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 November 27th 2023.
______________________________________________________________________________
Today on the Show:
Awesome Black Friday/Cyber Monday Sales!!!
I got a Straight Razor and strop for $70!!!
Tons of Christmas Themed Soaps!
New Book is out and Available!
______________________________________________________________________________
Best Black Friday/Cyber Monday!!!
I have to admit…. This was probably the best sales I’ve seen in wet shaving…..ever!
From a massive secret stash offering from The Holy Black, to huge sales offered at AOS, WCS and Maggards, the deals seemed to be endless!!!! Even Pasteur’s had a sale!
______________________________________________________________________________
I got a Straight Razor and Strop for $70 from AOS
I couldn’t resist!! AOS had a sale for $50 for a straight razor and $50 for a strop. I had a 30% off coupon and received both for $70! Use Apple pay for free shipping!
______________________________________________________________________________
Ton’s of Holiday Themed Soaps
I was pleasantly surprised to see how many holiday themed soaps are available. The most I’ve seen! 2023 has become the year to beat with releases!
_____________________________________________________________________________
The New Book is Here!
Yes, I wrote a book. “The Modern Guide To Straight Razor Shaving” was released on Nov 10th.
This was an idea of mine 4 years ago. After writing countless articles, I wanted to compile all the material into a physical book so wet shavers could have a “one stop shop” for all things regarding straight razors.
I began working on the project back in 2019, and had to put it on the back burner as “Life Happens” but was determined to finish it here in 2023 (This has been on my News Resolutions list for the past 4 years).
I had no idea what writing a book entailed, other than reading them and watching countless videos and reading literally every book I could find regarding wet shaving in order to understand what truly works.
After about a dozen or so drafts (yes really) and proofreading editing etc I was able to get what I feel is a good representation of how to use a straight razor in the 21st century.
I made a point of referencing my material from past publications, re-editing a lot of it, and adding some new stuff in the process. I did not use any AI (artificial intelligence) “helpers” , just good old fashioned writing and research.
This book is a true representation of how to be a straight razor user today and is my interpretation of it. I hope you enjoy it!
The new book is here! Available on Amazon. If your interested in carrying it at your shop please email me at [email protected]
______________________________________________________________________________
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: 12/11/23
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 to preserving the art and skill of classic shaving. I’m your host, Joe Berlin. Today is November 27th, 2023.
Hello everyone and happy holidays to you all from the Wet Shaving Talk podcast. I hope you guys had a great Thanksgiving list a few days ago. Actually, for those celebrating it and also a great start of the shopping season as we’ll get on with more of the show. Yeah, so I had a great Thanksgiving, was able to get some time off a day off here and there. As you know, being in the retail business, it is a very strenuous time of the year. So I always like to make a to let everybody know and just give everybody a little shout out there. For all you retail workers who went through a lot. I know, you know, not only for the grocery business and the wine and spirits and all that stuff going on the week prior, because Thanksgiving is a huge shopping day for food, as we all know, and especially here in the United States, it’s also big for the on the other side is and like retail sector as Black Friday and Cyber Monday kick off.
So everybody who’s in the retail world is working hard this week. So I hope you guys get some time off. Remember drink a lot of water, make sure you’re getting a rest and and know that it’s it’s just stuff. And people will be you know people are it may it might be very busy and very crazy packing orders and and having stuff going on. But remember it is just stuff. And everybody usually has the best intention when shopping. So that’s what I like to remind myself every time during this, every day during this time of the year. And I remember, you know, this is how we how we make our money and how we, how the world keeps going, turning around. Right. He’s spending money, keeps the economy going too. So shout out to all your retail workers out there.
So today on the show we’re going to talk about Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. It was incredible this year, in fact, so much I couldn’t even keep up with any of it. And I’ll tell you a little bit more about like the past of what shaving. You know, me being in this for about, what, 12 years now? 13 years, not being a wet shaver, I can tell you I’ll go over a few Black Fridays that I’ve seen and how it’s changed so much over the past ten, 12 years. I got. I actually got a straight razor and a strap for $70. Brand new. I’m going to tell you how I got it, where I got it from, and was it worth it? It was a good quality. Did I get a piece of junk? I’ll let you know further on in the show.
Tons of Christmas and holiday themed soaps. Since I have never seen this much since I’ve been doing podcasting and wet shaving and all the above, this year looks like the biggest year for that. I’ll go over a few of them with you. And of course guys a little bit more about my book. I know we talked about it. Last show book is out. It has been it’s being sold on Amazon. And I’ll tell you a little bit about how that experience is as well. So without further ado, guys, let’s get on with the show.
So this was the best Black Friday Cyber Monday sales I’ve ever seen in wet shaving. And I’ll tell you exactly how it went. I think it went from releases, new releases from literally like 10 or 15 artisans had releases of new items that came out. You have the best sales I’ve ever seen. I mean, literally every vendor was offering something on sale. I mean, you had pastors even with having a 20% off sale. I mean, it was incredible. Maggots, West coast shaving, art of shaving. You had holy black with a release. You have Razor Emporium with with a sale and a release. You have Phoenix, Arizona Christmas with a sale and release. You had declaration grooming with a sale. You have so many different places with sales that I could not even keep up. And what’s funny is when I first started in wet shaving, not one person ever did a sell.
And I’m laughing. I’m smiling because. I used to go and look online for what’s shaving stuff all the time, like when I first started wet shaving back in 20 1011 area. And that’s not that long ago in the name of game of of stuff, right? You know what? Shaving has been around for hundreds of years. And when we. When I first started, I remember there was nothing. Art of shaving didn’t offer any sale. Sometimes they offered, like a kit for $20. I mean, it was nothing. West coast shaving did maybe, you know, a little something. Maybe that they were. They were very small at the time. Magers. I don’t even know if they were around or had anything going, but it was nothing. It was literally like I would go online looking for stuff to purchase for Black Friday. And there was nothing. No offers, nothing, no releases, anything. You know, everybody kept the prices the same. So it really wasn’t very special or exciting. For what? Shaving.
Well, fast forward 12 years and there are so many sales out there. If you wanted something, this was the time to get it. I was very impressed with the amount of stuff that was on sale. It was incredible. Like I said, you had releases. Holy black had a huge secret stash release, the biggest they’ve ever had. They literally had like over over a dozen scents available that they’ve had in the past. Art of shaving. I’m going to tell you a little bit about their stuff. 20 to 80% off on some stuff. West Coast shaving did 20% off, did like 13 or 14% off everything, Pasteur said. 20%. I mean, even past stores had a sell. I’ve never even seen them have a sale, ever. And they’re offering online service to so really incredible guys. Very, very nice to see this.
And very exciting too. You know, I have to admit, it was great to actually be able to. Keep up and just run and go online and literally see all your emails, all of the vendors that you know and love just offering something. So if you hopefully you guys pick something up, if you didn’t, I’m sure there’s still time because I know today’s Cyber Monday. There’s still a lot of sales going on, so make sure if you’re going to get stuff for yourself or for your friends significant other, do it soon and get that stuff going so you get in time and save a little bit of money and support some of these small vendors and some of these small companies as well.
So how did I get a straight razor and a strap for $70? Brand new. So Art of shaving is a company that I actually, I actually really like Art of shaving, and a lot of people say they’re overpriced and stuff, and I think they were back in the day, but they’ve done a lot of changing since. I guess they’re since 2020 when they closed almost every single one of their locations. Now, I used to love going into art of shaving and purchasing some stuff from them and and walking around smelling the stuff, but unfortunately there’s only two brick and mortar stores left. There’s one in New York City, and there’s one actually close to me. No, not too close. It’s a few hours away in Orlando and Disney Springs, so I’ve been the one in Disney Springs, and I go in there and I’ll take a look when I’m in the area. You know, I live about 3.5 hours of south of, of Orlando, so it’s not out of the way we go there.
You know, we don’t have passes or anything to those parks, but we go probably once a year up there to see some things off. My parents actually live in the area, so I’m up there at least four times a year, if not more visiting and just stuff there. So we’ll pop in and take a look. It’s still pretty much the same it used to be, but they have sales on now for online and they were offering, believe it or not, straight razors for 50 bucks and drops for 50 bucks. When I saw that, I was like, okay, I’m in, but you know, am I getting. So they’re double straight razors. So you got the double straight razors are left. They only carry three.
At one point they carried like I think 8 or 9 different ones they have. They also had some things at Izard. Uh, straight razors as well. But now they only have, I think, 3 or 4. They have the stainless steel Delvaux. They have the Blackwood. Delvaux. And then they have the plastic double, and then they have, like Chevette. Right. So I was looking on. I saw any straight razor for $50. So I was saying, well, you know, one of my favorite straight razors that I own is that my wife got me back in 2011, and I still use it quite often, is a double from Art of shaving with with a wood handle. So I was like, you know what, for 50 bucks? For $50, I think this is a really good deal. And I think I’m going to I’m going to go for it. Know a brand new Dover straight razor for $50 is definitely worth it.
So I put it in there and I had a coupon code for 30% off. So I tried it and it worked. So I got the razor for $35. And then they had it for the strap two. And I said, you know, what the heck, I’ll go for that double strap that they have. I know it’s, I know, so overpriced. I think they, they charge about 100 bucks for it new. And it’s a, it’s a two inch drop. It’s small. I’m going to be honest. It’s small. But I was like, you know, it’s a it’s a double strap. Let me try the coupon code on that too. And it was $35. So I got both of them for $70 delivered if you use Apple Pay. It’s free shipping. For some reason, free shipping came through because I, you know, I didn’t feel like pulling out my credit card, so I just used the Apple Pay option on my phone and it paid for it.
And I got free shipping and it was here in three days. I was really impressed. I got the razor, I got the strop. I haven’t used it yet, but I have one that’s similar to it that I use every day. But I mean honestly guys, for $70, great deal. They’re offering straight razors now for like a deal. If you buy a full sized set for 50% off, you can get a straight razor for 50 bucks or something like that. So kind of it’s kind of like a really good deal. And I’m not sure if they’re trying to clear them out or what, but it got me, it got my attention. So really check out the Art of shaving guys if you’re interested.
Again, not not pushing the company, not saying anything. Definitely not an affiliate of theirs, but for for a price for 50 bucks. I thought that was a really good deal. So be on the lookout for some of those sales, and I’ll let you guys know how that razor in the shop is actually pretty nice. It’s just very small. I did use a strop. I haven’t used a razor yet because I’ve been using a couple other ones, but it looks good. I mean, it’s in good shape, so check them out.
Tons of holiday themed soaps. Incredible guys, as we seen. The wet shaving world go from again. Like I mentioned prior in this cast several releases to massive releases during this time of the year. It was it did peak out, I think, about four years ago when I actually did a Christmas special as well, like a holiday themed soap, like Seasonal Special, kind of like what we do with the fall season special, but I haven’t been doing it because there was such so little amount. It was like 5 or 6 vendors that were doing stuff. And now this year I noticed there’s like at least 30. There’s tons of stuff out there right now for holiday themed soaps. You have stuff from right here is in the picture. In the show notes, true North with Christmas Morning came out.
You have stuff from literally every vendor. You have Phoenix artists and accoutrements doing stuff you have. I think it was a couple other companies doing a lot of Christmas based soaps or holiday themed soaps. So check them out guys. Look up your favorite vendor. I’m going to see if there’s enough interest to get at least 20 or 30 different soaps out there, or different scents out there to to mention, but I did notice a lot of the newer, some of the newer artisans coming out with some stuff. So it was very I was very impressed this this week, seeing that I thought it was a lot of stuff. I thought it was really interesting and I thought, you know, I really wanted to give some shout outs to these vendors because, you know, this is really big.
You know, you have just to go over a few of the the brands that are offering stuff this year. You have true North shaving offering Christmas morning, which looks great. You have vanilla offering a whole naughty Christmas shaving set like a bunch of different shaving soaps. Black Ship Grooming has their own collection. You have magnets with their stuff, with offering everybody a bunch of stuff like Sterling Christmas Eve and a couple other ones as well. You have some West Coast shaving, having a bunch of stuff on their sale. You have Noble Otter offering something. You have, you have. I’m just going through a few of the stuff I have listed.
You have Holy black has a bunch of them. They actually have really nice Christmas ones. They have the they’re that big cookie tin that was like a pound of shaving soap. I had that for a few years ago. I actually gave that away in a raffle. You have so many different items you have Macduff shaving soap, offering something pastors is offering, you know, several different shaving west like vendors stuff too as well, and storing out just tons of stuff.
Guys, it was really interesting to see how many vendors are offering Christmas based soap. So really happy to see that. Looking forward to seeing more of it in the future. And and honestly, just really enjoying the holiday season with a shaving soap. I got to say, I have a couple of them wet. The face is the first is one of the ones that I own. I don’t know if you ever heard of that company and it’s. It’s their Christmas themed soap. It smells just like a like a tree. Like a Christmas tree with some of the Christmas like scents in there. It’s just awesome. I use it all. I use it every year. It’s one of my favorite ones. Holy black. This is Christmas is one of the better ones out there. Two winter woods they make is really nice. You know a lot of these other I love using this stuff and I love using it. Starting right after Thanksgiving, I started using winter based soaps.
Right? I use my fall stuff up until Thanksgiving, pumpkin spice and all that. And then after that I’ll switch to Christmas base. And just looking at this like I’m like, I got to buy some stuff. So I will definitely be letting you guys know if I get anything here in the next few weeks and trying it out, but if you do, to let me know, send me a send me a line in the show notes, you know, let me know or excuse me, sorry. Send a email. Send me an email regarding what you purchased, what you like, or what it means to you, or what actually is giving you like a real feel of the holiday season when trying a shaving soap. And let’s get that going.
You know, let’s let’s really promote some of these, these soaps and have a good time this year. Because, you know what, with the holidays coming up, a lot of stress, the holidays are a very happy time for everybody. But it can also be a very stressful time and very depressing time for everybody. And what better could be than just starting your day off great with a nice shaving, a nice shave with a nice holiday theme self just put a smile on your face. I love it, I enjoy it. I hope you guys do too. Really excited to see all the releases. If you’re a vendor, if you have anything coming out you want, you want to talk about it, send me an email. Joe. Dot what shaving news at gmail.com. A
ll right, everyone, and just to. Just to cap off this podcast this week and it’s a little bit shorter than usual, but I got to tell you, being a retail worker myself, it is it’s been a tough year. I know I say that a lot. I say that every year, but this year has been a little bit rough for personally, my my personal situation. I’m in a new new store that I’m working in new, you know, just been there going on week four, starting month, starting Wednesday, I believe I’m going on week four in this new store. And just learning that the area, learning the people, learning the team, it’s just a lot. I mean, I have been working nonstop and just and, you know, just physically and mentally just going through it. So I apologize. I haven’t gotten as much as I usually do, and I didn’t get to in detail, but I promise you everything will come. Come back and we’ll be back to normal soon. S
o I did want to discuss more about the book guys that I wrote. The modern Guy industries are shaving for years in the making. The book is completely written by myself. No I content no artificial intelligence in there at all. It’s all based on articles that I’ve written, stuff that other pieces of work that I’ve written and published and all compiled in one physical, soft like book. Right? It is a paperback book. I was thinking about doing a hardcover. It’s not hard to do. Um, going through the process to get it just really it’s pretty simple. And Amazon to do a hardcover and to do e-book. The e-book I will be doing, I believe, in January, it’s scheduled to come out. But right now we have the physical paperback copy.
I know a lot of you guys have started ordering it and been getting it in. Just give the time. Also, if you’re looking for a holiday gift for anybody you want to use this book, just remember these books are printed to order when you order them from Amazon. They are available in over 50 countries, but the whole thing is you need a couple extra days so you won’t be able to get it next day because I printed the order. So you have to order it and then send it out, and then it’ll come. Takes about three days to come to come if you have prime. A few things about the book I have.
This is the third version that’s been out since I’ve actually released the book. I went through it and changed it around. None of the content has changed. It’s just a little bit of the of like the layout. There was a couple of issues, little, little minor glitches that I noticed on it on the second and third like author copies that I got and I changed it up and republished. So for you guys out there that are actually reading it that are on the old the original copy, it’s it’s no change in the content. Nothing has changed. None of the words have changed or anything like that. Just a little bit of the layout. Another chapters have changed or anything like that. Just a few, a few brief things that I, a few minor mistakes that I’ve noticed and I fixed. So the book is you probably wouldn’t even notice it. I didn’t even notice it unless I really, you know, just because I wrote it.
And I dug through it a few things here. So the new versions out and, you know, after going through a book and being able to write it, it was really a very humbling experience to learn how to do this and to and put it together. It’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time. I’m glad it’s out and I’m glad you guys are able to enjoy it. It will be out for for a long time, so don’t worry about it. If you if you haven’t been able to copy, I would beware of some other sellers. It’s already a couple people that are selling used copies of it that are advertised as new. There’s one guy and I believe it’s Scotland that’s doing it right now. They’re not.
So to just let everybody know about books, if somebody buys a book from a retailer and then tries to sell it, you can’t resell it as new, you have to resell it is used. He’s also hacking the price up a lot. So just be careful. Just look for anything that’s sold by Amazon itself and you’ll be getting the right book printed for you. So really want to say thank you for the support that I’ve received already on this book. If you’re still interested in it and want to or didn’t know about it, just read it off in the show notes here, I have a little bit of brief summary of what the book’s about and what, and, you know, the whole story around it. And also there’s a link for it in the show notes as well. So enjoy guys, and I really hope you enjoy the book. Let me know what you think. Send me an email with some feedback or and or anything else you want to see in the near future. Published. Because I am. I did learn a lot about self publishing, and I’m going to plan on doing some more work in the future.
May not all be wet shaving work on the books, but it will be definitely something else published in the future as well. All right guys. So that concludes the show for this week. Remember our show is powered by Sharpologist dot com which your father didn’t teach you about shaving. Our special thanks to you guys, the listeners and Mark Mantic59 for everything he does with the wet shaving world and the support on the podcast.
Check out my blog site, Shave Straight and Save. It is active. I’m putting stuff on there. I’ll be. I’ll be posting a little bit more on the book on there, on a couple of the products that I’ve been trying out as well. And, you know, enjoy the book that I’ve written, if you haven’t seen it, if you’re looking into getting a nice little guide or something like that, or if you want to talk about the book, always feel free to email me Joe Dot wet Shaving news at gmail.com. And that’s not just about the book about anything. What shaving. Our next show will be on the 11th of December. Until then, guys shave straight and shave safe. Bye bye now.
