Thread: save money and conserve?

If your mission is to save money and not get sucked into AD, straights win easy.
A wapienica, fine barber hone and strop are a relatively small investment.
Just getting some soap on the bristles of a boar brush and lathering it on your face and your soap will last forever.
I'm actually scared my soaps and cremes will last me forever, I wanna try new stuff .

Originally Posted by Friggin Joe

If your mission is to save money and not get sucked into AD, straights win easy.
A wapienica, fine barber hone and strop are a relatively small investment.
Just getting some soap on the bristles of a boar brush and lathering it on your face and your soap will last forever.
I'm actually scared my soaps and cremes will last me forever, I wanna try new stuff .

There is always room to buy more. Then if you really want you can give someone else a soap, either by you selling or gifting a 'slightly used' soap

Joe is Friggin right... sorry, Friggin Joe is right!

If the object is to save and consume less, then it's so easy with a straight. Buuuuuut.....

I for one got into this for reasons nothing to do with saving. I have spent a fortune. I don't even want to total it up because my wife would go nuts. But the list includes at least 6 different creams, 2 different soaps, 2 badger hair brushes, 5 razors (with a custom Livi paid for and will be picked up in person in Italy this August, so I guess 6 really), 3 colognes, 2 strops, 2 AF balms, 3 pre-shave products, moss scuttle, lather bowl, styptics and alum block, coticule, Norton 4k/8k, red paste, yellow paste... OK, now I'm really scared!

Ummmm, don't anybody tell my wife, OK?

I decided to take the plunge because the concept was just so damn sick! I did some calculations and found that I would be saving money after just 1-2 years (although now it seems the return investment is more like 3 years).

Now the broader argument that it conserves resources (in my mind, money is a resource that should be conserved too), I've concluded that straight shaving does save resources on a more global scale.

When you take into account manufacturing, transporting/distributing, and disposing of razors on a one to one scale, it's about the same. Straight razors would have a negligible win. Take it on a more global scale, say 1000 users to 1000 users on multiple generations, you see straight razors will start taking a more noticable lead. I think if you take it to a real-world situation, you will see straight razors taking even more of a lead. You can team up a real environmentalist (someone whose read a more recent EPA report saying how much more harmful and costly the current recycling system is compared to just throwing things into a landfill is) and a mathematician, you can probably see that how harmful using a cartridge razor is vs. time follows more of a geometric trend (or exponential?). On the other hand, how harmful using a straight razor is vs. time follows more of a logarithmic curve.

Interesting topic. It reminded me of a discussion when I was in 8th grade or there about. The discussion was more than the cost of wet shaving, but rather the cost of shaving in general.

My teacher was talking about energy costs and the discussion went something like this, "You guys are going to wake up one morning and notice that you have hair growing on your face. When it comes time to remove that hair, you'll have 2 options -- an electric razor or with shaving cream and a blade." Fast forwarding to the end of the discussion, we were told that electric razors are the least expensive way to shave.

However, all or almost all of us on this forum know that putting all costs aside, the best and only real way to shave is by using a straight razor.

Since almost exclusively using a straight razor for over 2 years now, my philosophy is this: Yes, I may be using more energy than if I used an electric razor and I'm possibly spending more than if I used a different razor for wet shaving, but it comes down to this...the shaves are superior to any other method, I really enjoy and now look forward to actually shaving, and maintaining an almost lost art is just the "icing on the cake!"

Originally Posted by saladbar2000

I just think that people actually do this more as a hobby and because it brings some fun and a sense of pride to a daily activity.

when you throw in extra products like other soaps, creams, preshaves, aftershaves, more stones, more brushes, and more blades....

so my conclusion is that this would save money over time if one were to stick to the necessities but I think we are all addicts so this argument for saving money does not even almost apply in our case

I agree with you, Saladbar. Guys can say what they want about saving money, and maybe some of those guys are saving money, those that don't suffer from RAD. I've only been in to this since March and I'd hate to add up what I've spent on a brush and mug collection, + I now have over 30 razors, and over 25 different soaps to choose from every day, etc., etc.. (and more coming) - and believe it or not, compared to some guys, I'm a piker! Have you seen TAZ's collection? I wish I had a fouth of his stuff! But honestly, I am proud that I shave with a str8. I love it, and I don't care what it costs!

Regards,

Steve (also the proud owner of a turntable and many great albums)

You've got to standardise guys - compare like with like. On a per-shave basis, straights and associated paraphenalia come out cheaper (and cleaner) than Mach 3s and the like. (Hey, that's what I tell the wife, and I'm sticking to it )

And in any event, I think cost is only one side of the story. Benefit should enter the equation too somewhere. "A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Straight Razor Use" - we could probably get funding from Dovo and TI....

James.

Originally Posted by DwarvenChef

Cheaper in the long run is ok by me but my reasons also run into the footprint left. All the cans, cartriges, packaging and stuff involved in the disposable lifestyle. I love the fact that straights are out there that have been around for over a houndred years and still useable. Infact I'm honeing a 200 year old so I can shave with it

I'm not a granola head by any meens but I also don't like the ammount of crap we dump, use up, wrap around stuff, just because it's easyer than doing it yourself.

Amazing what things come into focus when you look out the back door of you work to see the amounts a garbage that piles up everyday.

I guess we don't really need to bring statistics and any crazy calculations to figure this one out. 26 blades and 6 cans of goo in 6 months compared to maybe 1 pvc tub or maybe the package of your soap before you throw it in your bowl. The badger brush, razor, and strop aren't going anywhere if I can do anything about it! I read in The Art of the Straight Razor Shave pdf by chris moss that the badger brushes are made with the hair of the chinese badger which isn't endangered and is used in some chinese cuisine. Why not make full use of it if they are going to eat it anyway. From what I hear a good badger brush if properly cared for can last 10 years or longer. If you aren't sharpening hundreds of razors the stones will probably last plenty of time. It looks like we've got people shaving with 200 year old razors so compare that to the 26 disposable blades in a timespan of 6 months.....

Consider as well that most blades will last MORE than a lifetime. Guys are turning up with their grandfather's razor. I've got at least one that's over 100 years old which could be my great-great-great-grandfather's! Then there's the fact that you can sell them any time you like if you were so inclined and probably make exactly what you paid for the vintage blades. Not only is it a savings in the long run, it's an investment in the medium range ... run.

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