Wet Shaving Talk For 29 December 2025

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 December 29th, 2025.

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Today on the Show:

Happy New Year!

Popular Vendor Shutting Down Operation

10 Years of Podcasts! 

Collector Series: Declaration Shave Brushes 

Wet Shaving New Years Resolutions 

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Declaration Grooming Going Out Of Business  

 

Declaration Grooming LLC (formerly L&L Grooming and Declaration Brushworks)owned and operated by Scott Stewart is closing down shop. Scott made the announcement last month and will completely shut down on January 31st.

 

Declaration brought back the American Artisan shave brush, with Scott being one of the first brush makers to hand-tie his own knots.  His brushes are extremely popular and of good quality,and the MilkSteak base for his soaps were great as well. 

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10 Years of Podcasts

It’s hard to believe it’s been 10 years! When I started podcasting back in 2015 I never thought it would lead to this! 

 

I am very happy and proud to have put on this show for this long and grateful for the wet shaving community as well as Mantic for all of his support! 

 

I’ll discuss some notable moments of the years:

 

Most of you know the origins of the podcast, starting as Wet Shaving News and was hosted by Andrew back in the summer of 2015. Andrew was a relatively new wet shaver and wanted to do more for the community by starting his own show based on interviewing artisans and up to date news. When he posted an ad looking for a co-host, I replied with interest. At the time I was a new collector and enthusiast and thought it would be a fun way to discuss wet shaving. 

 

I took over completely after a few months with my first solo show being on 2/10/2016. From there Andrew and I continued to collaborate until the end of 2016 where he decided to move on. The last show of Wet Shaving News was on 1/16/17.  

 

On January 30th 2017 the first episode of Wet Shaving Talk premiered and has been running since. Believe it or not this is the 199th episode! With episode #200 premiering in January! (I wish I stayed on schedule). 

 

As the podcast progressed, I decided to venture away from interviewing artisans, and focus more on the industry, cool facts and collecting. Most were interviewed on several other platforms and I felt the repetition would hinder my identity. I also feel this gives me more of an unbiased approach to the industry and thus keeps everything neutral which is the vibe I wanted from day one.  

 

Out of all the shows my personal favorite was the Fall Seasonal Special from 2017.  This was a big show and took me a long time to make but I had a lot of fun doing it. I believe the artisan movement was the greatest at this time because everything was so new and innovative.  To this day the Fall Seasonal Special is my favorite show to make and remains the most listened to year after year. 

 

Some challenges over the years, well covid really slowed things down.  At a time where we needed more podcasts ( since everyone was home) it was very hard to get new content.  Everything was at a standstill and if you notice I changed things up during that time to focus more on collecting. There was literally nothing out there being made and the secondary market was drying up.

Some other cool facts about the cast:

 

-Over 200 episodes have been released (with this being the 199th for WST)

-AI has never been used for content. 

-The cast has been streamed all over the world! In dozens of countries! 

-Every show has been recorded in Florida. 

 

Some cool links:

 

-First show as a co-host: https://sharpologist.com/podcast/welcome-show-joe/ 

-First solo show: https://sharpologist.com/podcast/wet-shaving-podcast-dateline-10-feb/ 

-Last episode of Wet Shaving News: https://sharpologist.com/podcast/wet-shaving-news-podcast-january-16-2017-announcing-wet-shaving-talk-podcast/ 

-First Episode as Wet Shaving Talk https://sharpologist.com/podcast/wet-shaving-talk-podcast-1/ 

-My Favorite Show: https://sharpologist.com/podcast/wet-shaving-talk-fall-seasonal-special/ 

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Collectors Series: Declaration Shave Brushes  

 

Declaration Grooming is a highly regarded American artisan known for producing premium, hand-tied badger hair shaving brushes and high-performance soaps. Founded in 2015 and rebranded in 2017, the company has achieved cult status among wet shaving enthusiasts

 

Hand-Tied Knots: Unlike many competitors that use pre-made knots, every Declaration brush is hand-tied by the artisan, Scott. This allows for exceptional density and specific performance profiles for each "batch" of hair. B1-B18. 

 

Handle Designs: The brand is famous for iconic handle shapes, particularly The Jefferson (inspired by Thomas Jefferson), The Washington, and The Theodore.

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Wet Shaving New Years Resolution  

Time to make these commitments. Whether it’s learning a new skill or getting that bucket list item, what are your resolutions for 2026? 

 

I’ll discuss how to choose your commitments and how to achieve them!

1. Make your list 

2. Timeline

3. DO IT! 

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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 [e-mail]  

 

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!!