get uniform. You need to make sure you have a uniform. Look, the worst thing to do is have a beard with like only parts of your face growing it. This happens with younger men, right? Until you grow up. Or some people just don’t don’t grow that much, right? And that’s fine.

But when you look like that, it it just doesn’t look clean and cut without being able to have like a line or having it look good. So if you can’t really grow a certain area on your face, don’t do it. Example if on your cheeks you can’t grow, uh, you have like blotches of like of, like bare skin. No hair grows there. Then maybe just eliminate and grow the goatee if you can. If you can’t grow a mustache, don’t don’t do that. Maybe grow just a chin, but make sure you maintain it. Just don’t just let it go because it doesn’t look. It looks unclean and unkept and it kind of looks almost like, uh, you know, you’re not really taking care of yourself. And if you really want to look, you know, get that extra touch, make sure you just keep it clean like that. Right? You just you just keep that. If you can’t just take it off. Right. You just you wait a little bit in time.

When I was younger, I tried to grow a beard. I couldn’t, I had the blotches. My father told me the same thing. He’s like, hey, man, you don’t look good. Take it off when you get older and you can grow it out. Right. So that’s kind of what I did, right? And I didn’t start growing a beard until I was like 39, 38 years old. So I think 30. Yeah. 39. So, uh, just doing that. I think that would be a good look. So guys, remember keep it clean, keep it, keep it shaped up, keep it aligned and keep it trimmed up. And you will have a great look with your beard. People will notice because it does look like you’re taking that extra attention into yourself and to your into your presence. Uh, and, you know, actually, um, you know, really look, you’ll really make a difference, right? So just my $0.02 on maintaining clean beard, making sure you look good and giving you guys some advice in that area. If you like stuff like this, if you want to do more, um, kind of like offshoots like this, it’s still kind of wet shaving. Let me know. I’m definitely a add a little a couple minutes into it on every podcast.

All right everyone. So that concludes the show for this week. Remember our show is powered by Sharpologist dot com. What your father didn’t teach you about shaving. So until next time, guys. The next show will be on the 30th of January on the regular schedule. Looking forward to seeing you all. Then again, don’t forget you can contact me anytime at Joe Chevy News at gmail.com and check out the book The Modern Guide to Straight Razor Shaving, available in both Kindle and paperback form. Until then, guys, the 30th of January. Shave straight and shave safe. Bye bye now.