When I got started with the whole "alternative" shaving thing, one motivator was the cost of Mach3 cartridges at the time. I'd bought a straight razor (Pumaster), and, in spite of a really rough first week, stuck with it, and within a little over a month, was a happy camper. One year, one breakup and one house-move later, I managed to damage the Pumaster beyond reasonable repair. I hadn't sorted out how I felt about DEs at the time, so I grudgingly went back to feeding my Mach3 handle.
Two years ago, I decided I'd had enough triple-bladed pocket-picking and bought a Merkur Vision. Yes, crazy choice for my first, but I managed, and, with the included Merkur blades, got considerably better shaves than with the "Best a Man Can Get." And, of course, saving beaucoup bucks on blades in the process, making what I spent on the Vision seem like chump change, at least in the long run.
Fast-forward to the present: The Vision, having been smacked up from a household accident, was temporarily (or so I thought) replaced last year with a Futur, which I ended up preferring overall. I played around with a few different blades until settling on Israeli Personnas (the no-name variety). That setup was dandy until galfriend accidentally sent it flying against a wall (similar to what happened with the Vision), ending up with the cap disappearing. She immediately offered to buy me a replacement, and, after a little lurking, I thought I was set on a Mergress, but got sidetracked by talk about certain older Gillettes, and decided it was time to find out whether the hype over Big G's oldies was real, or...hype.
Two weeks ago, in the wee hours, someone here put on offer three vintage Gillettes, a late-40s gold Aristocrat, a '72 Super Adjustable, and a SS of roughly the same vintage as the Super. About 30 minutes after they were posted, I PM'd and pulled the trigger on the Super, then, five minutes or so after that, PM'd again for the Aristocrat as well. When they arrived, there were a handful of blades included to try out: four Gillette 7 O'Clocks (yellow wrapper), and two Dorco ST-300 blades.
The first thing I did was put a once-used IP in the Super Adjustable, setting at 5. The balance–a bit top-heavy compared to the Futur–took some getting used to, and I thought the 5 setting a tad over-aggressive, but he shave overall was good...quite on-par with the Futur, in fact. The following morning, I put the same blade in the Aristocrat. Even better...smoother, closer, and the balance of the 'crat was a little nicer.
For the next try, I tossed the IP, thought about putting a 7 O'Clock in, then decided to try a Dorco in the Aristocrat. Unbelievable. So smooth, so crisp, so damned close, with next to no burn and one (1) tiny nick. The shaving experience overall was delightful, and the result lasted well into the wee hours. This performance repeated itself for the next three days.
Then, I decided to skip a day. I wanted to see if I could trip up this razor/blade combo with some semi-serious growth, and without a blade change. Same routine as before, and the shave was every bit as good as before. Shave Number Five with the same blade the next day was superb.
Damn. A 60-year-old razor and a cheap blade. We got game.
Last night, I cruised over to West Coast Shaving to order up more Dorco blades, after failing to find them elsewhere (I found the newer 301s in a few places, but that was it). I'd thought WCS's prices on a few other blades were a tad on the high side, but the price on the Dorcos I desired was surprisingly low...so low that I decided to double the order at the last minute (200 blades). This is in addition to the approximately 60 IPs and 30 Merkurs I have left, which for me constitutes nearly a six-year supply. This got me thinking about cost per-shave, which for me has gone way down.
Not counting the cost of the other stuff (shaving cream and AS balm, which are already much cheaper per shave than standard-issue cans o' goo and AS lotions), my per-shave cost is drifting toward...two cents?
Based on what I paid for those Dorcos last night, that's my figure, based on changing out a blade every week (and, based on my last shave, they could probably go another few days at that). Gillette's current dollar-a-week boast looks even more laughable: I was lucky to get four decent shaves from a Mach3 cart, but even if I made it to five, we're talking at least $2.50 a hit...a factor of, oh, 12.5 over my current setup.
And, let's not even get started on the subject of eco-friendliness...
S'wonderful, S'marvellous, S'cheap!
- Barrett
Two years ago, I decided I'd had enough triple-bladed pocket-picking and bought a Merkur Vision. Yes, crazy choice for my first, but I managed, and, with the included Merkur blades, got considerably better shaves than with the "Best a Man Can Get." And, of course, saving beaucoup bucks on blades in the process, making what I spent on the Vision seem like chump change, at least in the long run.
Fast-forward to the present: The Vision, having been smacked up from a household accident, was temporarily (or so I thought) replaced last year with a Futur, which I ended up preferring overall. I played around with a few different blades until settling on Israeli Personnas (the no-name variety). That setup was dandy until galfriend accidentally sent it flying against a wall (similar to what happened with the Vision), ending up with the cap disappearing. She immediately offered to buy me a replacement, and, after a little lurking, I thought I was set on a Mergress, but got sidetracked by talk about certain older Gillettes, and decided it was time to find out whether the hype over Big G's oldies was real, or...hype.
Two weeks ago, in the wee hours, someone here put on offer three vintage Gillettes, a late-40s gold Aristocrat, a '72 Super Adjustable, and a SS of roughly the same vintage as the Super. About 30 minutes after they were posted, I PM'd and pulled the trigger on the Super, then, five minutes or so after that, PM'd again for the Aristocrat as well. When they arrived, there were a handful of blades included to try out: four Gillette 7 O'Clocks (yellow wrapper), and two Dorco ST-300 blades.
The first thing I did was put a once-used IP in the Super Adjustable, setting at 5. The balance–a bit top-heavy compared to the Futur–took some getting used to, and I thought the 5 setting a tad over-aggressive, but he shave overall was good...quite on-par with the Futur, in fact. The following morning, I put the same blade in the Aristocrat. Even better...smoother, closer, and the balance of the 'crat was a little nicer.
For the next try, I tossed the IP, thought about putting a 7 O'Clock in, then decided to try a Dorco in the Aristocrat. Unbelievable. So smooth, so crisp, so damned close, with next to no burn and one (1) tiny nick. The shaving experience overall was delightful, and the result lasted well into the wee hours. This performance repeated itself for the next three days.
Then, I decided to skip a day. I wanted to see if I could trip up this razor/blade combo with some semi-serious growth, and without a blade change. Same routine as before, and the shave was every bit as good as before. Shave Number Five with the same blade the next day was superb.
Damn. A 60-year-old razor and a cheap blade. We got game.
Last night, I cruised over to West Coast Shaving to order up more Dorco blades, after failing to find them elsewhere (I found the newer 301s in a few places, but that was it). I'd thought WCS's prices on a few other blades were a tad on the high side, but the price on the Dorcos I desired was surprisingly low...so low that I decided to double the order at the last minute (200 blades). This is in addition to the approximately 60 IPs and 30 Merkurs I have left, which for me constitutes nearly a six-year supply. This got me thinking about cost per-shave, which for me has gone way down.
Not counting the cost of the other stuff (shaving cream and AS balm, which are already much cheaper per shave than standard-issue cans o' goo and AS lotions), my per-shave cost is drifting toward...two cents?
Based on what I paid for those Dorcos last night, that's my figure, based on changing out a blade every week (and, based on my last shave, they could probably go another few days at that). Gillette's current dollar-a-week boast looks even more laughable: I was lucky to get four decent shaves from a Mach3 cart, but even if I made it to five, we're talking at least $2.50 a hit...a factor of, oh, 12.5 over my current setup.
And, let's not even get started on the subject of eco-friendliness...
S'wonderful, S'marvellous, S'cheap!
- Barrett
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