I heard the argument that classic wet shaving with a straight or DE razor will save money and conserve resources. I'm not sure if it conserves resources but we would have to get a whole lot of figures and statistics to figure that one out and I'm not quite up to it as of now. I was curious about how much money one would save though so I thought I'd make some comparisons (these figures are guaranteed to be all messed up because there are so many variables but I figured I'd give it a shot and you can feel free to make whatever comments you feel like making).

Now before I start I want to make one thing absolutely clear! I am not even almost considering going back to one of those multiple bladed monstrosities and I don't recommend that anybody else does either. I just felt that this particular argument wasn't all that accurate. I enjoyed shaving about as much as a trip to the dentist before I started this and now not only do I enjoy it but I'm frickin obsessed! 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.

alright, enough of the soap-box! lets get to it

Mach 3 w/ 3 blades $8.77
24 pack of blades on sale $35.95

-it is recommended that you change the blade every week so for the mach 3 and a year supply of blades at this cost we have $80.67

a 7 oz can of aveeno shaving gel costs $4 but I'm not sure how long it will last so I didn't include this

now everybody is different but here are some costs that I came up with for straight shaving

vulfix super badger brush $60
taylor of old bond street shaving cream $13.50
heirloom razor strop $50
norton 4k/8k waterstone $75
new dovo 5/8 carbon blade $60

total 258.50

Now this is higher but over time I'm thinking this would pay itself off as long as you stuck to what is on this list but I don't think anybody on this forum could do that.

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