Best Shave of my life with Cheap Stuff...

**Inked Daddy** · 07-31-2010, 10:49 PM

I just had the best shave of my life using a 1961 Fatboy, Van Der Hagen Soap, Shark Blade, and Clubman Special reserve as a splash. . I whipped my Van Der Hagen into a near meringue like consistency. 3 Passes on Setting 4 than a final pass on setting 1...which is rather aggressive.

No razor burn, No cuts or weepers. Super Close result.

What strikes me as really, really odd is I have been testing with Feather and Merkur blades and using soaps from Mama and Trumpers and not had nearly as good of a result.

**Eclectic** · 08-01-2010, 02:58 AM

With traditional shaving price has nothing to do with how good something is.

There are some excellent, brilliant cheap razors. Top of the list must be the all metal Lord razors from Egypt which give a top quality shave yet are ridiculously cheap on eBay and Amazon. Then there is the Weishi and the Feather Portable, both brilliant for the money.

The tallow based Palmolive shaving soap stick sold in Europe for less than 50pence is fantastic, amazing stuff. Not much is it's equal at any price.

Then there are the Chinese shaving brushes which are a quarter the price that they should be. I have mentioned my Frank Shaving before on here and it is excellent, currently my favourite brush. Yet is was just $9.99.

**Wil Dorenbos** · 08-01-2010, 03:15 AM

Originally Posted by Eclectic

With traditional shaving price has nothing to do with how good something is.

There are some excellent, brilliant cheap razors. Top of the list must be the all metal Lord razors from Egypt which give a top quality shave yet are ridiculously cheap on eBay and Amazon. Then there is the Weishi and the Feather Portable, both brilliant for the money.

The tallow based Palmolive shaving soap stick sold in Europe for less than 50pence is fantastic, amazing stuff. Not much is it's equal at any price.

+1 Then there are the horse brushes from Turkey, for less then 10 usd shipped.

**DE Shaver** · 08-01-2010, 03:52 AM

There are many quality shave items that are inexpensive and can deliver good results when combine with a good technique. It's not how much you spend but
making the most of what you have.

**wimbouman** · 08-01-2010, 04:39 AM

Originally Posted by Inked Daddy

I just had the best shave of my life using a 1961 Fatboy, Van Der Hagen Soap, Shark Blade, and Clubman Special reserve as a splash. . I whipped my Van Der Hagen into a near meringue like consistency. 3 Passes on Setting 4 than a final pass on setting 1...which is rather aggressive.

No razor burn, No cuts or weepers. Super Close result.

What strikes me as really, really odd is I have been testing with Feather and Merkur blades and using soaps from Mama and Trumpers and not had nearly as good of a result.

Does that Fatboy qualify as cheap stuff?

**Slivovitz** · 08-01-2010, 08:15 AM

Originally Posted by wimbouman

Does that Fatboy qualify as cheap stuff?

That's what I was wondering, although sometimes you can get really lucky at an antique store.

I'm kind of a reverse snob with brushes, soaps, and creams, a little less so with razors. I don't criticize anyone for using high priced products, but there's a definite satisfaction in getting great results with cheaper items.

**Wil Dorenbos** · 08-01-2010, 08:36 AM

Originally Posted by Slivovitz

I'm kind of a reverse snob with brushes, soaps, and creams, a little less so with razors. I don't criticize anyone for using high priced products, but there's a definite satisfaction in getting great results with cheaper items.

Exactly

**California Cajun** · 08-01-2010, 08:39 AM

Originally Posted by Inked Daddy

I just had the best shave of my life using a 1961 Fatboy, Van Der Hagen Soap, Shark Blade, and Clubman Special reserve as a splash. . I whipped my Van Der Hagen into a near meringue like consistency. 3 Passes on Setting 4 than a final pass on setting 1...which is rather aggressive.

No razor burn, No cuts or weepers. Super Close result.

What strikes me as really, really odd is I have been testing with Feather and Merkur blades and using soaps from Mama and Trumpers and not had nearly as good of a result.

Whatever gets the job done, go with it!

**LiveOak** · 08-01-2010, 10:13 AM

I think it's the soap. I went through a whole tub of TOBS and was underwhelmed. I bought a puck of VDH at Walgreens to tide me over and was amazed at the results. The weepers and cuts stopped. I haven't looked back.

**DavyRay** · 08-01-2010, 10:24 AM

Originally Posted by LiveOak

I think it's the soap. I went through a whole tub of TOBS and was underwhelmed. I bought a puck of VDH at Walgreens to tide me over and was amazed at the results. The weepers and cuts stopped. I haven't looked back.

I am using VDH now. It makes good lather. A puck does not last long, though. It is inexpensive per puck. I am on puck #2 out of 4 I bought recently. I will keep up with how long they last. The real deal is quality vs cost.

There is an Indian restaurant near me. They have a little store in the restaurant. I'm going to see if they have Godrej shaving cream. I hear that is worth a try.

**pelotonjon** · 08-01-2010, 10:32 AM

Some cheap stuff is really good. I got tons of the big tubes of C.O. Bigelow shaving cream for $2.50 a tube. Incredible stuff!

**Inked Daddy** · 08-01-2010, 12:39 PM

Originally Posted by wimbouman

Does that Fatboy qualify as cheap stuff?

No it was not cheap but it is a constant. The things that have changed are cheap/expensive blades and soaps.

**_MementoMori_** · 08-01-2010, 03:04 PM

What a timely thread this is. Just today, I had *one* of the best shaves of my life with my first ever use of Williams. I like fancy, expensive soaps as much as the next guy, but it's nice to know that I can fall back on this ultra cheap stuff now if I ever need to.

**closer** · 08-01-2010, 05:49 PM

Most of the Indian creams - Godraj, Fa, Nivea, etc - fall in this category. So do the Gillette 7 o'clock black blades. Fantastic performers, at bargain prices.

Keep in mind, though, that each cream or soap is slightly different, in terms of how to coax best performance out of it. I haven't used either Mama's or Trumpers soap, so cannot comment specifically on those, or how they differ from VDH - maybe somebody else who has direct experience with all those products will chime in.

**Uncle Erik** · 08-01-2010, 06:06 PM

Sounds more like you nailed your technique. Congrats! That's a big accomplishment when you can get a good shave with anything you have on hand.

**vegaskid74** · 08-01-2010, 07:53 PM

Originally Posted by pelotonjon

Some cheap stuff is really good. I got tons of the big tubes of C.O. Bigelow shaving cream for $2.50 a tube. Incredible stuff!

How did you swing this? I got 8 tubes for $30 a couple months ago (buy 2 get 2 free plus $10 off a $40 purchase) at Bath and Body Works, which comes out to $3.75 each plus tax, and I felt like I was stealing. Now I feel like I was robbed (just kidding, I'd be happy to pay twice as much). Please reveal your secret!

**pelotonjon** · 08-01-2010, 08:49 PM

For some reason, they were selling them at 75% off. $2.50 for the big tubes, $1.25 for the small tubes. I grabbed a few at the time, I now wish I had grabbed them all.