Thread: low budget first shave

unless you are looking for perfection or reason to spend money this doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg.

man after my own heart, I ended up with 8 ebay razors for 40 quid, a fiver each which included delivery, but this was a year and a half ago when razors were going cheaper, seems to be getting busy nowadays... not that I'm complaining, more straight users the better.


actually I worked out that, for me, personally, over a lifetime I would spend about £20,000 quid if I shaved with mach 3's instead of straights. Straight shaving has cost me, so far, 640 quid(3 high quality strops, Naniwa 1k, coticule bout, BBW, 18 razors and an Ozoku kiita hone). all I need to pay for now is witchhazel, skinfood and pucks of soap.

well done you've left yourself alot of room for expansion.

Budgetary concerns were actually my number 1 factor in this. I was running through electric shavers/parts and mach 3 cartridges and canned foams to the tune of 4 or 5 hundred dollars a year. So far I've got a little over $100 invested in my wetshaving endeavour, which is about 2 months of what my previous shaving supplies cost. The great thing is, I could conceivably spend only a few bucks a month on just cream and be done with it. I don't plan on buying anything else, but Christmas is coming, followed quickly by a birthday, so I've been spreading the word when people ask me about it. I've specifically got my eye on a Boker Edelweiss and a Star Shaving strop. I like the Tweezerman brush too.

My breakdown has, I think, been pretty reasonable. I spent $30 on a razor, including honing. $7 on a strop. $10 on a brush. $25 on a barber hone(it's funny that this is the most expensive part of it). $15 on a handful of DE and SE razors. $5 on a bowl. $20 on a storage box. $5 on cream. And I'm set almost for life. No more cartridges, electric razors, cutters, cleaners, cans of foam...it's great.