I'm no longer looking to save money. I'm just happy that I now look a few years younger than I did with a full grey beard. I actually look forward to my every third day shave. My shaving equipment are just toys and I am just an antique little boy. :>)
if you settle for only 1 razor and you already found your favorite blades, yes you save 3-4+ times over shaving with cartridges. Problem is once you join any shaving forum its already too late for saving LOL
I have a long answer, but the bottom line is yes, I am saving money now. Long answer/analysis to follow it separate thread.
With all due respect - not necessarily. If one is using canned chemical goo, one is not wet shaving. Wetshaving involves creating a slick emulsion of water and soap, and using that to hydrate and lubricate. Canned goo does not hydrate, and barely lubricates. It may be liquid-like, but it is not WET. If one uses carts and a soap or cream, the point is conceded...
I gave me dad a Merkur 23C and a Semogue boar, and some proraso and a blade sampler a year and a half ago. He still hasn't bought blades and uses them for months at a time. Although he only shaves once or twice a week. But he saves a lot of money. He hasn't bought any shave gear at all since I gifted him that. I even bought him some CF Ghost Town Barber a few months back and he has barely made a dent in it.
You can wetshave using a mach whatever. You don't have to use canned goo with your cartridges. Wetshaving is use of a brush and soap or cream with water. Plain and simple. The razor is secondary. Now TRADITIONAL wetshaving... That is what we are doing with vintage style razors.
Au contraire mon frère. You wet your face with water. The canned foam is just pre-lathered stuff main ingredient: water. You rinse your razor with water. You wash the "goop residue" off with water when finished. It is wet shaving.
i might saved a little bit with the db razor.but when i started with strait razor....thats another story.
Wet shaving is use of water, lubricant, and a blade. Period. Many canned shave creams use a propellent that has a drying effect on the skin, so by that measure, many canned products should be excluded, but not all of them. Someone who just uses canned product without first applying water is not, strictly, "wet shaving" in the traditional use of the word.
What propellant is it that causes drying? Who is foolish enough not to wet his face before applying shaving cream/gel? N.B. Soaps and creams can dry your skin as well. Would that also not be wet shaving "strictly speaking?"
"Strictly speaking," dining is the act of eating dinner. If you eat your dinner at McDonald's, you have dined there. Apropos of this topic: If you dine at McDonald's instead of Tavern on the Green, you save money.
well the reason carts lasted so long (atleast for me) is because I had to try and "make it worth it"...that of course came at the cost of my face....Have I saved money to this point? no....but I will be rapidly saving money as I have settled into my gear and really have no desire for anymore razors (the more costly things) and I am really just enjoying the stuff I have...my biggest problem is soaps/creams but at $10-$15 and I only get one every few months (if that), and the fact that a months worth of carts ALONE are $20, I would save it will save me a lot of money...and thats not even getting into the cost of happiness/enjoyment of shaving now.
Yes. I have 15-20 razors I spent less than $300 on (that I could likely ebay for $1K). I also have a couple nicer brushes but sub $100 each. I happen to love my Astra SP blades at $8 per 100 on Amazon that I haven't bought more of in over a year.
When I first started, I went crazy buying new razors...I've PIFed almost all my safety razor inventory at this point, so we call all that "newbie exuberance" that I am actively undoing. This is why I tell newbies to pick any blade, any razor, any brush and any soap...and then master that setup for 30 Days before buying anything else. Most of my expense was due to not understanding how to shave properly, and gear is far less important to outcome that I initially believed. I don't collect razors, my enjoyment comes from the practice and sharing of the craft and techniques of shaving well. Save money? Yes. Cost per shave with a good, yet inexpensive (think VDH or MTO) razor, is small compared to carts. A person who switches out of sheer economic necessity would likely not fall into ADs, by virtue of circumstance. Traditional shaving and razor collecting are not one and the same, rather, they are parallel activities that are not cleary delineated to the eyes of a newbie. Let's be honest, most of us saw the new toys, and were so happy to be doing something fun again with shaving...we tended to go overboard. All the pretty pictures and passionate endorsements of various items encourage new shavers to become confused about the difference between shaving and collecting. There are many ways to enjoy shaving. Razor collecting is not one that will lead to overall savings, but enjoyment lies alongside the passions of the individual. Bottom line, savings are more often the ideal than the actual outcome, at least for the first couple of years. And I'll be honest too, NB16 on shaving gear probably means "Go Insane on Nice Tobacco Pipes 2016" in my case.
