I was thinking how much 'modern' shaving rips off the public.

Discussion in 'General Shaving Talk' started by Tim Spencer, May 19, 2017.

  1. subvet

    subvet Well-Known Member

    Not all "modern" wet shavers use disposable razors or canned/tubed shaving cream. I have used about every shaving system/method out there over the past 60 years and find my Mach 3, brush and soap to be just as cost effective as any other method and gear I have used. I also am aware of how much so-called vintage shaving elitists spend on RAD, even the casual hobbyist will normally find it hard to resist buying "just one more" whatever, not to mention a drawer full of various blades, brushes, designer soaps and aftershaves.
     
  2. RetLEO-07

    RetLEO-07 likes his penguin deep fried, with pink sparkles

    As one of our compadres is so fond of saying, "It's your Shave, enjoy it your way".
     
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  3. Puma

    Puma Well-Known Member

    My vintage razors are for sale, but I am guilty as charged on the RAD. Every time I'm like, "but its a good deal."
     
  4. Bookworm

    Bookworm Well-Known Member

    As for me, I'm shaving pretty simply. The ones I've been buying and cleaning up - that's a hobby. I don't include it in the 'cost of shaving'. I'm not ashamed to say that they're toys :)

    One Slim heading for Canada.
     
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  5. subvet

    subvet Well-Known Member

    I see! All the razors in the rotation or otherwise in the "shave den" are excluded from the "cost of shaving", only the one in use counts, got it. C'mon guys, I've been doing this far too long.
     
  6. Bookworm

    Bookworm Well-Known Member

    Not quite :) I have 5-10 that I'll cop to being "mine for shaving". The other 90, not so much. Well, I'll say that another 10 are "collection". The rest were toys, many of which I'm not sure what to do with.
     
  7. Puma

    Puma Well-Known Member

    My thoughts exactly. I only used one of them and never put it into regular rotation. I just liked them as showpieces. I used to keep them where I work in the County's Archives. We are tasked with storing government records, some back to the 1600's, but we have some antique display items as well, so my razors were appropriate even if the only thing they govern is stubble.
     
  8. Omaney

    Omaney Well-Known Member

    Rrrriiiiight...
     
  9. Shaver X

    Shaver X Well-Known Member

    Well, maybe the majority of active shaving forum members, but but a small percentage of traditional wetshavers overall. I have certainly saved a pile of money, and that is the reason I took up traditional shaving. I only have two razors, two brushes and a cake of shaving soap. The important thing is that we have a choice.

    Lately it seems like the notion has developed that there is a right way and a wrong way to shave. Other than a few fundamentals - light pressure, razor angle, perfect your technique before changing gear around a lot, etc. - that simply isn't true. You can have twenty razors, fifty artisan soaps made with unicorn tears and thirty Mt. Everest ultra high mountain badger brushes or one razor, one boar brush and a cake of Dove soap from the local drugstore. Both approaches will work. Is our chosen method of shaving better than that used by others? It is not our place to judge. Does your chosen method work well for you? Only you can say, as the opinions of others are irrelevant in this matter. It is not like traditional wetshaving is some exclusive club, where one has to collect like crazy, use only certain products or be a minimalist to be a member. There is no members-only club in shaving.
     
    Last edited: Jun 29, 2017
  10. RaZorBurn123

    RaZorBurn123 waiting hardily...............

    I've never spent as much money on shaving now then when I was using cartridge razors
     
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  11. Bookworm

    Bookworm Well-Known Member

    Sure there are. Harry's, Dollar Shave Club...

    :scared003:
     
  12. COMPNOR

    COMPNOR Well-Known Member

    Even "traditional wet shaving" can be a rip off to the public. Have you seen an Art of Shaving store? Sure target has a VDH razor which isn't priced bad, but the blades certainly are. And that is where most of the public will get their experience with it. It is only if they have a friend who is really into it or they decide to join a forum will they realize they can pick up a vintage razor that will probably work a lot better for less.
     
  13. chevyguy

    chevyguy Well-Known Member

    Due to 2 job losses, and moving 3 times I have sold a majority of my shave gear. I am down to 5-6 razors that I truly enjoy using, 14 soaps/creams, and about 250 razor blades. Yet I still wonder how much have I really saved, because I was spending less than $20 for 3 months of shaving with carts and shave gel and I was getting good shaves. Now that I'm a minimalist sort of I think it's broke about even because I really enjoy using the razors I have, and it's nice being able to use a different soap or cream daily if I want too, and I'll never give up my Semogue boar brushes.

    Clayton
     
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  14. Sabre

    Sabre Well-Known Member

    I disagree, you can quite easily buy a shave stick in a supermarket for next to nothing, drugstore brand aftershave and cheap quality disposables in discount stores. You don't have to buy the expensive branded products.
     
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  15. Bookworm

    Bookworm Well-Known Member

    Unfortunately, the only 'shave stick' I can buy in the local drugstores are disposable BIC razors. You can get the canned stuff, even the 'tubed' goo is in short supply.
     
  16. COMPNOR

    COMPNOR Well-Known Member

    Maybe "Over There." Not "Over Here."

    Curious - What do you consider "Cheap quality disposable razors"?
     
  17. wchnu

    wchnu Duck Season!

    I wish I could walk into a store and get Boots shave sticks. Here you can get VDH shave soap pretty cheap at a lot of places.
     
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  18. Sabre

    Sabre Well-Known Member

    In Wilko Palmolive Shave sticks are 50p. You can buy ST2 at 10 for £2.25, these are even a pound in the pound stores. Gillette Blue 3 packs are usually on promotion too.
     
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  19. Bama Samurai

    Bama Samurai with Laser-like Focus

    AoS is a fancy and clever way for Gillette to keep people on their Mach razors and high margin soap. It's about market share, that's it. I wish people could see that brand for what it truly is....no matter what you come in looking for, they will try and sell you on the carts.
     
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  20. Bama Samurai

    Bama Samurai with Laser-like Focus

    Boots brand shave sticks, bowls, and AS are quite nice. I was in Westminster in June and picked up some UK drug chain stuff. Good quality, reasonably priced.
     
    Last edited: Jul 7, 2017
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