Let's be honest guys!

Ad Astra said:

The (eventual) savings is incidental.

It's about improving the quality of your life, and not being a sucker for marketing hype / paying into a 4000% profit game.

AA

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Pretty much this... I found the pricing of cartridges obscene, but the real reason of my switching to DE, was that the carts and electrics were destroying my face at every shave.

It was a "precision" single blade on the back of the head of a cart. that "enlightened" me as I found that using the cart. upside down for that single blade to do all of my face, I was for the first time in my life getting a decent shave, but it was difficult.

Having heard of DE from others in another forum as being the best thing ever, I decided to make the jump and give it a chance, heck I had nothing to lose and everything to gain. And I never looked back since.

I used those cursed carts for over 30 years, so I'm making up for lost time.

That's my story and I'm sticking with it.

Haven't spent a dime in 18 months.

Aussie Sly Guy said:

Who actually saves money wet shaving?
i don't see it saving me money cause I
want to try so many different products. Lol

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Right you are. I think I'm through, and then, I see something new I feel that I have to try.

Ron I

The initial investment - buying up everything I needed to start, trying some different products, buying my first 100 pack of blades, etc - felt like more money than I'd ever spent on shaving stuff before.

But now, I've settled in and only buy new something once, maybe twice, a month. A refill of Proraso Blue, a sample of this or that, some witch hazel at the drug store, an aftershave, etc... I see that I'm spending less on shaving per month than the about $25/month I was spending on cartridge razor stuff. (Even my 40s Super cost less than a 4-pack of m3 refill cartridges). So, even with these great "higher end" products, I think things have already evened out. Not that I'm concerned too much with that - This kind of shaving is the only thing that cleared up my face and fixed the damage other kinds of shaving had done. So it's worth it.

Now, as for buying colognes...

Aussie Sly Guy said:

Who actually saves money wet shaving?

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I haven't been keeping track but I use one DE and one brush (aside from a secondary travel brush). I have one soap and usually just its replacement on hand. My ongoing costs are mostly just the blades.

That said, savings wasn't why I started out though I was tired of shelling out for Mach 3 carts. It also took me several DE's and several brushes to find the ones that I am currently using so there was some expense (partially mitigated via BST) in that process. Just bought a synthetic to try out and I'm the list for a Paladin. Might consider an ATT at some point as well.

This is my thought.
You get attracted to de shaving initially by the low upfront cost, but you keeo hearing about good products.

It just becomes an expensive hobby.

I save money over cartridge shaving, but the margin is small. If I only compared blades to blades, then it's a whole lot cheaper. But I also but soap and cream and alum now, which I didn't use to do. That narrows the gap, but it doesn't close the gap.

DE shaving has a higher startup cost than cartridge shaving, so it takes a few years before you actually reclaim your initial investment in savings. I haven't reached that point yet, but I should in two or three years.

After our baby gets a little older (and there's actually such a thing as free time again), my wife might look into switching over to DE shaving, and then of course we'd be starting over again on the road to savings. But the little pot licker is still quite a handful, so that's not happening yet. As it is, she can only afford the time to do a quick water-only shave in the shower every so often.

I didn't start in order to save money, but over 4 months in, I have spent less than I would have if I had been using over the counter carts and cans. I also have enough supplies to last well into next year without spending another cent. Mostly that's because I'm limiting my variables to concentrate on technique and to seriously evaluate a few things before I go hog wild. In another couple of months my spending will probably start to out pace what I would spend on carts and will probably be high for 12 to 18 months as I try a bunch of things that pique my interest. After that, I expect my spending to drop back down as I settle on my favourites and work through accumulated stock. After that point I'll probably try the occasional new product for kicks and giggles but the pace will be more moderate.

Shave items are not really high ticket in the big picture.

I think I have a lot of stuff but I didn't get it all at once. The cost was spread out.
It didn't bother me to spend because I wanted to find products to help my skin.

The only way your going to save any money in this area is not to shave at all.

As of now yes, but I did spend way more during the first 1.5 - 2 years trying various products until I found ones I really like.

I started shaving with a straight about a month ago; by the end of June I'll have spent more in that space of time than in the last 7 years using cartridges. Though, I like to think that, even if it costs me more, shaving isn't a chore anymore, and I'm saving the planet too with no cartridges going in the bin.

Aussie Sly Guy said:

Who actually saves money wet shaving?

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Yes, definitely. Joining a few sabbaticals helps.

I saved money when shaving was a chore. Then it became a hobby, and old razors are essentially works of art. Now, I'm an art collector that shaves with his Picassos.

matt71 said:

I saved money when shaving was a chore. Then it became a hobby, and old razors are essentially works of art. Now, I'm an art collector that shaves with his Picassos.

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I have wet shaved for over 30 years. I have definitely saved money.

I do not even want to start calculating what I would have spent on canned products and cartridges otherwise.

I could save money lol. I got busy and didn't visit all of the enablers on here for 6-8 months. I didn't spend a dime. I ran out of DE blades and just stopped using my shavettes, stayed with my straights. I used up a bunch of soaps. I have bought two razors,DE blades and another strop. I've only been back about 2-3 weeks. Y'all are a bad influence. I never planned on saving money though. Apparently I have expensive tastes in razors.

We may be enablers, but hey at least it's fun!

I have definitely saved money.

Back in '98 my wife bought a top of the line Braun electric razor for me on my birthday. It cost $110.00 at Costco at that time. Over the years I found I still had to buy my Fusion cartridges. As nice as the Braun was, it just didn't get all the neck whiskers. So every few days I had to shave with the cartridge. I would finish up with the Braun on my chin since the cartridge didn't do so well on the thick, heavy stuff. Then I found out I had to buy a new blade/foil set every year. That cost about $30. Then after five or six years my Braun started to get fewer shaves in between charges. Then little pieces started coming apart and breaking - just cosmetic stuff, but still...

My Braun ended up lasting me 12 years before the electronics just totally failed. I swore in the last few years of its life that I would never go back to an electric razor again. I made good on that promise. In the last year of the Braun's life, I searched out and found the big shaving forums. I was first attracted to straight razors, but couldn't see the practical aspect when I needed to shave every day for my job. There was just too much of an initial investment and too much of a learning curve. I started hanging more on B&B. I found two 1912 GEMS in an antique store for $20 in really good shape. I shaved with those for six months, then found a Gillette NEW on ebay for $10 with a couple of slightly bent end teeth. I bought a box of 12 Arko sticks from Amazon. I bought a box of Astra SP and a box of Personna Blues (100) for less than $25 for 200 blades. I'm happy.

Now to be fair, along the way I have acquired three Gillette NEW, two 1912 GEMS, one bullet handle GEM, one Gillette red flair tip, one plain flair tip, one Krona and a Gillette TTO from 1938 - 1940 (can't remember this very common razor's name). These are all in very good user shape and most cost under $10 a piece from antique stores in my area. I think the most I paid for a razor is around $12. I did this to try out different things at minimal cost. I will end up selling most of my razors on ebay because I really do like using only one or two razors. I'm just not a gear hound in that way.

Even without selling any of my razors, I'm still way ahead of what I used to do. I hated shaving with cartridges exclusively and couldn't just use an electric. Now I'm learning a new skill, saving money and getting better shaves than I ever have in my life.

Of course when I finally break down and buy my ATT H2...

I do. When I started I bought a couple shaving products but later I found the perfect combo so for me there is no need to buy other products. My gear: Fatip Piccolo Open Comb, Permasharp Blade, Proraso AS, Proraso Green Cream, olive oil as pre shave oil, a simple brush, a ceramic bowl I found in the kitchen. I always get a full bbs

I have a 47-50 SS, a 55 Red Tip, few Personna Meds, a brush, some Old Spice soap in an Old Spice mug, a combo stand, Aloe 99 and Nivea AS. I don't need anything else but replacement blades, soap and AS.

I am looking to replace the Red Tip with a Fat boy, sometime.

I figure I am saving money over Multiblade shaves.

Greg W.