Budget Shavers

[something better]

Can we have a group for people who are cost-conscious? People who enjoy wet shaving, but are trying to budget their money wisely and buy quality gear at a reasonable price.

I’m getting a little disillusioned by the price of wet shaving products. $30 for artisan shave soaps, three Hundred dollars for a razor, or $100 for a shave brush.

I don’t think I’m the only one who got involved in wet shaving because of the overpriced blades. Seeing the same thing happened to other wet shaving gear, particularly soaps and razors is a little bit disheartening for me.

Is anyone else in the same boat? I can’t be alone in thinking that the price of wet shaving gear has gotten too high for many products.

Let’s have a thread wing discuss the value products. Razors that are affordable, and still quality and the same for soaps.

 

[demaro]

I enjoy saving money on shaving with a de . I have a box full of them , all vintage Gillettes , mostly super speeds that I bought years ago very cheap , I inherited three of them . I can’t bring myself to buy any expensive soap . I’m very happy using Arko , Palmolive sticks , Proraso , Tabac , and several vintage soaps that I bought cheap years ago , Old Spice , Williams , Colgate. I have several brushes , mostly boar , but a few badgers . I have found you don’t have to spend a lot of money to get a great shave , I can get an excellent shave from a cheap soap , an inherited super speed , and a cheap boar brush. I do Not use an aftershave, cold water works just fine for me . I have enough blades to last the rest of my life that I have bou over the years very cheap , Derby , Shark , and Astra.

 

[Markdad2]

I'm pretty sure that your not alone. You can shave on the cheap for sure.

This is a hobby of sorts for some, and there are luxury products available.

Great thing about this website is there is a place for everyone. GRUME, and GRUYERE are cool, the focus is on not buying products, but using what you have and being happy with it. There are also postings about guys getting over 100 shaves per blade!

I like the artisan soaps, and get a lot of shaves from a tub, so I think I'm getting a pretty good value for the money.

 

[DesertIguana]

Maybe you should have:

Frugel Shaver anomnoms.

Or cheap Bas****s Shave Club.

Bottom line is you do not need pricy arsenal of shave gear to get good shave.

A Lamborghini, or Classic Speedster is not nessessary to run to market 1/2 mile away.

You just arrive in style, but walking is good except code.

 

[Trollky]

After numerous years of trying artisan soaps and buying fancy brushes and swanky razors, I have ironically concluded that the best shaves are to be had with a Fatip or Merkur razor, a Semogue or Omega brush and some Proraso Green soap....

 

[mikhou]

I love my Henson AL13+ (~$55 when I bought it), but just yesterday I said to myself that I think I might get better shaves with my $7 Baili. My 2 soaps are 1) a cheap frankensoap of Arko, VDH Luxury, and Dove Men Care 3 in 1 Extra Fresh and 2) Pre de Provence No. 63 that I won in a PIF (so it doesn't cost me a cent). I have 2 brushes. One cost $8 and the other $2. Yeah, I like nice things, but I see no reason to spend big money when what I have works great.

 

[Deano]

Im now in a position to buy a $300 razor but im not convinced they would shave better than a vintage gillette, schick or my EJ DE87. For soaps and creams l do spend more than needed sometimes but l find the Arko! stick to out perform most if not all ive tried. For a brush l like an Omega boar as well as any. Some want a Vette and some like a Honda. To each their own.

 

[Robertsr]

Vintage Schick or Gem for the win. You can get a 50+ year old razor in perfect working condition that arguably shaves better (albeit with a bit of skill required) than modern cartridge shavers.

 

[DesertIguana]

Back in day Gillette was all over TV, they pretty much own market. Today ever other company is also making disposables, and
Gillette could have still be king of hill. If they had not gone the throw away route.

 

[thombrogan]

Vintage Schick or Gem for the win.

I’ve recently been getting the hang of the Schick E3 Injector (no brainer for anyone else, advanced calculus for me…) and the GEM Micromatic Open Comb and Ever-Ready 1912 are comfort monsters.

For the win, indeed!

Gillette could have still be king of hill. If they had not gone the throw away route.

They’re kings of the throwaway hill, too. And their original stuff is usually still going strong. I am at least the third owner of a post-war Tech that has a little cosmetic wear and can shaves very close to the other razors I just mentioned with much more affordable blades.

 

[Oliviamaynard]

Can we have a group for people who are cost-conscious? People who enjoy wet shaving, but are trying to budget their money wisely and buy quality gear at a reasonable price.

I’m getting a little disillusioned by the price of wet shaving products. $30 for artisan shave soaps, three Hundred dollars for a razor, or $100 for a shave brush.

I don’t think I’m the only one who got involved in wet shaving because of the overpriced blades. Seeing the same thing happened to other wet shaving gear, particularly soaps and razors is a little bit disheartening for me.

Is anyone else in the same boat? I can’t be alone in thinking that the price of wet shaving gear has gotten too high for many products.

Let’s have a thread wing discuss the value products. Razors that are affordable, and still quality and the same for soaps.

Cost vs value is always a trade off.
I have saved money in the 2.5 years and I paid a high up front cost for ASD2.
It has already paid for itself, but more importantly it performs even better. The handle is worth that price. It's indestructible nature is, but idk if I care that it's indestructible.
I bought a fancy soap because the cheap soap was so drying to my skin.
I like soft skin.
I figured pay up front and get the best rather than chase small improvements.
I am so glad I bought before inflation really hit, but Amazon seems to have it on sale for pre inflation prices often.

 

[Lockback]

I've spent more on traditional shaving than I ever planned on, which sort of shot my original "I'm doing this to save money" mantra.
Nonetheless, you can get 100 blades for about $7.00 on Amazon. You can get an Edwin Jagger DE89 for under $30.00. A tub of Stirling Soap costs a little over $14.00, not including shipping. So you can still get a whole lot of shaves in for not much money.

 

[DesertIguana]

Point is you do not have to invest big buck in New Super Razor to get good shave. Its like buying vehicle to get you around, a
Old VW, Cheverlot, or filling in blank_______ with get you around. A New Porsche, McClearen, BMW, Ranger Rover wll also accomplish same task greetings you around but in style.

 

[Brian H Shaves]

High Quality for a good price, you need to look no further than www.italianbarber.com.

Razors: Well machined Stainless Steel under $70. Razor aggression from mild to wild. Just look at their aggression chart
Brushes: Synthetics under $20, sometimes under $10 in frequent sales
Soaps: $10 shave soaps that are of fine quality

Just take a look, fantastic deals and quality.

 

[Frito Ray]

The cheapest stuff I tried that I could content myself with:

razor: Baili 131(?) tech clone……about $11 Canadian
cream: Palmolive Classic………………………$ 3 ”
blades: Tiger Platinum (100 pack)……….$16 ”
aftershave: Skinbracer…………………………$ 3 ”
brush: Wilkinson synthetic…………………..$ 7 ”
bowl: travel soap case bottom………………free (well I’ve had it since the 80’s so its cost has been amortized since then …Hey, it’s got ridges, and being rectangular it fits easily in medicine cabinet, what more does one need!)

 

[geneaut]

I'd love to be a member.

Over the years, I've participated in a couple of 'frugal' shaver events. A few years back, some of us got together and shaved for a month on $30 ( hardware and software ).

For a while, some of us had a 'Frugal Friday' shave thread using our low-cost setups on Fridays and reporting back on it.

My Monday shave:


Baili BR179 ($6)
Vertice ShaveX Platinum ( 55 cents for a tuck of 10 )
Omega 49 ($9)
Williams Mug Soap ($1)
AV Ice Sport ($5)

 

[Goblin]

I could do this. Whilst I do have a few "mid-price" razors (circa £100 in the UK - although most of them are much cheaper in the USA) I am never going to be one of these guys with a stable full of Timeless, Wolfman, Blackbird, etc. My last shave was:

Fatip Grande: £18
Omega 49: £9
Lord Platinum: I don't know, but they're cheap!
Palmolive: £2.50
Superdrug AS: £2.50

If I didn't have so MUCH stuff I would be a pretty frugal shaver, and the irony is that most of my favourites are the cheaper stuff I already owned before I started working my way up the price scale! So many of the everyday products of traditional shaving that were around when I started are disappearing. I think it would be great to have somewhere to champion the ones that are still around, especially so new folks see that they don't need a $30 soap and a $300 razor to get a satisfying shave.

 

[OkieStubble]

I love my Henson AL13+ (~$55 when I bought it), but just yesterday I said to myself that I think I might get better shaves with my $7 Baili. My 2 soaps are 1) a cheap frankensoap of Arko, VDH Luxury, and Dove Men Care 3 in 1 Extra Fresh and 2) Pre de Provence No. 63 that I won in a PIF (so it doesn't cost me a cent). I have 2 brushes. One cost $8 and the other $2. Yeah, I like nice things, but I see no reason to spend big money when what I have works great.

Good post. I have owned expensive razors and brushes at one time in the 13 years I have been doing this, but have sold them all years ago. The ones I seem to enjoy the most didn’t cost much?

My two favorite Shavette’s only cost about $15 a piece. My favorite DE? $4 brand new. I like to keep several of my favorite soaps in stock, but I enjoy the more economical soaps like Arko and La Toja sticks which are made by larger manufacturers and I don’t buy Artisan soaps.

I have quite a bit of aftershaves, but they are largely modern drugstore versions which are had cheap and vintage stuff picked up at antique stores and estate sales.

This is a good idea for a club, because many think ya have to be a minimalist also in order to shave cheap, but variety can still be had and still be cost effective.

 

[Calyshaver]

It would be interesting to see numbers for your cost per shave. For me a typical shave is:

---

100 Nacet blades x 9 shaves each = 900 shaves @ $15 retail... $0.02 per shave
Tub of Proraso x 150 shaves each @ $10 retail........................ $0.07 per shave
Fatip razor x 150 shaves per year, 10 year life @ $30 retail....... $0.02 per shave
Yaqi brush x 150 shaves per year, 10 year life @ $20 retail....... $0.02 per shave
Nivea aftershave balm, 3 bottles per year @ $8/ea retail........... $0.16 per shave
Alum bloc x 150 shaves per year, 2 year life @ $10 retail.......... $0.04 per shave
===================================================
TOTAL per shave................................................................ $0.33 per shave
TOTAL per year (150 shaves)............................................ $49.50

*Excludes utilities, water, labor, laundry, etc

This is an exercise better done in a spreadsheet so you can plug different numbers in for various equipment to get instant updates. I never would have thought that the aftershave would be most expensive. Who can go the lowest and highest would be fun contests.

 

[Steve56]

Interesting post for sure.

The absolute cheapest hardware is a straight razor, hone, and strop. For around $100, you can shave for the rest of your life without buying any more hardware. This is not the best route for everyone as there are 2 additional learning curves besides shaving - honing and stopping. Honing and stropping are why the ‘safety razors’ killed off straights - DEs are faster, require less maintenance and less maintenance skill. And in the ‘olden days’ I suspect that a lack of affordable fine grained finishing hones and user skill meant that the DE won the shave contest. Not as true anymore in the shaving world, but if you want cheap, the straight razor still rules.

Brush - Omega 49 at about $8 -10 is a fine option. The only downside is that you have to buy something else or the shipping is more than the brush. Same for some synthetic brushes, they’re beginning to come of age, and although the latest that I’ve bought are still lather slingers, they make good lather and don’t cost much.

Soap - cheapest is to make your own. Consumables are where people get derailed - an ‘expensive’ soap may actually be very cheap to use. Martin de Candre and a Simpsons Wee Scott can get you almost 2 years of shaving from a $45 tub, ask @martym . Let’s round off and say $25/y for one of the better soaps out there. A brick of Italian croap will also get you a couple of years and maybe cost a little less, but maybe not much. Stirling, La Toja, and Pre de Provence are great values too. And to quote Lenny Briscoe (Law and Order), when you hit the bottom of that PdP puck, ‘Give me a call at the old folks home’.

After shave - tons of great affordable options, both vintage and new. Vintage Old Spice is a good example - you can cut it down 50% and it’s still too strong for some folks - I use the AS like EdT. A fellow B&Ber whose father used Old Spice, I don’t remember his handle, said something like ‘I was 12 years old in 1969 and was playing with my friends a block over and knew exactly when dad left the house.’ Good stuff.