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 28th, 2025.
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Today on the Show:
Complete Wet Shaving Starter Kit for $20!
RazorRock: Daily
3-D Printed Shaving Gear: Moving up!
Collector Series: Apollo Mikron
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Wet Shaving Kit at $20
If you listened last week, we discussed cheap wet shaving stuff. Well, I took the last two weeks and was able to build a wet shaving kit for under $20
Here it is:
Gillette 7’clock Permasharp: $7.99
VDH Shave Soap $5.99
Omega Brush
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RazorRock Daily Double Edge Safety Razor
Introducing the RazoRock DAILY, the ultimate double-edge (DE) safety razor designed for precision, comfort, and effortless daily use. Whether you’re a first-time wet shaver or a seasoned pro, the DAILY delivers a world-class shaving experience that’s smooth, sustainable, and endlessly customizable.
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3 D Printed Wet Shaving Gear : Moving Up
I’m really impressed how 3-D printed wet shaving gear has come along. From razors to brushes and all in between, the quality is getting better.
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Collector Series: Apollo Mikron
The extremely rare yet innovative Apollo Mikron was released in limited quantity around the 1950’s and consisted of a similar design as Gillette’s Fatboy. The adjustment knob on the bottom can actually be removed and the inner mechanism can be adjusted further to the user’s preference. Earlier Apollo models were designed to use only Apollo blades but later models accept all double edge blades.
There is not much information on these hefty razors from Germany. The lack of date codes makes it almost impossible to accurately find production times. Some will argue that the Apollo was created before Gillette even produced their first adjustable. One thing’s for sure, this is one cool razor!
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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: 8/11/25
Transcript (Machine-Generated)
Transcript generated by 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 July 28th, 2025. Hey guys, welcome back to the podcast.
I hope you all are beating the heat and really staying cool during this very hot summer and enjoying the last few days of summer is at least for the kids here in Florida. Two more weeks until school starts. That’s right. My son is starting kindergarten on August 11th.
So everybody Cross your fingers, wish him good luck, give him a virtual pat on the back because he’s starting kindergarten and I think I’m probably more nervous than he is, I think, for going to kindergarten. I actually remember my first day of kindergarten and I had a traumatic experience. I’ll tell you briefly about it, just a very short story. I went on my first day of kindergarten, I remember my mother dropping me off and I got stuck and they sent me in the wrong line and I ended up going on the bus and I didn’t know where I was going, I didn’t know anything and guys this
is back in the 80s, so this is back in the late 80s when I went to, mid to late 80s when I went to kindergarten and I remember my mom finding me and all that, it was a big, big mess. And I was very, very scared. So I hope he doesn’t go through that because I will be there to drop him off and I will be there to pick him up doing that old, I guess you could say, taking the day off, playing hooky that day. No, I requested the day off.
I won’t be playing hooky, but I’ll be there with him. I’ll make sure he doesn’t get stuck on the bus when he’s not supposed to, although I think times have changed since I went to school. Yeah, a little nervous there with kindergarten coming up, but you know what? Hey guys, everybody’s got to go through it, right?
We all did it, so it’s his turn. On a lighter note, today on the show, let’s talk about some really comfortable and not scary stuff. Wet shaving, that’s right. I was able to find and piece together on Amazon a complete wet shaver kit for around $20.
It was actually $21 shipped. So a really cheap starter kit you can get you started with is enough to get you going for wet shaving a little bit about what we talked about last week with some of the same items and just I actually put the listings in in the in the show notes itself so you can see what to buy to get you started and honestly it’s really great to see that we could start wet shaving pretty decently for about 20 bucks. So we always talk about will wet shaving save you money?
Yeah it will, it will if you do this kit and just get a little bit of you know start off with some cheap blades and stuff and you can start wet shaving for the amount it will cost you for one cartridge or I’m sorry one pack of cartridges less than one pack of cartridges of a Mach 3 you can start wet shaving traditionally with a brush soap and razor. The Razor Rock Daily. This is another razor that came out from Razor Rock.
They are known for innovation and coming out with different types of razors that are actually quality made. They came out with this called the Daily, which is designed for daily use. And I thought it was really cool because the price is right as well. So I mean, it’s a good price, good razor.
I think everything they make is pretty good stuff. And really excited to see this one and see some good reviews coming out for this. It just came out just a little while ago. 3d printed shaving gear is moving on up.
That’s right. The quality of these items are becoming very good and There is if you can see in the show notes right now that the actual image for the ship for the show this week is all 3d printed wet shaving stuff so you have us, you know shave brushes you have razors and Razors that are based off different designs you have single edge razors everything all 3d printed giving you the ability to use a vintage piece without having to either find it or Spend that vintage price or that that high-end collectors price and gives you the ability to try something that’s pretty similar to it All for you know a fraction of what you would pay So we’ll talk a little bit about 3d printed stuff and then collector series One of my favorite adjustable razors that’s vintage the Apollo micron.
This is a German razor. That’s adjustable I did some work on it before a little bit of writing on it in the past I’ve never owned one. I’ve never used one, but I have seen them in person. They’re very very nice So we’ll talk a little bit about that and giving them a wet shaving salute.
So without further ado guys Let’s get on with the show. I A wet shaving kit for $20? Are you kidding me? No, I’m not.
And here it is. If you listened last week, we discussed cheap wet shaving stuff. Really just a few things that could get you started, some cheap stuff. And I actually went out and bought one.
So I bought one of the razors. I bought the 7 o’clock Permasharp in plastic, the green plastic one, for about $8, right? I tried and I said, you know what, this is not bad. This is definitely a good way to start wet shaving.
And this is how I’m going to, this is what we’re going to do. I’m going to build a set. You guys can try it if you want. If you’re new to wet shaving, if you are lurking and just listening to this and you haven’t made the, um, made the plunge yet, what better way to do it than to get it on Amazon or anywhere?
If you can find it in a brick and mortar store, go for it and pay about 20 bucks. So I guess you’re wondering what did I choose? Well if you listened last week you pretty much know but here’s what I got. So the Gillette 7 o’clock perma sharp razor which I purchased on Amazon for $7.99 which I’m going to tell you probably is a rip compared to what it really is.
This razor is an Indian-made Gillette razor which has never stopped making double-edged razors since they stopped making them in the United States in the 80s. But they’ve always been making double-edged razors for India and the Asian market. They’re still popular. They’re still widely used.
Why? Because they’re more affordable and they never really went out of fashion over there. So this would cost you about 50 groupies, I believe, or something, which is equivalent to about $2 or $1 in American money and basically in the US dollar. So of course, you’re going to want to buy it somebody’s gonna have to make money on it.
So I got mine for $8 on Amazon, and, you know, include shipping and all that stuff. And yes, you could buy it cheaper on eBay. how to shave Not worry about hey, if you lose it big deal, right? I’m not using something crazy and it does do a good head shave as well So I highly recommend it eight bucks gets you started with a double-edged razor right on Amazon It’ll be at your house the next day or if you want to you know Save a few
bucks and get it for like two or three dollars and wait a little bit just buy it on eBay or through somebody online so that’s a way to do it and that’s the way to start with the razor and I’ve has that really weird like smell some people say it smells like oh it’s like formaldehyde I don’t know if it smells like formaldehyde but I know it smells nice and fresh and clean and the scent of that soap really reminds me of wet shaving when I first started because that was the first soap that I had You can get this for $5.29 guys this puck. It will last you.
It’s in a nice little plastic like container so it will hold. You can lather it in the container and it works really well and I think you’ll really enjoy using it even if you’re a more experienced wet shaver. So right there those two items are at $13. And then another brush that I always liked but I never mentioned and I can’t believe I don’t is the Omega Brush Company.
Now there are a lot of Omega Brushes out there and there are some that are really affordable. This one is $8.50. It is a pure bristle so it’s a boar bristle brush I believe. and it works amazing.
It is a great brush just for everyday use. You don’t have to worry about it, breaking it, ripping it, doing anything, losing it. It’s only $8, but it is a good quality brush. It’s made well, and it will last you some time.
So right there, guys, with everything, it’s about $21. If you really look, you’ll probably get it for well under $20 for all this, probably about $16 if you don’t want to go through Amazon. but here it is. That’s the wet shaving kit.
I personally have used all of these items. I do find them to be good. I find them to be very nice and mild to use. So it’s great for the beginner.
It’s great for the experienced one. I love traveling with this stuff. I think that they work very well. And like I said, if I lose it or break it, I can get another one very easily.
For $8, if I lose my brush, big deal, right? I won’t get upset. But if I lose one of my declaration brushes that I have, or if you lose a, I guess, like a Simpson brush, like a really good Simpson brush, you could be out of the $300 or $400 range on them. So you don’t want to travel with them.
And also, it’s a big investment when you’re first starting out. 20 bucks guys there you go you can start wet shaving so now you have no excuse if you’re lurking and also I think for the holidays I’m going to add this to the gift giving guide because this will be great for stocking stuffers so you can stuff a stocking for the wet shaver in your life for 20 bucks so really cool and then maybe put some candy in there for them as well or maybe you could put a cologne in there Now a friend of mine, a good listener that’s been listening for a very long time, Abby, he mentioned, hey Joe, you forgot about the Olin Block.
Olin Blocks are really great, they’re like $10, under $10 if you look really hard, and it is definitely a wet shaving tool. So I gotta say, Abby, you are right, that is some good stuff. and For you guys out there that are in high school or if you have some acne I highly recommend getting an alum block or a loom block whatever you want to call it and If you ripe wipe it on like excuse me if you’re rubbing on take a little cold water and there’s rubbing on like some acne a Pimple or if you have a cut on your face or a blemish it will May do a bit of wonders on it when you wake up in the morning.
Okay, so that’s something that I used to do when I would have If you think of like a zit or something like that, or a pimple, I would say I would just take that, I would even put a band-aid over it just to seal it from the element and the next morning I’d come out and I’d just wipe my face and it would like be gone, the color would be gone and everything. So really impressed with that and I think it’s a great tool to have all around. So Abby, thank you for reminding me about that and you can have a lot of them for like eight, nine bucks, seven bucks.
So that’s definitely a must for the wet shaver out there. I always have one of those in your back pocket. Also it’s good for sealing cuts too and blemishes if you get something, if you get nicked or something like that. So 20 bucks, what are you guys waiting for?
Get into wet shaving. So Razor Rock just came out with a new razor a few weeks, months, I believe it was a little while ago, not too long ago, but the Razor Rock Daily. This is a new CNC machine made in Canada razor that is now, it’s really ultimate, it’s Ultimately, a razor that you can customize with different gaps, different aggression levels, open comb, closed comb, and you can kind of like build it to a daily, everyday shaver. So, going on the site, introducing, they call it the Ultimate Double Edge, designed for precision comfort and effortless daily use, whether you’re a first-timer or a seasoned pro, the Daily is definitely going to give you a world-class shaving experience.
It’s smooth, sustainable, and customizable. So that’s what they’re really working on, is you can get different handles of 4-3 razor rock, different heads, different gaps, and all that good stuff. And it starts at around 80 bucks for a complete razor. So $80, made in Canada, CNC machined out of stainless steel.
And I believe it’s 316, yep, 316L stainless steel. So that’s actually really good. It’s not that 305 or 304, whatever it’s called. A little bit of a harder steel.
Will definitely hold a polish. I know they’re not polished. English English English English English English English The Daily Groove, the Smooth Plus, the Groove Plus. I mean, they have different ones going there.
So you got to have endless, endless options of getting your personalized shave on that razor. And all for, it starts at, like I said, 80 bucks. So great deal. If you get everything together, all of them together, I think it’s like 300.
So yeah, it’s like $85. So $84.99 to start. and you can get if you build it all you can get get I guess the whole kit for like 250 or something like that so that’s what it looks like really good reviews all all five-star reviews online so check it out guys that everything I’ve bought from them has been pretty good including their soaps and and their razors have a few of the razors as well never had a problem with them so I would definitely vouch for this All right, moving along.
Just talking about 3D printed gear and what is the future is coming of that. Now, I’m a huge fan of 3D printing. I really think 3D printing is a wave of the future with a lot of things. And I also think that it’s not as popular as I thought it would be at this point when it came out.
So, 3D printing is basically taking an image from something and then printing it out on either composite material. You can actually have the ability to do it in metal. and they could do it in plastics and different types of stuff and then kind of replicating that design and printing it out like you would print a piece of paper when you’re printing out a report or something like that. So what’s cool about this is you can take a design, like you could take a double ring Scan it and then print it out on in a composite material or if you want to do in stainless steel And you can have an exact replica of that razor and
try it out And it’s going to shave very similar to that right now What what is it about the pros and cons the pros are hey you get to try something you may not otherwise try It makes it readily available. It doesn’t make it rare anymore to for the actually shave it and The cons are, hey, there might be counterfeits out there. It’s easy to counterfeit something, but really with that certain materials, you just can’t 3D print yet, so I wouldn’t really worry about that part. Another pro is that if you’re missing a part on something, like example, a Schick injector, and that handle, that Bakelite handle’s broken, you can 3D print one and put one on there, and you’re back in the game.
Some of my old shovel head razors, my camp brothers, my star shaving razors that use those old wedge blades. Well there’s a guy out there from the frugal shave, Aaron from the frugal shave, and he created a little insert 3D printed that you can put so you can actually use regular single edge blades in those razors. and not have to worry about getting the wedge blade honed or actually getting one if you didn’t have it. So you can actually do that and it works very well.
I did buy that. It does take a couple of weeks to get stuff because he does make it to order. And he also makes inserts for toggle cases. He makes brushes.
He makes razors. I mean, just anything you could think of, they can make it as long as you send them the dimensions or send them a scan of whatever is of the item itself. 3d printing is the way to go guys if you want to try it if you have a 3d printer i do highly recommend trying some wet shaving ideas out and seeing if it works and then you know letting me know if you have anything i’d be even willing to try it and pass it around or send it back and then see if it really is side by side like hey if you got a a Gillette tech and you want me to use a tech against against the 3d printed tech I’d love to try it and
give it a shot and definitely do an article on it or if not do a nice podcast episode based on it. So if you got one, let me know. Definitely will be more than willing to collaborate with you. and finally guys collectors corner for this week the Apollo Micron one of the best adjustable razors out there I believe and it is a beautiful razor in general great quality shave when you get to use it again one of my friends did get had one that I knew
back in the day Adjustable Razor is that this razor is not only designed to be used with regular double-edged blades, but it’s designed to be taken apart and cleaned and repaired. So you can actually buy parts for these. Some guy was selling replacement parts online for the Apollo razor, so you can take it apart. There’s a brush that came with it, and you basically clean it out and then put it back together.
It’s very simple to take apart and get going. So this razor was really made to last a while. The only thing is the metal on the top cap and handle are not stainless steel. It’s not brass.
So it’s actually, I believe it’s galvanized steel and it didn’t really last very long. A lot of them rusted out and broke. So you got to take care of it and make sure you clean it. And if you lose any plating on the top, the gold plating, make sure you get it replated because you want to make sure you want it to work well.
And I believe the, I think the adjustment knob is made of bakelite or plastic so that’s another thing you got to be careful with. There was a guy selling parts for these online and if not I’m pretty sure you can probably get them 3D printed as mentioned before and have them and then be able to get this razor going forever. So it came in a beautiful leather case with all the cleaning brushes and everything with a blade banks all that good stuff and a lot of them came with like replacement top cap as well. and it’s just a really cool concept to get and own.
These razors now go for about $400 to $500, so they are kind of expensive on the vintage route, but really nice razors, cool. I got to hold one. I never shaved with one. but I did get to use it and see it in person with a guy that was all about it.
He loved the Gillette Adjustables. He found this and he saved up and he got this from a guy in Germany actually. New old stock and I think it took him about three weeks to get it because it was going back and forth but he finally sold it to him. He probably paid a lot of money for it and he really loves that razor.
It’s his favorite razor from what I’ve seen from him telling me. Apollo Micron, we salute you, wet shaving salute, as one of the best razors, adjustable razors, and coolest adjustable razors you can get. Well, guys, that concludes this week, this podcast for this week. So I had a lot of fun bringing this to you guys, a lot of fun doing the $20 kit.
I mean, I could not believe it. I spent $21 and I had so much fun wet shaving with that stuff. It was really very, very fun. And I hope that you guys, you longtime wet shavers out there, find that fun too.
and continue to do it. Because sometimes it can get a little stagnant, a little old, especially when you’ve tried everything or tried a lot. And just to start something a little fun with minimal investment, it really brought a lot of life to me for having some fun with wet shaving. So doing that and also a couple of projects I got on the bench right now.
I’m restoring, not restoring, but I’m kind of rebuilding a gold dollar. So I bought a gold dollar for the contest on Badger and Blade. Fortunately, I don’t think I’m going to make the deadline, but I am going to do it anyway, or I’ll do it for next year. So I’m going to have a nice razor ready for next year.
Gold dollars, steel is hit or miss on them, but you can definitely customize them and make them shave very well. And honestly, another thing is I’m going through a whole cleanup in my house. I’m cleaning up my tools, cleaning up my wet shaving stuff, getting everything organized and ready to go, just so it can be easier to review and write some articles and get back into the writing game again. Because it is a lot of fun, and I do really enjoy it.
So guys, remember our show is powered by sharpologist.com, what your father didn’t teach you about shaving. Don’t forget, Mantic has another site now, a sister site called theblackcoffeelife.com. It’s all about drinking coffee, specialty coffees. So if you’re a coffee drinker like me, unfortunately I put milk in my coffee.
I hope nobody holds that against me, but I do enjoy a good cup of coffee. It’s called theblackcoffeelife.com. Alright guys, don’t forget to check out my blog ShaveStraightAndSafe.com and always feel free to email me at joe.wetshavingnews at gmail.com. Our next show will be on the 11th of August, first day of school for Palm Beach County, Florida.
Until then, shave straight and shave safe. Bye bye now.
