Wet Shaving and Barber Events in 2026: A Complete Calendar for the Community

If you have been wet shaving for a few years, you already know that reading forum posts and watching YouTube lather tutorials will only take you so far. There is a different kind of education that happens when you stand at a vendor table, pick up a razor you have never held before, smell a soap that surprised you on first sniff, and end up in a two-hour conversation with the person who made it. That experience is what wet shaving gatherings are built for.

In 2026, the community has several strong options on the calendar — from a longtime Michigan institution marking its ninth year to a massive barber expo on the Connecticut shoreline that has been running since 2011. Whether you are a daily double-edge shaver, a straight razor hobbyist, or someone who simply appreciates fine grooming craft, there is almost certainly an event within a reasonable drive of where you live.

This guide covers the confirmed major gatherings for 2026, what to expect at each one, and some practical advice for making the most of any in-person shaving event.

The Maggard Annual Wet Shaving Meet — April 25, 2026

If you have spent any time in the wet shaving community online, the Maggard Razors meet-up in Adrian, Michigan needs no introduction. This is the 9th annual gathering for the shop that has long been a cornerstone of the hobby’s retail scene, and it has grown steadily into one of the largest wet shaving-specific events in the United States.

The 2026 meet is scheduled for Saturday, April 25, running from noon to 4:00 PM at 124 S Winter Street in Adrian, MI 49221. Tickets are and as of mid-March 2026, over 100 had already been sold with fewer than 80 remaining. The event is capped at 180 attendees and 18 vendors, so this is not an open-door situation — if you want to go, book now.

The ticket price comes with real value attached. Each attendee receives a meal voucher redeemable at participating downtown Adrian restaurants, including Sauce (Italian and bar), Chomp Burger, and Maumee St. Taproom and Kitchen. Soft drinks, water, beer, and hard seltzers are covered for the day. Every ticket holder is entered into drawings for door prizes, with organizers guaranteeing more than 100 prize winners, and vendors are expected to provide samples and freebies to attendees throughout the event.

One of the most beloved traditions at the Maggard meet is the pay-it-forward table. The concept is simple: bring gear you no longer use, leave it on the table, and pick up something someone else left behind. Full-size software in original packaging and clean functional hardware are the rules. What ends up on that table is genuinely unpredictable — past years have produced vintage razors, discontinued soaps, and artisan brushes that attendees took home for nothing. It is a direct expression of how this hobby shares and circulates gear.

The confirmed vendor list as of late March 2026 is already impressive: Adopted Acres Soap Co., Ariana and Evans, Barrister and Mann, Catie’s Bubbles, Chicago Grooming / Oleo Soapworks, Through the Fire Fine Craft, Shannon’s Soaps, Soap Spoon, Stirling Soap Company, Sudsy Soapery, and Zingari Man. More vendors are expected to be announced before the event. For many shavers, meeting the actual makers behind soaps and aftershaves they use every morning is the main draw. For others, it is the chance to test products before buying, which is something no online store can replicate.

After the official afternoon portion ends, there is an evening gathering at the Hampton Inn and Suites conference room starting around 9:00 PM and running until roughly 11:30 PM. The hotel also serves as the recommended lodging, with a negotiated group rate of per night. Tickets are available directly through the Maggard Razors website at maggardrazors.com.

BarberSociety Live 2026 — April 12, 2026

Two weeks before the Maggard meet, a significant European event takes place in the Netherlands. BarberSociety Live celebrates its 10th anniversary on Sunday, April 12, 2026, at Hemkade 48 in Zaandam — a venue just outside Amsterdam. The event runs from 10:00 AM to 6:30 PM.

What makes BarberSociety Live relevant to wet shaving enthusiasts beyond general grooming is its dedicated wet shave competition, which has been a feature of the event in recent years. This sits alongside barber shows, look-and-learn sessions, brand experiences, and product presentations from leading professional grooming brands. The audience includes working barbers, students, shop owners, and men’s grooming enthusiasts — the kind of crowd where traditional shaving tools and techniques are genuinely understood and appreciated.

The anniversary edition is expected to draw attendees nationally and internationally, as BarberSociety’s private Facebook community spans more than 3,000 members across multiple countries. For anyone based in Western Europe or planning a spring trip to the Netherlands, this is worth building an itinerary around. Tickets are available through the event’s official website at barbersocietylive.com.

CT Barber Expo — June 6 through 8, 2026

The Connecticut Barber Expo, which its organizers have called the Barber Super Bowl, reaches its 15th anniversary this June at Mohegan Sun Casino and Resort in Uncasville, Connecticut. The expo runs across three days beginning Saturday, June 6 and closing Sunday, June 8, with the Barber Grammy awards ceremony taking place on the opening night.

This is one of the largest men’s grooming events in the world. Past editions have drawn more than 15,000 attendees from 43 U.S. states and 36 countries. The venue spans over 112,000 square feet of floor space. Sponsors and exhibitors at the 2026 edition include BaBylissPRO, Wahl Professional, Andis, JRL, Rolda, STMNT Grooming, and dozens of other brands relevant to professional and serious hobbyist shaving and grooming.

For wet shavers specifically, events like the CT Barber Expo offer something different from a dedicated hobbyist meetup. The floor draws artisan and niche brand representation alongside commercial tools, and the competitive elements — clipper battles, styling competitions, and for some years wet shave demonstrations — attract serious craftspeople. The Barber Grammy awards add a genuinely celebratory tone to the proceedings.

Mohegan Sun is accessible by train from New York and Boston — Amtrak to New London, followed by a short ride to the casino — and the venue provides free parking for those driving. Tickets and booth reservations can be found at ctbarberexpo.com. VIP packages that include a complimentary BaBylissPRO trimmer have been offered in prior years and are available again for 2026.

Barbercon Nashville — May 17, 2026

Barbercon has established itself as a traveling circuit of high-energy grooming expos that bridge barbering and cosmetology. The Nashville edition comes to Marathon Music Works on May 17, 2026, with doors opening at 1:00 PM.

Nashville is a natural fit for this format — a city with a strong barbershop culture and a venue known for drawing serious crowds. The expo format includes product demonstrations, competitions, vendor floors, and significant networking opportunities. For wet shavers who also follow professional barbering or who want to sample grooming products outside the traditional hobbyist vendor space, Barbercon events consistently deliver a well-organized show floor with strong brand representation. Tickets are at barbercon.com/nashville.

Other Notable 2026 Events

The barber event calendar in 2026 is unusually full. Several other events are worth noting for shavers based near these locations:

The Golden State Barber Expo takes place April 25 and 26 in San Jose, California, at the DoubleTree Hotel. The Saturday evening includes a gala awards ceremony and red carpet, with the Sunday expo featuring battles, seminars, and more than 50 vendors.

The Central Florida Barber Expo is scheduled for April 12 at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland, Florida, running 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM. It features morning education sessions from established names in barbering followed by afternoon competitions.

The Berkshire County Barber Expo celebrated its 10th anniversary in March 2026 at the Holiday Inn Expo Center in Morgantown, Pennsylvania, offering a regional gathering with education, battles, and vendor access for attendees in the mid-Atlantic area.

The Midwest Barber Tradeshow comes to the Schaumburg Convention Center outside Chicago on July 12, 2026, providing a Midwest option for those who cannot make the Michigan trip in April.

The Barbercon Dallas edition brings the circuit to Gilley’s on September 13, 2026, and the Jersey Shore Barber Battle in Atlantic City is set for October 18.

How to Find Wet Shaving-Specific Gatherings Near You

Beyond the larger named events, informal wet shaving meetups happen regularly at a local and regional level and rarely make it onto major event listings. The best places to find them:

Badger and Blade’s Gatherings and Get-Togethers forum at badgerandblade.com is one of the oldest organized spaces for community meetup announcements and coordination. Regional threads go back years and often carry details about recurring informal groups.

The r/Wetshaving and r/wicked_edge subreddits carry occasional meetup announcements, particularly for regional gatherings organized by active members. The Ohio Wet Shavers Meetup, which has been held annually at River’s Edge Cutlery in Hilliard, Ohio, grew out of this community and exemplifies what a small, well-organized regional event can become.

Vendor and artisan social media accounts frequently announce in-store events and pop-up appearances. The Razor Emporium in Phoenix hosted a full-day Arizona Shavers Meetup in February 2026 with free admission, vendor appearances, live plating demonstrations, and a soap-making class — the kind of event that is essentially impossible to find unless you follow the right accounts or check shaving news aggregators like ShaveSplash.

What to Bring and How to Prepare

If this will be your first wet shaving event, a few practical notes:

Bring razors you are comfortable lending. The handle-pass culture at meetups is real — shavers want to feel the weight of a razor they have been eyeing, and you will want to feel theirs. A clean, well-stored razor is an easy conversation starter.

Budget more than you think you need for the vendor floor. Artisan soaps that cost online are harder to walk past when the maker is standing three feet away telling you what inspired the scent. More than a few shavers have come home from their first meetup with more brushes than they left with.

Arrive at the beginning. The pay-it-forward table and door prize drawings at Maggard-style events favor early arrivals, and the vendor interactions tend to be more personal before afternoon crowds build.

Take notes or photos of unfamiliar products you tried and liked. The vendor floor moves quickly and memory is unreliable when you have tested a dozen soaps in an afternoon.

The calendar through mid-2026 offers genuine variety — a dedicated hobbyist meet in the Midwest, a wet shave competition at a major European barber event, a landmark trade show on the Connecticut shore, and dozens of regional barber expos where traditional grooming and professional craft overlap. The communities built at these events are part of what keeps the hobby vital. A few hours at a table with an artisan, a borrowed razor, and a room full of people who care about the same things you do — that is an experience worth planning for.