I spent 35 years shaving with twin blades and the occasional electric. Yes the blades were expensive. Yes a decent electric is expensive and doesn't last long. But in all those years I never found myself shopping for shaving supplies that cost more than a couple dollars or couldn't be bought at the corner drug store. Today I was buying some soaps and after shave balms and blades that I've been eyeing for the month or so since I switched to DE. I was all set to place a bid on a gillette tech on ebay when I realized I'd already spent a little over $60 today. And I just went shave shopping a couple weeks ago. And my list of "needed" supplies and equipment is still almost as long as when I started! This is going to be hard to explain to the wife. She's already giggling over the fact that I'm taking over 15 minutes to shave and I'm even shaving on the weekends. Even if we don't go to church! Funny things happen when something that used to be a painful chore turns into one of the better parts of your day.
I think that's the key. There are plenty of extras and unnecessary items that make it easy to get carried away. For some, collecting is part of the fun. I don't think that they would argue that this style is cheaper. However, picking up an antique shop or eBay tech, a puck of Williams or VDH, some Walmart Personnas, and a decent boar brush is going to set you back, what? Maybe $30 for start up, and 5 buck every 2-3 months for blades and soap.
For me and I suspect others the question one has to ask oneself is ,is wetshaving my hobby? If no then you do have to cost calculate, if yes, its a hobby so one must just enjoy it and forget about the cost. Its a harmless and very enjoyable hobby and if one is counting every $10 and feeling guilty it can detract from the fun. Problem is many of us have a hard time admitting its a hobby because public opinion would find it weird. When I first started reading forums in 2007 I thought it was really hilarious that some guys called shaving a hobby, you gotta be kidding. Now I say its one of my hobbies.
Oddly enough, my wife and son are convinced that I'm...uh...handling other man business...if you know what I mean. While I'm flattered that they think I still have enough energy to devote to...well you know. Shaving these days is just plain damn fun. Would it be cheaper if I was content with one straight, one puck of soap, one brush and one or two after shaves? Probably, but the truth is it's become a hobby. I try my best to keep it in the realm of sanity but I can totally understand why, to someone from the outside looking in, this would look like I've lost my mind. In fairness though, some men my age collect girlfriends half their age, restore old cars, collect Weatherby rifles, hand carved bamboo fly rods, $3000 a bottle scotch, or humidores full of $50 cigars. By comparison, me fartin' around with some brushes a few beat up old razors, some soaps and a few bottles of stink be gone seems pretty tamed.
As a hobby shaving isn't very expensive. If you spend 2-3 hours a week on shave forums and $200-$400/yr on gear and supplies it's not much different than renting a couple movies each week for cost and it's something you'd spend about $200/yr on if you just bought Mach 3's and canned goo. Even if you go hog wild and spend $1000/yr on wet shaving it's far cheaper than golf!
I think a lot of us get hooked partly by the promise of savings to begin with, that's how it was with me. Then when we realize how much we want to spend, it's a bit of a shock. For me, the soaps and spare blades aren't the issue. I'll use up my stock eventually, and the per shave cost will have been reasonable, with better quality shaves than with cartridges and canned cream. Where I have gone overboard is with the razor collection. I enjoy having them, I've used most of them, and will eventually use all of them. It's way too late to save money with them, though, compared to a single cartridge razor. I may sell some of them off, eventually, but I'll keep most of them. I've got more brushes than I strictly need, too, but nothing compared to the razors. Yes, it's become a hobby, and if I had it to do over, I'd still buy most of what I've got now, say 90%. At the beginning, I just didn't realize that this is what it would turn into.
A person could read something into this, Tim, especially if he's an old geezer like me and self control is something of an issue. Since I've only recently returned to DE shaving, I have to sympathize with the OP. I, too, have been obsessed with getting to a point in this endeavor where I think I know what I'm doing, and am happy with the shaving results I get. I've just decided that I need to have a badger brush (I couldn't get a decent lather with the cheap synthetic one I got at Wal-Mart), so I bought a Vulfix on ebay at what seemed like a decent price: $29.99 and free shipping. So far I have less than $95 in total expenditures for blades (75 various), soaps, two brushes and a Merkur Progress and I hope that will tide me over for at least a year.
And so far it involves a lot less swearing and I've never been tempted to toss any of my equipment in the water hazard.
Despite my Gulf coastal roots, I've always subscribed to the Mark Twain school of golf. Mr. Twain was quoted as saying, "Golf is a good walk spoiled." Anyone can play golf but how many modern men can hone, maintain and effortlessly employ a straight razor and have a blast doing it? I'll employ my wedges in the shave cave, not the sand trap, thanks just the same.
And quickly too I might add. I'm waiting on my $200 order of stuff I wanted just to get started. And that was the spending cap my [very reluctant] wife allowed. I would have spent twice that if I could.
Since Nov. I've purchased 9 razors, about 150 blades, 9 soaps, 5 aftershave/balms, and 3 brushes. Ran between $200-$250. That's between myself and my son. Aside from finally deciding on a blade and buying bulk, I'm pretty much set for the year--I don't feel the need to experiment any further with soap right now, and I get great shaves from all of my razors. If I go to a flea market and find another great deal on a razor, or a brush with a cool handle--fine. If not, that's fine, too. The brushes and razors are going to last; well maybe not the Weishi, but the others all have already stood the test of time. I've already re-knotted one of the brushes, which is why it wasn't $4.00. I can see spending around $150 a year for 3+ blade cartridges, canned stuff and aftershave. That's changing cartridges every two weeks, and not nearly getting the enjoyment I do now. Meanwhile, after this year of initial costs, I could easily see restocking Cella, Arko, MWF, and 100 blades for below $100. Maybe $20 between witch hazel and bay rum (I'll definitely have enough balm for another winter). That might bring me to a century in cost. DE shaving isn't really that expensive--it's the acquisition aspect that starts getting pricey.
The latest TV? madness Um Yes, Its a hobby. I didn't think that I would say that a few months ago but its become the case. As for cost, who cares. I'm only responsible to myself so if I go mad on shave gear its not anyone's problem. I've spend over £700 so far but I was not counting. I could be doing much worse, like blowing my money on booze or drugs. In my youth I wasted cash like it was going out of fashion and don't have a thing to show for it. Now I would like a TI Damascus, Its going to be over a £1000, so what. If I broke it I would be pissed though. Guys at work think I'm mad until I ask what they spent on there last TV and how long it will last. Consumer electronics, Now thats proper madness ! ipod? no thanks.
I picked up the DE shaving hobby 6 months ago and, yes, I've spent a lot of money on it. However I divide up the expenses into three categories: Learning, Luxury, and Daily Operations. "Learning," to me, encompasses the start-up cost of buying excessive amounts of stuff, willy-nilly, in a desperate attempt to find SOMETHING that works well, and to find it quickly. Glycerine soaps, tallow soaps, unscented soaps; artisan shave sticks by women-owned businesses, European shave sticks, Egyptian / Turkish / Indian shave sticks. Creams in tubs, creams in tubes, creams in bowls; creams from USA, creams from Italy, creams from Scotland, creams from Germany, Turkey, China. 2-piece razors, 3-piece razors, open comb razors, slant bar razors, adjustable head razors, made-before-I-was-born razors. And blades, oh my! Sampler packs from 4 different vendors, individual blade buys of well-reviewed types (e.g. Sputnik, Keramik, 7 O'Clock Black) that aren't in anybody's sampler. Alum blocks, balms, aftershaves, before-shaves, oils, milks, splashes. Scented, unscented, alcohol-free, alcohol-containing, polar ice mentholated, sensitive skin gentle, old-fashioned, trendy, 1940's, 2010's. Brushes in badger, boar, and synthetic. High-loft brushes, low-loft brushes, brushes with wooden, plastic, metal handles. So I bought probably 15 soaps, 8 sticks, 20 creams; 5 DE razors, 35 different types of DE blades; 12 aftershaves/balms/splashes; 8 brushes. In the hopes that somewhere, among all that kit, would be a righteous good setup for me. And indeed, there is! This week I just got six BBS shaves in a row with the same setup (3 on the first blade, 3 more on the second), which I discovered through a mixture of diligent scientific exploration, plus dilettante farking around*. Thus my start-up "Learning" expense account is now closed. "Luxury" expenses, those that are pure self-indulgence, are part of the Hobby aspect of DE shaving, in my view. Buying the same product in 4 different scents, just to find out which one I like best. Buying the same razor open-comb and closed-comb. Buying yet another brush even though I get great lather from the one(s) I already own. I figure I spend money on other aspects of Luxury (e.g. high end wine at dinner in fancy restaurants with TWBGF, a couple times a month, at $75 per each), why not funnel a small fraction of it towards this Hobby? "Daily Operations" are the shaves themselves. Costs are pretty darn small per day: (1/300th) of the price of a 100-blade pack; (1/50th) of the price of a shave soap or cream or stick; (1/50th) of the price of a bottle of aftershave; (1/1000th) of the price of buying/reknotting a brush; the cost of laundering one or two hand towels; (1/3650th) of the price of the razor. These are the cheap part of DE shaving. And they include, for me anyway, the pure crystalline joy of flipping the bird at Gillette's marketing department and their 4-Fusion-cartridges-for-$20 lunacy (link) Mark *Comically, varying the "prep" (which costs nothing) turned out to be just as important for me, as varying the blade / razor / brush / soap / balm (which cost a lot).
I consider shaving as a hobby. I have spent a ton of money and have tried just about every product out their now as far as creams, preshaves, balms, splashes and soaps and own some of the big names. I have no problem with spending 50 dollars for a bottle of Castle Forbes Balm because it works well with me. I do try to watch what I spend on products though. As far as straights, strops, and vintage hones go, I don't worry about the money spent on these items. All these items go up in value every day and I just consider it an investment. If an emergency happened in a year where I needed 200 dollars, I could sell on of my straights that I paid 50 dollars for. The price on these items raises by the day it seems on ebay. A brand new computer will end up in the junkyard in 4 years.
In terms of both cost and shave quality, nothing beats a DE with a good blade (I have never used a straight). DE shaving is inherently less expensive than shaving with a cartridge razor. That is primarily due to the much lower cost of DE blades vs. cartridges. A cartridge razor can give shaves as good as a DE, but that is dependent on the cartridges used. Since one can buy a larger variety of DE blades than cartridges, the chances of finding the "perfect" DE blade is greater than the chances of finding the perfect cartridge. A good electric razor should last a long time. My Remington is 25 years old and still works great. The blades and screen need to be replaced about once a year and the batteries every five years or so. That is if it is used every day. The shaves are quite good for an electric razor, but not as good as wetshaving. Just my 2 cents, for what it is worth.
