So how do you do it?

Hello to all from a long-time lurker!

May I first say that I greatly appreciate you all. I have been lurking about since the fall of last year when I made the jump into wet shaving. I have found the information and advice on this forum to be invaluable.

I do have a question, though... one that has me quite stymied.

The reason I aimed for DE shaving in particular was to save already scarce monies. The mainstream cartridge route just wouldn't do. The struggle I have found is that, in order to get my hands on the goods required, I have to spend a lot of said scarce monies. This wouldn't confound me, but for the phrase YMMV. Each purchase I make is a gamble. Will I get a product that gives me an excellent shave, results no different from current, or an inferior experience? Only trial and error will help here, I believe.
Now comes the issue: there are many inexpensive products on the market, but all must be acquired online (there are few products in my area of which I am aware). How do you manage to sample and choose when you are paying the price of a product over again in shipping?

I suppose I'm looking for opinions from other budget-conscious shavers. $15 is cheap to some, especially in comparison to products that can top $40 or $50. I, on the other hand, have a difficult time spending over $5 on something I don't know if I will like.

So how do you do it?

Thanks for reading!

P.S. I'm sorry to start out with such an odd question. It's just been on my mind as I look to build my kit.

Good question and not sure there is a good answer re: soaps/AS etc. I'm a newbie and found tryablade.com on this forum. You can get a blade sampler pretty reasonably and shipping is always $2. I've found this a good way to experiment with various blades. I received my first shipment from Sterling Soap a couple of days ago and recommend you give them a look at sterlingsoap.com. Good luck!

Its a gamble, but if you read all the reviews for starter razors it is hard to go wrong. Try cheap soaps and creams that are available locally or order well respected soaps. For example I picked up some Mama Bears Soaps samples I didn't like the smell of some but they were all great soaps and gave a good shave. Also you can source soaps locally from Bath & Body Works, Williams from drug stores, Rite Aid, Walgreen. Blades only look at the cheaper ones and get a sample pack with them in it. Sharks, Derbys, Astra can all be had for $10 with free shipping for 100. Trade them in on the BST forum if you do not like them.

Samples are the best way to find out what you like. But you may already know a lot about your taste. Do you like fragrance at all? Are there ingredients you wish to avoid? If you want to go fragrance free and avoid animal fat in your soap and cream, you will cut down your selection considerably, and make it less likely that you will purchase a product that will offend your senses or contribute to a skin condition.

What's in your kit now?

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll be looking into what you have suggested so far.

My kit currently consists of an omega brush and a variety of AS. Lol. I had been using a Lord L6, but the threads broke one morning when I dropped it. While I find a new razor, I am currently using an arm-stropped free sample Schick.
The Lord was a decent razor, but I didn't want to deal with another possible threading issue... so I've been looking to upgrade. I placed an order for a Cadet razor, and then placed an order elsewhere for the brush, thinking I might try the lathering products to see if I could improve my shave quality. The brush came, but the razor/soap didn't.
Now I'm thinking about a razorock mission, and am trying to figure out soaps. Maybe a stick or a cream? Still researching, but I'll have to bite the bullet soon. Arm-stropping only goes so far!

Rumblebuffin said:

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll be looking into what you have suggested so far.

My kit currently consists of an omega brush and a variety of AS. Lol. I had been using a Lord L6, but the threads broke one morning when I dropped it. While I find a new razor, I am currently using an arm-stropped free sample Schick.
The Lord was a decent razor, but I didn't want to deal with another possible threading issue... so I've been looking to upgrade. I placed an order for a Cadet razor, and then placed an order elsewhere for the brush, thinking I might try the lathering products to see if I could improve my shave quality. The brush came, but the razor/soap didn't.
Now I'm thinking about a razorock mission, and am trying to figure out soaps. Maybe a stick or a cream? Still researching, but I'll have to bite the bullet soon. Arm-stropping only goes so far!

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Try Arko for soap, I have seen it lately on eBay for as little as $4 for 2 sticks postage paid!!! Plus it is awesome soap, been doing this for 2+ years and it is my go to!

As a newbie, I know what you mean. You have to kinda go with the "tried and true" products. Most anyone can use Arko, theres a great place to start. Boars brushes are cheap. Derbys are $15 for 200 on amazon, that's like 2 years worth. razors are a different cat though. Lots of people (myself included) like the EJ DE89, but, Weishi are cheap and have good review. You are right though, it is kind of a crap shoot. DE shaving can be as cheap or as expensive as YOU make. Sure there is some overhead to get started, but you WILL be better off in the long run.

I read alot of reviews and tried a lot of samples when I first started. I would say samples, and members would be your best source of information, look at shave of the day posts and look for common soaps, don't discount cheaper ones. Arko gets a lot of love(I personally haven't tried it yet, but I will soon). La Toja is another one.

See? I like this forum for a reason. You all KNOW stuff... Lol.

That Arko deal looks pretty good! Does anyone have any experience with the stirling-soap razors?

Omega 49 Boar brush - the best 10$ you will spend during your Wet shaving journey

I commend your thrifty nature. Remember, shaving for our grandfathers was a utilitarian task. I find the current obession with expensive badger brushes, high dollar soaps and gold plated $100 razors to be unneeded and out of character with the reason we shave in the first place, to have a smooth face.

Stirling soaps are a great value. A $6 puck will last a month or more. They also sell samples so you can try all the different scents without committing to a full puck. I find the performance is great regardless of the scent you choose though that may not be absolutely true for the mentholated scents.

As for a razor, I would recommend something vintage to meet your budget but you also get a time tested design made with materials that have lasted 50, 60, 70 years or more.

I prefer a three piece razor. The Gillette Tech is a nice shaver. Fairly mild but paired with a blade of your liking, it will deliver good performance. Best of all, you can find a Tech for about $15. The slightly more aggressive older models have triangle shaped holes but they cost a bit more. A Long Comb New (open comb older razor) is more aggressive and can be had for about $25. BST is great for razors. I also have had good luck with Etsy. Ebay requires a careful eye and patience to get a good deal.

Double edge blades are the least costly but you've already found that out. But don't discount either single edge or injector blades (in an appropriate razor) because they deliver many more shaves. DE Voskhod blades (16 cents/blade) cost me 3-4 cents per shave. An injector costs $1/blade but can deliver 12-15 shaves, or about 5-6 cents/shave.

I would also recommend the Arko. I've not used it yet for a shave, but I did a practice lather with it and it was awesome. I went with the puck instead of the stick, but both are great for the money. I also picked up a La Toja shave stick and thought it awesome. It was $5 USD on the Italian Barber site. I've only used them once, but their Razorock line of soaps and creams are great value and a bit more exotic than Arko for just a bit more. They also offer free shipping if you break the $60 USD barrier, which wasn't hard to do! For $80 CDN (13% of which was tax) I picked up a Russian blade sampler, some PolSilvers, Bolzano blades, Arko puck, La Toja stick, Speick cream, and 4 Razorock creams/soaps. I'm not into aftershaves or balms, and already have two razors, so I should be good for two years. Stocking up on basics like Arko and La Toja and Speick, you can't go wrong (I think they're good and cheap).

One other place I've had luck is if you aren't too far from an Indian grocery store. Indian shave creams are top notch (see the Indian cream thread). While trying to figure out what to get for my big order, I stopped by an Indian grocery store and got an alum block ($1.50) and a small 30g tube of Palmolive Lemon shave cream (99¢). It's awesome stuff.

Check out BST always good deals in the market place.

I agree with the Arko (stick)/Speick (cream)/La Toja (stick) recommendation. I think Tabac soap (just the puck) is a very good value (note however my previous comment about fragrance and animal fat). The RazoRock Mission appears to be a Cadet, and with the blade samples included looks like a good deal. Who are these people who take your money and don't send you what you have paid for?

What model Omega brush are you using?

+1 on Indian markets. Alum should never cost you much at all.

There are some consensus you find over and over:

- Good blades are Gillette Silver Blue, Voskhod, Feathers and Polsilver (and a few more about the same good).
Order one tuck of each of those mentioned. Probably you do not need to test more blades than that. Most sample sets have really bad blades and just a few good ones.

- Besides newbies recommending DE89 to each other, really many of the older members seem to recommend any Gillette NEW (there are many models). They can be found quite cheap at the BST section of this forum or at ebay. A Gillette NEW seem to be a quite good bet for most.

- Omega Boar brush is highly regarded here despite it being cheap.

- When it comes to soap, many seem to like Mitchell's Wool Fat soap. I have not tried this product myself as I prefer vegan products, but from all reviews and comments here, it seem to be among the best soaps available. Arko is also often recommended, but many hates the smell of Arko.

There will always be some not agreeing with the advice here (as this is YMMV), but I think the majority would accept this.

TheDude82 said:

As a newbie, I know what you mean. You have to kinda go with the "tried and true" products. Most anyone can use Arko, theres a great place to start. Boars brushes are cheap. Derbys are $15 for 200 on amazon, that's like 2 years worth. razors are a different cat though. Lots of people (myself included) like the EJ DE89, but, Weishi are cheap and have good review. You are right though, it is kind of a crap shoot. DE shaving can be as cheap or as expensive as YOU make. Sure there is some overhead to get started, but you WILL be better off in the long run.

Click to expand...

I want to point out that while there are some liking Derby here, most comments seem to have negative opinion about them. I am one of those. They are not sharp enough to cut my beard. Some of the whiskers are even pulled out by root. When I used them, I just felt tugging and had often red spots over the face where the roots had been pulled out. All this changed the very same moment I tried something else.

I am just writing this so you do not unnecessary cause yourself big pain. I was thinking shaving == pain until I got better equipment.

I agree about avoiding Derby blades. I worked through 100 of them with an EJ DE89. My experience was not as negative as the one engblom describes, but I won't buy Derby blades again if I can help it. I would add Astra (SP, in particular) to engblom's list of consensus blades.

I would also endorse the Gillette New long comb, provided you can get one in good condition. Mine shaves as well as my or better than my Cadet or my FaTip open comb razors.

You seem to have gravitated towards a closed comb razor. Among closed comb razors I find the current Indian offerings (Cadet, Parker, etc.) on par with anything under $70 that I have tried.

I uses a $16 plastic Feather popular. I have been using it for almost 3 months now and it looks as good as the day I got it, other than soap scum, and I accidentally stepped on it one time and it just damaged the blade.

If you use amazon, you can save shipping when you combine orders. I was able to get my blades shipped for free when i combined orders for my daughters b day present. And amazon split the order so that her gift was sent to one address and mine was sent to me.
Also I had to buy running shoes. I saved about $5 in shipping so I just threw in a tube of shaving cream and got it for about $2.

Saving money is all relative, if you are bleeding money somewhere else you can tighten that area up and have more for shaving.

Well, from what you say, you only need blades and soap or cream for now. May I suggest Proraso or Omega shaving cream. They are good quality and available at very competitive prices. Not sure about soaps as I tend not to use them a great deal.
As for blades, Astra SP are very good value and have many followers. 100 blade pack will keep you going for a long time.
If you update your location you may get more specific recommendations. Usually the best prices are available online.