Thread: I don't get it.

I'm somewhat new to the "classic" shaving phenomenon, and I must admit I am thoroughly confused. I am sorry if this comes off as rude, as it is not at all my intention. While I am of the opinion that the "old school" method of shaving is very likely superior to much if not all of the garbage on the market today, I absolutely cannot fathom the "upkeep" and "materials" currently required.

It seems as if we need to send our razors to "honemeisters," invest in very costly belgian sharpening stones, use multiple grades of diamond abrasives and so on to create and/or maintain the "perfect edge."

From what I can gather, none of these options existed (at least, not in any quantities) during the "golden age" of shaving which we seem to be trying to emulate.

I think if I tried to explain to my grandfather the costs and materials associated with "old fashioned shaving" (myriad of very expensive honing materials, "premium" badger hair, and such) that he would tell me I was being taken as a fool.

So my question is whether all of these things are actually required, or if they are simply the second, third, fourth, and fifth bladed vibrating accessories currently on todays "newest" razor?

Well, compared to what a person would spend on disposables in a life time (estimated at $10,000 according to national geographic), the cost of our old school methods is much less than that.

There is that initial bite of the wallet when you first start out, but monetarily, the upkeep is next to none. We're probably forced to invest more time into the art of shaving on the straight razor path, but, if you talk to anyone here, you'll probably quickly find that we all enjoy it. Shaving is no longer a grudge in the daily monotony, instead, it's one of the plus'.

I think you might have used the wrong group of people to base the amount of shaving gear on. All us SRPers seem to have a need to aquire as many razors and shaving paraphenalia as possible When it all comes down to it, the only neccessities are a strop, a razor, and some place to have the razor honed when it gets dull. Three things, and well worth it

I'm one of those that's not really affected by most AD's.

I have a simple brush....$5 or so on ebay was the price.
Simple (cheap) soaps and creams....most cost $5 or less I have only about 4-5
3 colognes....(those are a bit pricey but not needed)
cheap aftershaves (tried a few and I'm pretty much down to 3 that I use.)
2 hones (a rough one that I had for my knives...don't even know the grit level and a belgian coticule that I got for cheap on e-bay)
a cheap strop ($15 or so)
and a couple of razors. Offcourse I trade off razors here and there as well but I do that out of need for "pocketmoney" not because I want to try them all.

And That'll be it pretty much.
It needs not be expensive. If you take my first razor and all teh other materials that I have at home I haven't even spent $120 or so on equipment.


Although by now I have 1 very nice TI that set me back $140.

As w/ anyting in life: you can get good workable quality for a reasonable price and the last 10% towards top quality easily doubles or trebles the price. Many SRP members are perfectionists!

Tony Miller sells good quality beginners' sets: they're all you need for the years to come, saving you in the long run a lot of money compared to the disposables you would have used otherwise unless you want to sport a beard.

Many members sooner or later get caught by an AD (-acquisition disorder) and want more and better. They're hobbyists. Same thing withs stamps. Most people only buy them to put on an envelope, some have a huge collection of them.

Hope this helps.

As a beginner, I asked myself the same question not that long ago. Infact, I did a little calculation on it the other day and came up with the following.

For a couple a 2nd hand razors (two of which were sent off for honing),
A norton 4000/8000 combo hone,
A good strop from Tony (I haven't actually bought yet but I'm going to soon
A kent Pure Badger brush

It cost me about £80-£100.

Now, using this same amount to buy a Mach 3 Blades (which would cost me about £1.50 per head [which is the same price I paid for a good usable straight on ebay ) ]), ashuming that I could use each head for about 2 week of everyday shaving (like that's going to happen beause they never last me that long), I would only be able to shave for just under 3 years.

Now, I belive that the razors, the stone, the strop, should last me for a very long time (maybe even for ever ). So after that calculation I realised that it is actually cheaper to use a straight (with all the extras), as it should pay for itself within about 3 years.

Well there's my thoughts anyways.

Steven

Though thinking about it, I'm not sure how many years you could get for the same prices using double ended razors (or even using a straight razor that uses half doulbe ended razors). I think it would be a lot more because double ended blades cost next to nothing (I mean £1 for 10 blades is a good price!). I imagine you could get about 10 years for the same price, but I could be wrong.

I fact I have been using the straight razor with disposible razors and I can get almost a whole weeks shaving out of it before I have to use the other half of the blade.

I know some people here don't really agree with using straight razor with disposible razors, but if you want the same close shave without the INITIAL investment in price, I'd go through this root.

I did and I just made me want to go the whole way (real straight razor, strop, etc), many because I like the eccentricness of it )


Steven

I am just starting out too. So far i have spent about $20 on two razors, $10 on soap, $20 on a badger brush and i'm about to drop about $35 on a strop. I have a 4000 and 6000 grit stones already.

I have noticed that as on many forums there is quite a lot of cooing about new purchases, but that doesn't mean every member is spending £/$1000s on kit! It is just people like to talk about new stuff, and bargains they have found.

Might also have something to do with our western materialistic individualist culture too

Most people don't have all the stuff that say, I, have. Even in the old days, though, there was all the stuff available that we have today, with the exception of maybe the Nortons. People used straights all the time, so barber hones, Escher stones, Coticules, and all that stuff were probably more readily available (and much less expensive) than they are today. For those who didn't have this stuff, honing services were available, and apparently often utilized. The thing is that really not much has changed...it's just that with the advent of the internet, we talk about it more. Today, it's unusual, rather than being what everybody else does. You can get by with a razor, strop, and a brush today, same as you could 100 years ago. But just like 100 years ago, if you want to maintain your own, you need specific, specialized hones.

Most razor companies offered honing, and would give you 10 free hones with a razor or such. That's ten different times you can send you razor in to be professionally honed. (not ten actual stones) If they weren't free, you could send a nickel, or even a 0.05$ stamp as payment and they would send it right back out.

I would also venture to say that they didn't have the diamond pastes back then.

They also probably stuck to the three or four well known grades of badger, pure, best, silvertip, super silvertip. I don't think badgers began growing Upland Manchurian Super Fu Man Chu Badger Goatee's (only one brush per animal yeild) until the most recent interest in wet shaving.

you can easily get by with $100-150 in equipment. In regards to the $10,000 mark for cartridges, I bet that Dr. P (SMF and B&B) has spent that in brushes alone. It's up to you, and your tax bracket.

Originally Posted by Joe Chandler

Most people don't have all the stuff that say, I, have. Even in the old days, though, there was all the stuff available that we have today, with the exception of maybe the Nortons. People used straights all the time, so barber hones, Escher stones, Coticules, and all that stuff were probably more readily available (and much less expensive) than they are today. For those who didn't have this stuff, honing services were available, and apparently often utilized. The thing is that really not much has changed...it's just that with the advent of the internet, we talk about it more. Today, it's unusual, rather than being what everybody else does. You can get by with a razor, strop, and a brush today, same as you could 100 years ago. But just like 100 years ago, if you want to maintain your own, you need specific, specialized hones.

My mother's uncle, the only person I know who had grown up with straights and never switched to disposables had, AFAIK, only razors and a loom strop. He knew a barber who did his honing. The loom strop had only plain leather on it. That was it.