Before your obsessed pathology gets the better of you and I get a knee-jerk "You can never have too many...," I'd like an honest opinion if there is a limit of how many items one should have in shaving gear.

For instance, I now have four shaving brushes and only use two of them often, one infrequently, and the other nearly never.

I have perhaps nine straights, plus another two or three that still need enough work that I don't consider "owning" them yet.

I possess about ten soaps and another four creams.

I have been able to justify most of my acquisitions by saying that I am still experimenting, wetshaving for under a year and straightshaving for about half that. Different types of badger hair or knot size; different width or grind or origination of blade; different scents, milled v. soft, vegetal v. tallow of soap, etc.

But I also notice that where I tend to be a minimalist in other facets of life (one wife, no girlfriend) I start to either feel guilty about buying yet another material item or suspect I am not able to fully appreciate the items I do have, using a soap once weekly at the most, for instance. I can fully afford what I bought and more without blinking an eye, it is just the excess that gets me. (Of course, didn't stop my purchase this weekend from both Billy and BonSavon.)

Since this is cheaper than psychotherapy, I will leave further comments to the peanut gallery. Of course, I count on others supporting my RAD/SCAD, as those with any restraint stopped tuning into SRP/B&B/SMF a long time ago.

Thanks,
Paul