Thread: Stop saying we gonna save money!

You can if you take your time and study before you buy. And you buy vintage from a reliable small dealer. You don't need 6 stones, 4 strops, 5 brushes, 10 costly soaps and 7 razors. Used is good, if you don't do eBay and read the sites first.

Or buy a Feather artist type razor. Check the sites and you're shaving with new equipment for less than $150!

I haven't spent much, because I've read and studied before making any purchases, and made my own strop, and sent a couple of blades to be honed rather than get into honing..yet. But, I don't feel bad about any money I have spent or will spend (and I will!) because every dollar I spend with this, is a dollar that is not going into Gilette's pocket to pay for crappy equipment and advertising. So it's all win for me.

Originally Posted by Ryan82

You live in Mexico? Whereabouts? I'm going to be down there in about a week and a half....

I live in Guadalajara Ryan

i saved money with straight razor shaving for decades... until i met this group of miscreants who enabled my RAD, HAD, BAD, SCAD but even they faded away, after a couple of years. now I'm back to saving money.

YMMV ... just have fun on the ride.
jim

Originally Posted by ledemon

"Switch from disposables to classic wet shaving and you´ll save a looooottt of money"
Well this statement is absolutely NOT true.. I just spent almost 500.00 in my VERY FIRST wet shaving kit,, and its just the FIRST ok and it does NOT include the hones and so many soaps and creams and other razors that I wanna try some day..
But you know what?? I reallty dont regret it!!!

So,, senior members please stop saying that kind of statements!! It would be better to say:: "change from disposables to classic wet shaving and you WILL NOT save any money,,, but pretty sure you will have a very nice new hobbie and you wont regret it at all!!"

Sorry to hear you you spent so much to get started.I started for free,with an old imperial razor my friend gave to me,my belt as a strop and some old hard ark stones that I use for my pocket knives.My wife could see what I was doing and dropped $400. on a new razor,strop and stones plus oil soap and a bottle of witch hazel.I used to spend $200.00 a year on disposable stuff ,so now it will take 2 years to get ahead of the cost and start saving.But now I have two razors that are mine and don't have to be thrown out when they get dull.YMMV!

I actually did save money when I bought my first DE...then I saved when I bought my first straight. After that it was game over..but that was my own fault..lol.

I also saved a lot of money when I started using str8's, and plan to make quite i bit when I eventually sell my vintage blades...as soon as I celebrate my 765 birthday I plan to sell my collection and retire!!!

Aw come on guys...you know the $ saving thing is just a bulls%#t line to tell the SWMBO when you're spending too much of it!

Originally Posted by ledemon

"Switch from disposables to classic wet shaving and you´ll save a looooottt of money"
Well this statement is absolutely NOT true.. I just spent almost 500.00 in my VERY FIRST wet shaving kit,,

If you were looking to straight razor shave to save money, which is appears you were because you now comment on the higher prices, I think you simply spent too much on your first step when you could have saved a lot of money. I've been shaving with a Mach 3 safety razor for years now, and I just got into straight razor. I bought a vintage Old Spice mug and a usable vintage badger brush on eBay for $10 (sellers do ship to Mexico). Larry at Whipped Dog, whom many members here recommended, got me set up with a nice shave-ready vintage razor for $25 and a $14 poor-man strop that should last years if I wanted it to. Member "Mastershake" (Scott) sells great homemade soap (Bald Frog Soaps) for $1.50 per oz. I'm sure both Larry and Scott would have shipped you their merchandise no problem, and the PayPal currency conversion makes paying simple. So you could have spent around $50+shipping getting started but chose to spend ten times that.

I go through one Mach 3 cartridge per week, and at their price I would have spent $50 on them in five months time, not including shaving cream. In one's lifetime, even if he buys a quality razor, strop, brush, and scuttle, he will save thousands of dollars on razor blades and shaving cream--at least I will. I think it's important to remember that every man used to use a straight razor to shave less than 100 years ago. While I'm sure things were cheaper for them because of supply and demand, most probably only had one good razor, strop, and brush at a time, so I don't see how you won't save money compared to safety razors if you were to keep your current kit until the parts wore out.

SENIOR MEMBERS: Please continue telling newbies they can save tons of money straight razor shaving! If they treat it like a daily necessity and not as a collecting hobby, that statement is perfectly true, as you all know. One of the major factors in me deciding to take the plunge was your assurance that straight razor is better than safety in quality of shave, limit of waste, and savings in money--aside from my own interest in the art as a hobby. Keep spreading the word for others!