Thread: Straight Razor Shaving, Expensive?

I don't think so, unless you want to collect razors.

You can get a pre-sharpened, shave-ready Dovo classic white for about $96.00 including ship.
An Tony Williams strop for about $40.00. This is your initial outlay.
You can have it honed twice a year for about $50.00.

So, the total cost of this system for 5 years is $386.00.

That is $70.00 per year averaged out.

I ignore shave cream, brush, cup, etc., because you need this stuff for good cartridge shaving, too.

The only razor I have found that comes close to the straight experience is the Gillette Mach III Turbo.
The cartidges for this razor cost $2.20 each.

To get a good shave quality, I use 1 Mach III turbo cartridge per week, at least. Yes, you can make them last longer, but the shave quality falls off significantly after about 6 shaves, so that is not valid.

52 cartridges per year is 114.00 per year, approximately.


So it is $44.00 MORE per year to use the Gillette Mach III Turbo system, and that assumes the razor was free.



Now let's see what happens if you purchase a Norton 4k/8K, and a good barber hone and learn to hone.

Razor: $90.00
Strop: $40.00
Norton: $60.00
Barber Hone: $100.00 (probably an over estimate).

Total: $290.00
This is also the 5 year cost in this case, since you don't have to pay for a honing.

Now you are down to $58.00 per year, WAY WAY WAY cheaper than any cartridge shaver.

And if you amortize over 10 years, you are down around $28 or $30 per year, since that one razor will last you forever. Throw in another razor or two and another hone or two and you are still money ahead.

What about Bic and other disposables? They are cheaper than the Mach III cartidges, but the shave is so far from what you can get with a straight that it isn't a fair comparison.



Of course, if you decide to have lots of razors, and you want to try lots of stones, and Rooney brushes and exotic shave creams and several different strops, well, then you can spend a lot. But it isn't necessary to do this to shave every day with a straight razor.

My $.02.

I agree, it can be very cost effective. BUT you will almost always end up with more razors creams and brushes and whatnot. You cant run forever...EMBRACE THE ADS!!!!

I think it can be very cost-effective.

Only expensive if one develops one of the Acquisition Disorders. Even then, I like to rationalize it in comparison to a more expensive hobby like gun collecting. BHAD (barber hones) has turned into a hobby of sorts, but I currently have all the razors and hones I'll ever need (until the next interesting one).

Well... It can be done even cheaper than that.

I have a friend, for the sake of this story lets call him Jesse, which is a good thing to call him as it is actually his name. :P

Anyhow, Jesse wanted to learn how to straight razor shave, so I bought him a dull as a butter knife King Cutter for fifteen dollars, honed it up for him and gave it to him for his birthday along with a vintage strop I got for twenty dollars. I had to rehone it for him once, as he rolled the edge.

He uses Williams shaving soap, in a coffee mug with a four dollar, very stiff, synthetic brush. So, for an initial outlay on his part for a dollars worth of soap and four dollars worth of brush, he's straight shaving for five dollars. Using a bar of Williams about once every couple months. Provided I don't get sick of honing for him, that's his only cost.

So, even if he goes nuts on the soap usage, I'd say he should be able to straight shave for about six dollars a year, after his five dollar initial investment.

Very cost effective. :P

Originally Posted by Cobo

Well... It can be done even cheaper than that.


Very cost effective. :P

If Jesse is using Wiliams soap ( as I do) I highly recommend he add a drop of 100% aloe vera gel to the lather, it really improves Williams lather.

Originally Posted by toolarts

I
An Tony Williams strop for about $40.00. This is your initial outlay.
.

All good information, but I have to ask, who is this Tony Williams That you refer to now and again? Do you mean Tony Miller of the well shaved gentleman?

I absolutely agree with ya on this one, minus the AD's.... straight shaving can be very cost effeftive....
I did a thread sometime ago about putting together a cheap Travel / Gym kit that really produces a good shave but costs very little.....

Originally Posted by JMS

All good information, but I have to ask, who is this Tony Williams That you refer to now and again? Do you mean Tony Miller of the well shaved gentleman?

The one and only. And let me tell you: his strops are _well_ worth the $40.

On a side note to ADs, I've found that my RAD actually amortizes itself out. When I had newbie RAD a few months ago just starting out I snagged about 20 razors from ebay. I've got razors of all shapes and sizes laying around waiting to be cleaned up, honed up, and shaved with. As I discover razors that I don't like as much as others, I make sure they are good and sharp and sell them to newbies for a low price.

This way, for the cost of my time and effort, I get to experience many different types of razors. Some I like enough to keep in the rotation for a while, some I pass on so some newbie can get a cheap start with a razor that is for sure shave ready.

I'm not saying that my honing is on par with Lynn's, or Glen's, or Gary's, or any number of you older-timers, but I provide each razor I sell to a newbie with a lifetime re-honing any time for the price of shipping. I figure it's a win-win situation.

And, to bring it back on topic, I get about as much for the razors I sell as I spend on buying, cleaning, and honing them. So straight razor shaving is still cheap, even when you're afflicted with RAD.

Maby even cheaper (or am I saying something unholy here)
Is buy a Shavette for 10€ and blades that are 0.60€ for 10 (and break 'm so ity's 20)

Not including the chavingcream and such you can shave for about 2€ a year

Originally Posted by Basch

Maby even cheaper (or am I saying something unholy here)
Is buy a Shavette for 10€ and blades that are 0.60€ for 10 (and break 'm so ity's 20)

Not including the chavingcream and such you can shave for about 2€ a year

Yes, but that isn't a straight razor, it's a broken DE on a stick...