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 August 21st, 2023
Today on the Show
10 Years of Hallows
Back to School Shave Set-Ups
Shield Stomper Single Edge Razor.
Mondial Brushes From Italy
Fall Seasonal Special Coming Soon !
10 Years Of Hallows
It’s been 10 years since Barrister and Mann debuted this popular Fall Scent right here on Sharpologist. The 2013 Scent Off was a competition where Barrister and Mann entered “Hallows” , a damp earthy scent for the fall season. Since then there have been several editions. I have purchased a set every release.
Back To School Shave Set-Ups
School is back in session (At least here in FL) and for those of you sending off your young one to their Freshman year of college may have a lot of emotions going on.
Setting up your son or daughter with a nice shave set is a great way to send them off with a great gift!
I discovered traditional wet shaving while I was in college and it really helped me get through the difficult times. I’ll tell you about it!
Shield Stomper Single Edge Razor
Shield is a wet shaving company, producing razors and brushes. The Shield Stomper is a single edge razor using half of a de blade. CNC machined from Titanium and priced at $160.
Mondial Brushes
-Handmade in Italy with a variety of knots available.
-Priced all under $250m
Fall Seasonal Special Coming Soon
As with every year, the time has come for the Annual Fall Seasonal Special.
This special edition podcast is dedicated to the fall releases from vendors/artisans alike from all over the world.
Be on the lookout for the 8th Annual Fall Seasonal Special, in late October!
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 YouTube Channel for videos regarding some interesting wet shaving content.
Our next show will be 9-4-23
Until then….
Shave straight and Shave Safe!
Transcript (machine-generated)
TYou’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 Borrelli. And today is August 21st, 2023.
Hey guys, welcome back to the podcast on this very, very beautiful, hot summer day. Yeah, that’s right, guys. I think this has been a this has been a record hot summer. So I know we’ve all been going through the heat. So using all those nice, crisp, methylated shaving soaps have been the way I’ve been rolling. Also the first day of school here in Florida, actually for a couple of areas. Some areas started school back in like August 11th. And I was thinking about it the other day. I was like, wow, you know, when I was in school growing up, up north, I used to go to school, like after Labor Day, you know, in September. But it seems like it’s been getting earlier and earlier every year. I mean, I think here in parts of South Florida, they started school on the 11th of August. So I thought that was pretty early. The I actually work in a different county than where I live. And they’re starting school today, which is ten days later. So unbelievable how early people go back to school now. I guess I guess that the time of, hey, Labor Day used to be your last like hurrah before school. I guess those days are over. At least down where I live. I’m not sure if up where you if any parts of the other of the country if people are still going back to school in mid September. But I guess I guess not. Maybe. Maybe they are. Maybe they’re not.
Well, anyway, today on the show, we’ll talk about a shaving soap that our soap scent that’s actually celebrating. Ten years. That’s right. Ten Years of Hallows by barrister. And man, I can’t believe it’s been ten years since I started since the scent came out. We’ll tell you a little bit about that and the story about behind that soap and that scent and that and how it’s become a Halloween staple. Back to school shave ups. Are you sending a child or a loved one or a friend? Are you going back to college? Are you living in a dorm? What kind of a shave setup do you give your kid? What kind of shave setup do you do for yourself for moving away? Is that something that you gift? You know, a young student going away for the first time? We’ll talk a little bit about that And the Shield stomper single Edge, Razor razor excuse me that just come back out, brand new razor. And we’re going to talk a little bit about that as well and how how that design is and that actual company coming out with new razors that are actually made out of titanium and are affordable. Mondale brushes from Italy. I recently discovered these brushes. I got to see one in person and try it out. I thought it was really good. Nice brush, good price point with honestly, with all these custom brushes becoming in the 3 to $400 range, these brushes are all under $250. So I was very impressed with that as well. And the fall seasonal special is coming soon. We’re about a month out before that. We’ll talk a little bit about that. And vendors, you better get ready because this is going to be a big year. I have a feeling this is going to be one of the better ones. So without further ado, let’s get on with the show.
Ten years of Hallows by barrister and man is really, really settling in with me because I cannot believe it’s been ten years. I do remember reading the original article on sharp objects about this scent and now it’s become like a staple for me. So if you’re on a if you’re not, if you’re not familiar. Excuse me. With Hallows. Hallows is a Halloween like fall scent. That’s by barrister and man it was actually debuted back in 2013 on Sharpologist when Mark did a scent off, meaning he challenged the artisans out there to send in some sense and to do like a scent off to give somebody a championship to win, right? Hallows did I think Hallows did win? If not, they were like first place tied with first place or something. With that, I believe it was, uh, Phoenix artisan and accoutrements at the time. Well, they weren’t that they were synergy or something like that at the time. I think they had a pretty good soap to that. That did score very high.
And for some reason I think it was a tie. I don’t remember. It’s been a while, but it’s been ten years since that competition. Exactly. So it’s hard to believe that barrister man started the scent on a scent off and now has become this huge thing in the wet shaving world, at least for the last, you know, eight or so years. So they did. It’s a fall scent that’s basically earthy. It smells like fall. It’s like a smoky, earthy scent that smells kind of like a fall afternoon. It’s meant to smell like a cemetery in Boston. If you’ve ever been in the downtown Boston area. I’ve been once. I actually got to go through the the the Freedom Trail and all that. I’ve seen Boston and I love that city. And I can tell you that everywhere in Massachusetts is nice to visit. So if you live there, you’re very, very fortunate. And I can imagine probably in the fall time, it’s probably amazing.
Like during Halloween, this is like where all the movies are made. This is where this is what this area is, what you think of Halloween when you say Halloween season. Now, remember, I live in South Florida, so I don’t get a Halloween season. We get maybe a cool day here or there. But there’s been times where it’s been close to 90 degrees on Halloween. So, I mean, this is the area where you want to be and this is what that smells like. This is supposed to smell like an experience of being in that damp, earthy, like walking through a cemetery in Boston at night on Halloween. And that’s basically what this scent is. And. There have been several additions in the last ten years and usually will from barrister man. He’ll debut this every other year like he’ll have a couple other fall since he’s very big in the fall sense and great with with packaging they do t shirts he does like this year he did um he did some a snifter for for bourbon he did a decanter.
I mean he did a lot of really cool things. They do a lot of stuff with this. It’s a big release and usually the packaging changes every year. They change it. He changes the illustration and it just looks like the picture and it looks really good. A lot of lot of time put into this. So I’m a big fan. I usually buy a set every single year when it comes out. I think I had it since 20. 1514. I don’t remember, but I have a few sets and I’ll use them and then usually I’ll just give them away when the new one comes in because I like to use the new one as well. So I have right now I have about 3 or 4 sets, but I used to give them away because I’m really like into collecting it, I guess. So I did pre-order mine and it’s just really cool that this is I just can’t believe it’s been ten years.
It’s really like, um, like showing how these a lot of these vendors and artisans have been around for so long now. You know, when I started wet shaving in 2011, there was nothing. There was so many like just regular soaps and stuff that were like, truefitt and Hill. And and all those other brands that were just regular staple brands from from Europe. There wasn’t many artisans and now we’re just flooded with them. So, I mean, it just shows you how we are evolving, what shaving is evolving and it is here to stay. So ten years of Hollow’s amazing, really, really happy to see that they’re celebrating their ten years. Well, if you’re listening, congratulations on celebrating this and I hope this is the best release yet. Looking forward to getting mine when they come in.
So do you have a loved one, a son, a daughter that are going back to school, going into a dorm room for the first time and you know, a little bit. You’re getting them set up and ready to go and bringing them all their stuff. Well, this is also the first week of college here in most schools. And a lot of kids are probably going through that. You know, that that being away from home stuff, you know, a little bit, maybe a little nervous going to school for the first time. A back to school shave setup is always a great way to help ease the transition, I think.
Right. So there are a lot of you guys are in high school that are listening right now. I know that for a fact. And they’re in the wet shaving and and maybe your dad has been wet shaving or your mom and you’re like, hey, I want to do it, too. So a good wet shaving setup to bring with you on a dorm is a great way, one, to spark conversation with some of your roommates and two, to bring some like a familiar thing from home and a part of your day that you can bring back that can ease the transition of actually going to a dorm room. All right.
Believe it or not, always it’s good to bring something with you that brings it reminds you of home, that gives you part of the routine that will make you feel make you smile, I guess, for ten minutes a day. So I discovered traditional wet shaving while I was in school. Now again, I was an older student, so I didn’t start college until I was around 26 years old. I started later, but I still went and that’s the important part. But I did. I did start and I discovered it. And I remember like during my breaks of studying and stuff like that, because I was also working, I would go on Badger and Blade and the Shave Den and Straight Razor place. At the time there was really not much on Facebook going on. It was just really the forums and just read through stuff and just really like look at things that I wanted.
I would dream of getting someday, getting a toggle or a bottom dial or, you know, a cool straight razor that I’ve always wanted. I was always like, Look at them and say, Hey, you know, someday I’m going to get that. Someday I’m going to get or read about these guys that picked it up or found them. You know, I just loved reading about lathering and mostly straight razors. I was into it at that time. I didn’t do too much with safety razors, but I did enjoy them and it just gave me like a little bit of a relief during those stressful days of tests and stuff to take a ten minute break and just kind of read about watching.
So that’s why I recommend if you’re in the wet shaving or if you’re your son or daughter is in the wet shaving as in high school and they’re going away to school to get them a nice shave set up, I do recommend getting some good quality soap brush, keep the razor medium quality because you know it might lose it. They’re going to be in a room with other people and they also are limited on space. So probably keep it at around a couple of soaps, a couple of, you know, maybe two brushes at the most, or even if you just do one one on one and just every time, you know, send them something new.
That’s what I recommend. Gives them that familiar, familiar feel or, you know, maybe they, you know, a young man or a woman would like a new hobby and you give them something cool to start off with. So if you’re into wet shaving, if your kids in the wet shaving, definitely want to set them up with a nice dorm setup, ease that transition and then give them something to look forward to as well during their morning routine. You know, I’m realistic. I know this isn’t for everybody, but if this can help you anyway, this is the right way to go. Also, I like to make sure that, you know, when I was just to just to limit myself on the forums, too, because sometimes you get in there and you get really deep. I know sometimes I would be in the school library and I would just go on the computer, go on Badger and Blade.
And then I look, I’m like, I’m reading through all the forums, you know, adding some content myself here, you know, just asking. I used to ask a lot of questions back then, and I would just be I would like, okay, So an hour went by an hour and a half and I haven’t done anything. So, you know, try to limit your time to with the forum. Because one thing about wet shaving guys for all you students, it’ll be there. Don’t worry. It’ll still be there after you’re done with your exam and there’ll be plenty of time. So don’t get too hooked on the on just going online and doing all that either. So yeah, that was a little bit of my problem. But yes, set them up for back to school. And also good luck to all of you new students out there starting college for the first time or going back or high school or middle school. If you’re listening, good luck. It’s not that bad.
Don’t worry. The first couple days are a little rough, but you’ll get used to it and you’ll make new friends and you’ll have a great time as well. So keep that studies up. It’s important. It’s important to get good grades, too. And don’t forget to wet shave either.
Moving right along. I’d like to talk about the Shield Stomper Single Edge Razor. Now, I’ve been looking around and I’ve been mentioning on the cast value razors, right? I want to find something that’s actually going to be evaluated, be be a value and still have all the good stuff that we want as wet shavers. Now, this is another razor that I found that has that is priced under $200 and is made of titanium. This is something that a few years ago you would never hear of, right? Titanium. That’s under $200. Usually most of them are five six. I know Wolf, man is making a titanium razor. It’s still 4 or 5, $600, right? Again, Wolf, Man is a different producer. And it is, you know, probably one of the best out there, if not the best. So you do pay for quality and you do pay for a lot of research and a lot of time. And you do really you get a wolf man razor and it’s with you forever, right? It’s never going to ever. I mean, all of mine, I use a wolf man razor almost daily. It’s never even it doesn’t even have a smudge on it yet.
But if that’s not in your your wheelhouse right now, which is understandable and very, very realistic for everybody, a titanium razor that’s been CNC machine that’s under $200, it might be for you. So looking at the Shield wet shaving company, they produce a lot of razors, some brushes as well, and some of them are made from steel from most. But this one tends to be made excuse me, this one is made of titanium and uses half of a DE blade. So half of a double edged blade snapped in half for shaving. So it does it’s priced at $160, which is incredible and really impressed with the build quality on this one just by looking at it. I haven’t had a chance to try it, but it is available at Bull Goose shaving supplies.com.com. So I think bull goose shaving sorry which they have a lot of of their own brands and he has a lot of partnerships as well with stuff you don’t see everywhere else and you got to give that that particular vendor some credit because they find a lot of stuff from all over the world. I mean, they do have a lot of items on their sites that you don’t see everywhere else so impressed with with that.
But Shield has got a bunch of razors. They have a razor. They have a couple of them. I think there’s an open comb, a close comb. But this one is particularly interesting to me because it uses a half blade, which can be good and bad, I think. I think the flex of the blade sometimes can can be limited because I do feel a bigger blade gives you more, less flex and gives it gives it more stability. But I’ve tried some with half blades before that work fine. You know, the mongoose razors use those smaller feather artist club blades and they work fine. I mean, I never had an issue. In fact, the Mongoose razor is one of my favorite razors that I own. You know, I use it quite often.
So yeah. So shield raiser, $160 for a titanium raiser. That’s CNC machine. Now, I don’t know where it’s made. It’s probably made in Asia somewhere. But, you know, honestly, it’s worth a shot if that’s something that you’re looking for And get to add a to add a. A titanium razor to the mixer just to try titanium. And I’d say it’s worth a shot if you if that’s something that you’re looking for. Now, of course, there are other brands out there that are made out of titanium that are more than twice the price. That may be a lot better, but you never know until you try. So Shield is shield wet shaving products. They’re available at bull shaving.com.
And also I recently discovered the Mondale shaving brushes, which are handmade in Italy and offering offered in a variety of different knots with some really good knots actually in their. That I would that I. Was actually shocked to see that they offer. So they offer some really nice badger brushes. They have a actually a high, high mountain white badger, which I thought is pretty. You don’t see too many companies using that that not for on a brush that’s under $300. You know I think it’s a good not I do use a high high mountain white badger brush brush excuse me not on a couple of my brushes. I get it from an actual not maker based out of California. And I get those. And I like I love that.
That that’s probably my favorite. I mean, it does absorb it’s got those gel tips on it. I mean, it’s great. I mean, mine has been lasting me. I have a couple of them, a couple of brushes with that, not on it. And I haven’t had a problem with them. I’ve been using them five, six plus years, so I am definitely impressed. There’s a variety. They have Super Badger, they have a couple of other different types of of knots. So. You know, that’s awesome that they do that. And also that they’re offered under $230 is the highest. Brush that they sell. I mean, that’s the highest priced brush that they sell. Most of them are under $200. So, you know, again, when we’re talking about value and about brushes with high quality materials that are actually not overly expensive. This is something that I’m looking for and this is what it is. This is what you can find.
So these are made handmade in Italy. These all the all the handles are handmade and then the knots are then set. So the knots are are purchased. They’re not hand tied. But again, you’re paying a third of the price of a hand tied brush. What I’ve noticed is a lot of the hand tied brushes are well over $400 here in the United States. Now, they also. Does they? Excuse me. They do also offer Hand-tied brushes, but not through that website, I believe. Not through the the website that they’re available. If you look at that I found, which is also bull goose shaving. They’re not available there, but you can get them directly from them. I believe in Italy, if you go to their regular website, they do hand tie brushes as well and the brushes are still not expensive. Like looking at them right now, you have they offer silvertip, they offer High Mountain Badger and they also they’re offering a lot of them and honestly they are not the some of the Silvertips and the Super Badger are around. And the. €165. Not bad.
And some of those brushes are hand tied. Some of them are, I believe, are not. I don’t have that information. That’s kind of why I slowed down a little bit. I was looking it up because I noticed that some of them were and some of them weren’t. They also offer synthetic badger brushes as well. But that’s not I don’t know if you can purchase that unless from an American supplier. I think you have to purchase it directly from Mondo. So Mondale’s been around for a while. Recently added to that to an American company. I’m not sure if anybody else carries it. I’ve been looking it up. I couldn’t find it. But if I do find something, I’ll definitely share it. And I was actually able to pick up one of these brushes and try one of them recently from a friend. Impressed. I was definitely impressed. The designs are a little bit, I’ll be honest. They’re a little bit, you know, very conservative. There’s no crazy blanks or anything like that. That’s really. You know that that crazy.
But also I believe that, you know you’re looking at a good quality brush good price and I and also something that’s you don’t see every day so great it’s been been around for over a hundred years and also there’s a little bit of a there’s a link on sharp ologist that Mark actually used one as well last year. So you can definitely check it out and see it and just see what his experience was with that brush as well, which seems to be pretty positive. So I mean, honestly, great value brush under 300 bucks. I’m impressed to see that for those quality knots and and the fact that they’re probably some of them are hand-tied is even better because you have honest guys. You got some hand type brushes out there for $500. And, you know, I don’t know if that’s in my price range anymore, but I can definitely tell you this model is so I did get to see one from a friend. It was a good quality, definitely a brush that you should try out and use. And if you’re looking for something like that, you know, definitely check it out guys mondial.com and moving right along to the fall seasonal special for 2023 yes that’s coming up very soon and will be the eighth annual. Fall seasonal special.
So I’m very excited to be bringing this eighth show for you guys this year. Every year it seems that I find new stuff. There’s always some new vendor that pops up with something cool and it just it’s something that I really look forward to doing. There’s a lot of work that goes into this. I literally go through at least a hundred websites, checking it out, looking for it and looking for new items. So vendors, if you are a vendor or artisan or somebody, please make sure that you are making it easy for me to find this stuff. Put on new releases, put on fall releases on your website. I know it’s extra work, but it makes it so much easier for me. And if I can find it, then the customers can too. So the fall. Seasonal special looks like we’re going to be doing it on the last show of October as usual, so we can get all that fall stuff in.
I know it’s a little bit late in the season, but it does kind of kick off the Halloween week. The only reason why I do wait so long is because a lot of the vendors, they do they do have stuff come out that week. So I want to make sure I get everybody and I start really a week before and go all out. And then you do like another swing around with the vendors the day before the show to see if I missed anything. Looking forward to it, guys. I love doing this. I hope you guys enjoy it. If you’re new to the podcast, this is your first year listening. I will link down on the next podcast all of the shows previously so you can kind of follow up and and see what has what’s changed over the last actually I think this eight years now.
Wow. Unbelievable. It’s been eight years, but it’s still it’s still very fun for me. So I hope it’s still fun for you guys, too. If you’ve been listening for eight years and looking forward to getting some fall stuff and bringing out the fall soaps, I got my pumpkin spice soap, I got my Hallows from last, last season. I’ve got a bunch of other stuff all in a box ready to go. I use it during this time and I usually wait until honestly, I’ll tell you guys. I wait for pumpkin spice Day. Uh. From Starbucks. And that’s when I start using my fall soaps, usually that day. Now, Dunkin Donuts already had their pumpkin spice day. I am a big pumpkin spice fan, so for coffee, I love coffee. So I do drink a lot of that. And they’ve already had their day, which was mid-August. But I think August 30th is Starbucks Day. Once that starts, that’s the first day I bust out the the fall soaps. So I don’t know if you guys have any traditions. If you do, always feel free to contact me and let me know. I’ll definitely feature it on the show.
All right, everybody, that concludes the podcast this week. Definitely having a good time with wet shaving. I hope you guys are too. I got to give a special shout out to Mark aka Mantic59 for the Sharpologist dot com. Everything that he does for the wet shaving community and most of all, you guys, the listeners. So until our next show, which will be on September 4th, shave straight and shave safe. Bye bye now.
