Budget Shave

I'm a big proponent of economical shaving products. I feel that there are excellent shaves to be had without having to break the bank and excellent products that are often ignored simply because they do not have a high price tag attached to them. I know that I'm not alone and that a lot of other folks think the same way that I do, so I'd like to see other folks' examples of low cost shaves. Show off your "cheap" gear and help others to see the beauty of budget shaves.

I'll start things off. Today I broke out my wife's Sik Bay plastic razor from bestshave.net, she's always telling me that I would like it if I would just give it a chance so I decided to give it a go. This is a three piece plastic razor which costs a paltry $1.75, but was thrown into an order as a freebie. The razor looks and feels fairly cheap, but twists together nice and tight and appears to have actually been made pretty well. I threw a SuperMax Titanium blade into it (at $16-$19/100 this is my one concession to price, but as I am working through a pack that I got in a trade, it technically cost me nothing). The blade sits well in the razor and is evenly gapped and placed on either side. I soaked my #6 Turkish Horsehair brush ($2.55 from bestshave.net) in a textured plastic salsa bowl ($1 from HEB) and pulled out my puck of Ogallala Bay Rum, Limes, and Peppercorns ($4.75 from West Cost Shaving). The soap sits in a VDH bowl from a VDH shaving set, which was given to me as a gift...so it was free, but the set normally costs $7.50 at HEB. I lathered up and did a typical three pass shave with my budget gear followed by a cold water rinse. The results were fantastic, I managed to get a great irritation free shave and really enjoyed using everything. The brush worked beautifully, the razor was nice and aggressive without being deadly, the soap performed amazingly (as per usual), and my trusty lather bowl did what lather bowls do. All things considered, I was really happy with my shave today and the gear was so inexpensive that I could have bought it all with lunch money.

Gear Used:
Sik Bay plastic three piece razor---------------FREE ($1.75 normally)
#6 Turkish Horsehair Brush-------------------$2.55
SuperMax Titanium blade---------------------FREE (normally aprox. $17/100, making it $0.17/blade)
CocinaWare salsa bowl-----------------------$1
Ogallala Bay Rum, Limes, and Peppercorns---$4.75
VDH bowl-------------------------------------FREE (the VDH set is normally $7.50)
TOTAL COST----------------------------------$8.30

 

I'm guilty of thinking more expensive equals better.. Sometimes a reality check is needed. Thanks!

 

Yup. Had CHEAP WEEK back in December.

 

Ahh, I missed it. I didn't join until toward the end of December.

 

You know, my first razor was the lowly Lord L6, and now some 56 razors later, it is still in my rotation. Been using all week with Feather blades and loving it. It originally cost $12.95 and came with a couple lord platinum blades. It remains my #1 razor recommendation for guys just starting out and wanting to try out traditional wet shaving.

 

This is superb. I'm kind of an on the cheap but still very effective shaver myself. For $8.30 you have bought a fully functioning wet shaving kit that with a little care should last you a long time .

 

I started traditional wet shaving because I was sick of paying $3 to $4 for a cartridge that I would push to 8 or 10 shaves, and I hated buying shaving cream in a can. I also believe we should take care of the earth we live on as much as we can, and I hated the idea of throwing away all that plastic from cartridges and the holder they came in, as well as the shave cream cans. I'm accumulating blades in my Altoid blade bank, and will eventually take them to a recycling center.

While finding a less expensive and more environmentally friendly way of shaving, I also found a better way of shaving. I can experiment with new blades, some razors, and some soaps/creams and still spend less than before. I may buy something more expensive from time to time, and will probably buy a razor here and there, but generally try to keep costs down.

 

lately I've been using a Lord Tech clone (approx. $12 new) with Astra blades (approx. $17 for 100) and Barbasol foam from a can. (heresy I know, but it was $1).

 

Perhaps its not the absolutely cheapest shave but the good enjoyable shave for less. Its better to buy a Omega 49 for $10, it will last 8 to 10 years and get better with use than the Bestshave Brush which from what I've read won't last as long.

A kilo of Cella costs $30 , it will last 2 years of daily use and the QUALITY is better than many budget creams or soaps which will run out sooner. A large puck of Mitchells Wool Fat is about $11 shipped from Connaught , again great quality for a little price.

Maybe 7 years ago cheap shaving was more of a necessity because there were fewer imported shaving products available to the American shaver, nothing in between a tub of Turefitt and a tube of Arko. But more products are avilable from so many different sources with the renaissance of wetshaving that finding quality at a small price is not that challenging. Fun of trying cheap products or the necessity of the being frugal could motivate the cheap shaver but its not really necessary beyond that.

 

I am all about quality over cost, but sometimes quality doesn't have to come at a high price. I'm not here to debate the value of an inexpensive soap over a more expensive one or the relative longevity of products. I am just curious about sharing the experience of using inexpensive products that sometimes get overlooked. I started this thread so that folks could share their experiences and to show that quality doesn't have to cost all that much.

 

That's a pretty cool little razor. I'm thinking for a good budget shave, maybe a vintage DE that you can pick up for $5 or less if you look around (even on ebay they can be found at that price if you're patient). Astra SPs at under $0.10 per blade. VDH Deluxe for $1.50 at Wal-Mart. I'm not sure your horsehair brush could be beat but I'll throw out the VDH White Handled Boar, which I've only seen at CVS for under $9. Oh, and witch hazel at about $2 a bottle.

Razor - $5, lasts say 10 years of daily use which should be conservative - cost under $0.01 per shave
Blades - say 3 shaves per blade - $0.03
Brush - say it lasts 3 years which should be conservative - cost under $0.01 per shave
Soap - lasts me over a month so about $0.05 per shave
Witch Hazel - should last several months but say 2 - $0.03 per shave
__________
Total cost per shave - $0.13 - probably less in reality since some of my numbers were rounded up or conservative.

 

Sometimes you need to know the economy/cost effectiveness of all the products you like as said a triple milled soap puck will last a long time, even with daily use, I have some cheap creams Wars, Lider and Bond cost is less than £1 per tube, but they dont last too long. Palmolive shave stick is really cheap 50p here in UK and they last longer than the creams.
I have quite a few razors (20+ at the last count) and some of my better shavers cost me £1-£10 I do rotate them, my go to razor is a USA gold Aristocrat cost $14 I think including postage.
And as Hanzo said the Omega 49 pro is alot of brush for little cash.

 

If you're looking for cost efficient vintage razors, then look for a Gillette Tech. I think you could find a user grade one for $5 or less. You might also look for flare tip superspeeds. Someone randomly gave me one and I've come to love it.

 

The Sodial razor (a.k.a. Silverstone, a.k.a. Ri'Mei) can be purchased for $2.29 with free shipping from Amazon and is another excellent low cost razor. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A7239EK/?tag=thshde-20

 

This doesn't make sense to me , whats the point of shaving with the cheapest products if one is about quality over cost. Quality doesn't have to come at a high price but you learn and save money on gear by learning from others who have tried cheap, middle and high end and have some perspective of what is really quality at cost which would seem to be worth knowing. Just choosing cheap products , gets you cheap products that can be fun to play with , add variety to the shave and since they are cheap don't hurt the budget but they can get tiresome quick and when you add in shipping charges or not using it completely or hassling with owning it and storage won't equal savings in time, aggro or cost and the cheap thrill of them was not worth it.

 

I never said anything about choosing the cheapest products available. I am talking about using good quality low cost products. If I were after the lowest possible price I would be using no name disposables and store brand shaving cream in a can. I am not advocating low cost products just for the sake of them being low cost, as I said I am asking for people to share their experiences with good quality low cost gear that is generally overlooked simply because it is low cost.

Quality doesn't have to cost a lot. I love my #6 brush, I love VDH and Ogallala, and my $1 lather bowl. I also love Vitos, and PdP, and Titanium blades. I am not anti-expensive, I am pro-value. If you don't see the value in a $1.60 puck of VDH Deluxe, fine, that's not a big deal, but others do see the value. This thread was meant for folks to share their experiences and thoughts on inexpensive gear, but that doesn't mean that we're looking for the cheapest stuff that we can find.

 

I regularly use an EJ89 head with a Weber SS BullDog handle, so kinda pricey..However I also like value for the least amount of money...I just recently bought a Yuma razor to try for an "I don't mind losing or leaving it behind" travel razor. The feel of this razor is beyond cheap, the shave is "MUCH" better and more "IMPRESSIVE" than alot of more expensive razors I've tried. My favorite brush(in fact the only brush I use) is a #6 Horse from "bestshave" it lathers as well as any other brush I've tried. I've had it for about two years now and it's still going strong. My first brush was a Van der Hagen boar that came with the kit and the #6 is a wayyyyyy better brush I.M.O. My soaps Van der Hagen,Honey Bee,Pyrates Cove,TSD,Williams,Arko so basically between $3-$8. My main blade as of now is the Astra SP around $10 on amazon. So one of the things I really enjoy about "traditional shaving" is you can spend a little or spend a TON of money and either way still get the custom shave your looking for....

 

I've been curious about the Yuma, I've heard mixed things about it. To be honest, this is one of the few occasions where the low cost and seemingly low production quality turned me off, so I am occasionally guilty of looking away from products because of their seemingly low face value too. I might have to get one to try out and use as a back up or something. With the Sodial/Silverstone/Ri'Mei razor being so inexpensive (and so well reviewed on Leisure Guy's "Later On" blog) it's sort of difficult for me to justify buying any other low cost razor.

http://leisureguy.wordpress.com/?s=silvertone

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A7239EK/?tag=thshde-20

 

We are not talking about disposables or canned cream so thats irrelevant and your original post featured free or the cheapest products from Turkey so your shave reflected the lowest possible cost shave. If you are provalue wouldn't you use the highest quality product that was the most cost effective. Cella or a puck of Kell's instead of VDH, Vitos instead of Williams, MWF instead of Ogalllala. If we recognize true value/quality by cost then your not really buying value but cheap shaving gear just for the sake of buying shaving gear to enjoy.

Example , frugality. Frugality can be about saving money or material things consistent with the reality of the situation or about a stingy character , saving for its own sake or saving when objectively spending would make more sense , there just is sometime a difference between the stated reason and unconscious motivation.

You buy cheap shaving gear because like shaving gear. Even if I could scientifically prove to you that 6 creams and soaps were the best in terms of cost/ quality would you buy them and stop . No ,you would buy other shaving creams and soap because you enjoy buying shaving and soaps. The cheapness of your acquisitions may not have that much to do with quality as much as convenience , easy to buy VDH at the drugstore and there cheapness is yet another convenience, easy to buy a $3 cream.

 

I buy VDH because I like it. I buy Ogallala because I like it. I do not buy William's because I do not like it. If it were all about convenience and cost then I would have tons of William's. I can get two pucks of Williams for $1 at a store less than a block from my home, but I do not, because I do not see the value in it. I chose the products that I used in the beginning of this thread based on what I had that I like to use (except for the razor, which I was using for the first time) and that was also low in cost. I did not choose products based on whether or not they were the least expensive stuff in my arsenal. I could have substituted the Ogallala with VDH and the SuperMax Titanium with a Dorco 300 if I really wanted to get as cheap as possible, but I didn't do that because, once again, I was trying to go for good quality at a low price rather than the absolute lowest cost. I own and use more expensive stuff, but I do not see a higher price tag as being analogous to higher quality.

I like Ogallala quite a lot, paying only $5 for a soap that works extremely well and that I enjoy is not a bad thing. Being happy that one of my favorite soaps costs only $5 is not a bad thing. I do not like MWF, I had a puck and traded it away. Just because you see MWF as a better quality soap than Ogallala does not mean that everyone sees it the same way. I had no problems lathering MWF, but the smell was just awful and I didn't think that it did all that much for my skin, so why should I choose it over Ogallala when it not only does not perform as well, but also costs twice as much?

I'll say it once again, this thread was intended for folks to share their experiences with good quality low cost gear, not to attack the relative value or merits of the gear.