Wet Shaving a Cheaper Alternative, You Are Kidding? Right?

Honestly, you don't need to be all that frugal to save money at doing this.

I probably have about 35 DE/SE razors and have 5 straights.
On top of that I have have about a dozen brushes.
I also have 9 soaps left (and am using one at a time until that stock gets down to about 2 or 3).
Then, I only have about a hundred spare blades at a time.

All that being said, since I've been at this for about 8 years, I bet I've spent less money on shaving over the past 8 years than I spent over the 8 years preceding.

Really,
Nivea shave gel would cost me $3.50 locally.
The Mach 3 blades that I was using cost $25 per 8 pack and lasted me a month at most.
So, in a given month, I was probably spending about $30 on getting crappy shaves.
That's $2,800 over 8 years.

I simply have not spent that much money on DE shaving. Blades cost me less than $20 per year and good soaps cost less than $200 per year including delivery (I track my usage). Since I've spent less than $1,000 on hardware over the past 8 years, tradition wet shaving is saving me money.

This calculations doesn't include aftershaves, but I was using them before anyway. It also doesn't include the cost of sharpening stones and strops for the straights, but my stones were initially purchased to sharpen kitchen knives, so I feel like that's fair.

 

Wine it is!

 

I liked it better when I had only one brush, but now I have four brushes and four DE razors. With the fourth razor just arriving, I also got a large enough supply of blades that when added to what I already had, I won't need to think about buying any more blades for at least a couple of years, maybe close to three. I use only one shaving soap at a time, the Tabac for now. My investment in those last two razors was just $55, but even still that is not a whole lot. All totaled, if I average out the expense over the next two or three years, cost of the new blades, brush and razor would be between $24 and $37 per year; still less than many spend on their cans of Barbasol and Fusion blades.

It's time to stay with what I have. And with another puck of VDH soap I didn't know I had, I may not need to spend any money on shaving stuff for years.

 

After getting past my early AD's (a few collectible razors & some cool brushes) I really am saving money at this point. We buy blades in bulk (about a year's worth for me & the hubby), plus I make our soap & PSO along with his colognes.

 

I think I have enough stuff to last to the year 2525! Remember that song?

 

Though there may be some truth in your statement, I tend to disagree (to a degree). For the 'hoarders' among us shaving has become more than a daily ritual. It has become a hobby. Like collecting stamps, beer glasses, plush dolls, Barbies, oldtimers, weapons, music, films, you name it. Collecting costs. Yeah. True.

But you can always sell your collection. The razors keep their worth (or in some cases even increase in worth), as do all unused software like soaps and blades. Soaps I have tried and do not like I can sell as well (okay, for less than the original cost, but still). I can even PIF what I don't need and make someone else happy.

Besides, I may have some 20-odd soaps and creams, but I've got some 20-odd T-shirts as well. And then there are socks, shirts, trousers, shoes (!), coats etcetera. They cost money as well, and still I don't use them all every day. Just like my soaps, razors, blades and whatnot. See what I mean?

So hoarding shave stuff is (to me) a crossing between collecting and, well, using.

But as always: to each their own. Happy Shavings!

 

Zager and Evans, 1969 one hit wonders, never to be heard from again.