Cheapskate Shaving?

[Ash-Blonde Gentleman]

What if one owns an expensive straight razor but is too avaricious to buy cream or any consumable products? Can one still shave properly using nothing but water? I ask of you gentlemen, nothing but to introduce me to the fine art of cheapskate shaving! :001_smile

I'm there are those among us who were once wealthy but can no longer afford to buy too many consumables such as cream and such and would rather just use what they already have and will never have to replace.

How did the men of old shave without cutting their throats? Surely they had nothing but a dagger or a knife.

[Insaniac99]

eh... well I would suggest getting SOMETHING for your face for protection. There are VERY cheap soaps and creams that people like. the traditional soaps and creams also tend to last much longer, many will last you about a year.

That said, I have heard of people using left-over cooking grease to create a protective lather, which makes sense since soaps used to be made of fat.

Maybe others can chime in, but if you don't have anything on your face, I foresee really bad shaves. If it was a DE razor, I might try shaving in the shower, after you soap up your face, but even then....... and I would never want to take a nice straight into the shower.

Perhaps just grow a beard to save money? That's what people who couldn't afford barbers or servant used to do..

[Ash-Blonde Gentleman]

What about using cheap regular handsoap?

[Insaniac99]

People more experienced than me will be able to say more, but most hand-soaps don't provide any sort of the protection your skin needs. I really forget what all besides clay is added to help protect your skin, but in a soap for shaving you need slickness and cushioning, most regular soaps won't do much more than get your face wet (which is also important but more easily accomplished IMO)

actually... The Neutrogena Face soap was found to be a good latherer (http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/242598-Looking-for-about-10-Volunteers-to-try-a-new-soap...) providing nice protection. But pulling double duty will probably mean it will wear out kind of fast. It may still be more cost-effective to buy a soap or cream meant for shaving because you will be able to get cheap hand soap for the family to use and then inexpensive shave soap that works and since it isn't pulling double duty will last months. below are some options:

Tabac -- ~12 USD
A favorite of many, people love or hate the scent but none deny the performance.

Mama Bear's -- ~8-14 USD depending on scent
A big favorite of many, lots of scents, great performance, I love them.

C.E. Bigelow -- ~10 USD for largest size (5.2 ounces)
popular mentholated cream, available from Bath and Body works, who frequently has sales to bring the price down even further.

Van Der Hagen-- ~ 2 USD
I know many have used this because they were introduced to the wet shave with a VDH gift set, people tend to like performance and generally rated as a good middle of the road but insanely cheap soap.

I listed some faves that are easily accessible, more information is available in the wiki (http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/The_New_Guys_Guide_to_Inexpensive_Soaps_and_Creams ).

[KM-instructor]

I have used regular hand soap for years, it works and have always had a good shave.
Cheapo setup.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v622/shane1000m/3e05d3b3.jpg

[ikeyballz]

I dont think you can get a cheaper soap than a VDH puck. Use a wee scot or something similar sized and it'll probably last you quite a while. That + a cheap DE and a 100 pack of your favorite blade will be the most cost effective shave.

100 pack of my favorite blades = 18.00, use 3-4 times = takes care of one year of shaves
6 pucks of VDH (over estimation) = 12.00 - assuming 2 months per puck
1 shaving brush, wee scot (one time cost) = 35.00
1 gillette tech/flair tip (one time cost) = 15.00 (at most)

You have a 30.00 annual yearly cost and an upfront cost of 50.00!

[Alraz]

This is going to sound pretty weird to a "cheapskate" but you will find a lot of value in higher end products. Typically, you use much less product, they perform and smell better and your skin will thank you. It may seem like a lot of money upfront but not so much in the long run. If you can bring yourself to do it, it may be a decision that you will not regret.

Al raz.

[michiganlover]

Traditional shaving need not be expensive at all. Pick up a good quality Omega Boar Brush, should last you quite a few years, and is available for $10. Use any number of cheap soaps/ shaving creams: VDH Deluxe can be had at Walmart for less than $2 per puck. It's good stuff. Also the Arko stick can be had for around $2 a stick.

Use a drugstore aftershave (Skin Bracer, Aqua Velva, Barbasol), or a dollar store knock off (such as Ivy Club an Old Spice clone at Family Dollar).

I don't think anyone is so hard pressed for cash that they would need to suffer through the horrors of using only water to shave!! I cringe at the pain of doing that!!

[morinr]

I would recommend getting williams or vdh. Each can be gotten for 2 dollars or possibly even less :). Will last a while as well. If you do not want to use anything extra... could use hair conditioner but I am not sure if that would outlast a soap...

[dpm802]

There are lots of inexpensive, quality products available at the retail level ... besides what's been mentioned so far, look into Rite-Aid for The Real Shaving Company's creams. Only $4 a tube, and you can often find it on sale for half that. Made in England, it will produce plenty of rich lather and give you a shave that will knock your socks off.

Kiss My Face is the same catergory, available in a number of flavors (I recommend the Fragrance Free and Lavender/Shea.) Look for it in upscale supermarkets and health food stores.

Cremo Cream is a little harder to find, but at $6.50 a tube, it will give about 2 months of shaving, roughly 10 cents a day.

Witch Hazel is available everywhere, and is an excellent skin toner for use either before or after your shave.

Keep your eye on the Buy/Sell/Trade forum here on B&B ... you'll find plenty of bargains as members get rid of products when they move on to something else.

You do not need to get a brush right away ... everything I mentioned can be applied brushless, just use your hands to whip up the lather either rubbing one hand against the other, or apply it directly to your face and create the lather there. Neither your whiskers nor your razor will know the difference.

Finally ... Welcome to B&B, and Happy Shaving!

[camjr]

For canned goo, Barbasol isn't bad, and it's usually around $1.99 per can around here. Often, I could find it in 2-can packages for $2.99. When I was still in canned-goo mode, I much preferred Barbasol to canned gel or the others.

If I was looking for value now, I'd go with C.O. Bigelow (Proraso) cream from Bath and Body Works when they have their buy two, get one free sale. Also, the quality products I tend to use now last much longer than the cans of stuff I used to use, and therein lies the value. Trust me-I'm saving enough by not buying carts any more to more than make up the initial cost of buying supplies.

Cheers!

[mmack66]

If I owned an expensive straight razor and was too miserly to buy some shaving cream or shaving soap, I would sell the straight razor and grow a beard.

[drquantum]

I suspect you'll spend more in outfitting your house with toilet paper than you will in buying a periodic puck of soap. You needn't buy the soaps in the containers many come in, but just the replacement pucks... you could very likely make do with 2-3 pucks of something like a D.R. Harris soap (a very nice tallow-based soap) for $35 a year. Now if you're willing to buy toilet paper (or do you make do with newspaper?) why not a decent shaving soap?

[ZJ68]

What if one owns an expensive straight razor but is too avaricious to buy cream or any consumable products?
That's weird. :blink:

[Easttexasman]

I would recommend buying Arko sticks in bulk.

[DFSDAILY]

A stick of Palmolive will cost $3.50 and delivers one of the best lathers you can get. It rivals the more expensive products.
You can get an Omega Boar for less than $10.00 that will last for years, or buy a VDH deluxe boar for about $5.00 that will still last for years, but takes along time to break in for top performance.
Dickenson's Witch Hazel for $2.50 a bottle.
Throw in a years worth of blades for $12-18.00 and your set.

The only thing cheaper is to grow a beard, and since you don't want any expenditures that would mean going mountain man. Untrimmed just grow everything out.

[aceinyerface]

Can one still shave properly using nothing but water?

Nope.

You can run a blade across your face, but I don't think many would define that as "proper".

$2 will get you a puck that will last for months, I can probably pick up that much off the sidewalk over the course of a week. Aside from working for it, one could sit on a busy street corner with an empty coffee cup and collect $2 in an hour. So it is very hard to take your premise seriously.

You could also sell the expensive razor. I'd skip the cocktail shakers and suitcases too.:rolleyes1

[Go West Young Man]

Lots of guys shaved with nothing but handsoap or just water.
Doesn't mean it was pleasant or particularly successful.

If you want to muck up your face, no-ones going to stop you, but this is a board dedicated to to pampering ourselves so we might not have much sympathy for you.....

[ateace]

Why don't you value your skin enough to protect it with a good lather?
Good does not have to be expensive.

[deruitem]

I would recommend buying Arko sticks in bulk.

Arko, generic witch hazel DONE. Does get cheaper and works great!

[grimas42]

Arko or just use some hair conditioner.

[BrianL]

I have not tried it, nor would I want to.

[StuMcB]

Erasmic or Palmolive stick here in the UK a mere 69p!!! thats about $1.14. Shave factory brush and razor £10 that about $16.45 so all in a mere $17.59 or £10.69

[fluffman86]

I used to use my wife's conditioner when I shaved with a Fusion in the shower, but only if I forgot to grab a new $4 can of goop. It was probably more expensive using her conditioner than it is now using nice stuff.

[SuperChris]

11oz bottle of Kiss My Face cream goes for around $7, one pump gets you enough lather for 2-3 passes. I think they have 5 scents to choose from. Its good quality cream that lathers so easily. Definetly huge bang for your buck.

[chry62]

Avarice means greed.I don`t believe that you are too greedy to buy soap.
Penurious is to be miserly or poor.I am indeed being nit pickey about the language, for that i am sorry .In this forum it the consequences for this are nil.In other areas of endeavor such a faux pas can be problematic ( I`m such an ass).

[Geordon]

Expensive razor, no lather? There is a saying about spite, a nose and your face that comes to mind. I'd rather have a low/mid line razor and plenty of the consumables that are part of the requisite for use.

The OP concept makes me think of someone who buys a Ferari or the like and doesn't want to put oil or gas in it. What's the point? Who are you trying to impress?

[Nando]

Here's my cheapo rig:

- VDH boar brush
- Gillette Tech (tons of these around)
- Williams mug soap
- Cappuccino or soup mug from yard sale
- Derby's in bulk

That's a whole rig for around $20 that you'll get at least six months out of!

[Sargon]

I'm going to assume that the OP received the razor as a gift and wants to use it, btu wants to spend little to nothing on consumables.

You can just use water, but there are soem disgustingly cheap options that you really hsoudl consider.

Rise Shave creme: it's bruishless and costs $1.00 at most dollar stores. it's not amazing, but it's not bad for the price... better than canned stuff IMO.

Arko or VDh soap. At $2.00- $3.00 theyr'e well worth it. For a brush i'd suggest an omega boar ( they run abotu $10.00 and will last for years and are actually a very good quality brush, especially for soaps.)

generic witch hazel aftershave ( again abotu a buck at a dolalt store).

so, yes you can use just water, but for a couple of bucks ( LITERALLY) you can have an acceptable creme and aftershave combo that will greatly improve your shaving experience.

[goatee]

cvs,,,, puck of williams is $1.59.

[bkfist]

People more experienced than me will be able to say more, but most hand-soaps don't provide any sort of the protection your skin needs. I really forget what all besides clay is added to help protect your skin, but in a soap for shaving you need slickness and cushioning, most regular soaps won't do much more than get your face wet (which is also important but more easily accomplished IMO)

actually... The Neutrogena Face soap was found to be a good latherer (http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/242598-Looking-for-about-10-Volunteers-to-try-a-new-soap...) providing nice protection. But pulling double duty will probably mean it will wear out kind of fast. It may still be more cost-effective to buy a soap or cream meant for shaving because you will be able to get cheap hand soap for the family to use and then inexpensive shave soap that works and since it isn't pulling double duty will last months. below are some options:

Tabac -- ~12 USD
A favorite of many, people love or hate the scent but none deny the performance.

Mama Bear's -- ~8-14 USD depending on scent
A big favorite of many, lots of scents, great performance, I love them.

C.E. Bigelow -- ~10 USD for largest size (5.2 ounces)
popular mentholated cream, available from Bath and Body works, who frequently has sales to bring the price down even further.

Van Der Hagen-- ~ 2 USD
I know many have used this because they were introduced to the wet shave with a VDH gift set, people tend to like performance and generally rated as a good middle of the road but insanely cheap soap.

I listed some faves that are easily accessible, more information is available in the wiki (http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/The_New_Guys_Guide_to_Inexpensive_Soaps_and_Creams ).

Actually, very few (any?) top performing soaps contain clay. Clay is often added by hobbiests to melt & pour soap bases in an attempt to increase the glide of the razor to the point where it is at least usable as a shaving medium. When properly formulated, clay is an unnecessary ingredient in a shave soap.

I suggest getting some Arko soap. Less than $1 a stick, lathers great with great protection.

If you really can't afford shave soap, let me know and I'll send you half a dozen sticks... That'll at least get you by for a year :)

[Skyrider55]

What kind of razor is it? DE, SE or straight?

Invest in an inexpensive soap or cream. There have been many great suggestions here. It will be money well spent. You'll probably spend more than that on band aids if you shave with just water!

[Kentos]

Cheapskate shaving? Never heard of it.

[finnmcool]

I'm going to address a couple of false premises that have been overlooked. Razors have been made task specific since the bronze age. Shaving with a knife or dagger has never been the norm for anyone. Soap has been used for shaving since at lease the roman era. Probably longer in fact.

That being said, I'll tell you from experience that you CAN shave with any sharp blade and water, but you don't want to, and it certainly isn't historically accurate.

[Puerco]

About 20 years ago I bought a cheap gilette double edge (UK made G1000 plastic handle TTO model) and some blades, still using canned goo. Since the wife does the groceries around here (if I enter a supermarket I always come out with way to much to carry and nothing I really needed) that left me without any product to shave with half of the time. I been using everything from handsoap to shampoo and never had a problem with it especially since I noticed I had a brush that was given to me a long time ago.
Foam up some handsoap or shampoo and you'll get the job done. That was until I decided it was time to get a new razor (the old was still works but is a little worn out) and started reading the forums and blogs, now I have multiple razors, hundreds of blades and enough shaving soap to last me at least 10 years (like most of you here...) and things have been much more comfortable since then but it is certainly possible to get the job done without special shaving soap, the neutrogena experiment mentioned earlier proves that too. But using only water??? Trust me, I tried it and I can't recommend it unless you are a masochist and want to look like you've just been beat up....

[Captain Coconut]

No offense intended, but if you're wanting to forgo soap due to cost, I have to wonder what your idea of an "expensive" straight razor is.

[StuMcB]

Not too sure of this but over here in the UK we have a chain of stores called simply 'Pound land' nothing more than a £1 (pound) they often carry Erasmic, palmolive and General shaving Co. products. Is there a USA equilvalent?

[AirForceMX]

Van Der Hagen soap is under $2 a puck, and lasts for ever!

[bkfist]

Not too sure of this but over here in the UK we have a chain of stores called simply 'Pound land' nothing more than a £1 (pound) they often carry Erasmic, palmolive and General shaving Co. products. Is there a USA equilvalent?

Yes, there are several "dollar stores", although the only one I'm aware of that is a TRUE dollar store, where EVERYTHING is $1 is a chain called Dollar Tree. The others have $1, $2, $2.50 (sometimes $15 hoses & such) etc. items in them, although there are always selections of things that are actually a dollar in them.

[njpaddy]

If I had to go cheapskate and not sacrifice a great shave, I'd go strictly ARKO. About the cost of a bar of soap and better than many high end products.

[Ceri]

Not too sure of this but over here in the UK we have a chain of stores called simply 'Pound land' nothing more than a £1 (pound) they often carry Erasmic, palmolive and General shaving Co. products. Is there a USA equilvalent?

We're not too badly served by the chains in Britain - Boots, Superdrug,Savers and Wilko can supply DE blades, soaps, creams and aftershaves, and you could probably do a year's consumables for a lot less than £20

[winston61]

I'm as cheap as they come, and I went to Amazon, bought 15 Arko sticks for less than $20.00 delivered. If you can't stand that, go to any drug store and get any variety of Van Der Hagen soap. Osage Rub or Lucky Tiger Bay Rum AS and you're good to go.