Unless your a bare minimalist, DE shaving is going to be a collectors endeavor. Saying that, it's a great endeavor. I've tried to keep some parts to only one product and I've achieved that with some. I only have one Merkur 34c, one silvertip badger hair brush, and Persona blue blades. When it comes to soaps and creams, I have many. And I cant stop lol. All the different scents are so great, it changed shaving from a chore to a semi luxury getaway for a few minutes. And I cant stop with the soap. I have to have the matching aftershave or closest match. And if they have a balm as well, it'll be in my cart too. You could just get Proraso soap or cream with Proraso aftershave and balm, and that's fine. That's a big step up from canned foam or gel that smells like deodorant, but you'd be missing out on a lot. It's nice to shave with different types and scents just to express what kind of mood I'm in that day. Do we have any real minimalists whom only use what's needed here? Happy shaving everyone.
DE shaving won't save you money.
- Thread starter blstrge
- Start date
Everyone will tell you it CAN save money, not that it WILL. 
But in all honesty saving the money on the blades let's you use better more fresher blades more often and the savings can go towards better soaps and skin products. Which after all, isn't your face worth it? So go ahead, don't we all need a few more soaps and aftershaves? It's good for the skin. BUT you may want to check out, there is a brotherhood of minimalism down in the clubs and brotherhoods section.
But in all honesty saving the money on the blades let's you use better more fresher blades more often and the savings can go towards better soaps and skin products. Which after all, isn't your face worth it? So go ahead, don't we all need a few more soaps and aftershaves? It's good for the skin. BUT you may want to check out, there is a brotherhood of minimalism down in the clubs and brotherhoods section.
I would say I'm a minimalist like my grandpa was.
1- Merkur 43C HD
1- box of personna blues. (a couple of 5-blade boxes of Gilette Silver Blues left from when I started shaving, but i hand these off to friends who are looking to try something else)
1- Omega Boar Brush
2-soaps (proraso red, stirling lime)
1- balm (Nivea sensitive)
1- alum block (however i knocked it off the sink, so its in a million stupid pieces)
2 -aftershaves (clubman classic, stirling sharp dressed man)
2-items on the To-Buy list once i run low on current products. (Stirling Spice aftershave, Bay Rum soap... likely Stirling as well)
First year of shaving I spent about $60 on shaving. (razor, blades & samples, brush, soap samples, soap, alum...etc)
Last year I spent a total of $30 on shaving. (blades, aftershave, soap)
This year, i'll spend even less as I'll only need soap and aftershave. (maybe a new alum block because i'm a bull in a china shop)
1- Merkur 43C HD
1- box of personna blues. (a couple of 5-blade boxes of Gilette Silver Blues left from when I started shaving, but i hand these off to friends who are looking to try something else)
1- Omega Boar Brush
2-soaps (proraso red, stirling lime)
1- balm (Nivea sensitive)
1- alum block (however i knocked it off the sink, so its in a million stupid pieces)
2 -aftershaves (clubman classic, stirling sharp dressed man)
2-items on the To-Buy list once i run low on current products. (Stirling Spice aftershave, Bay Rum soap... likely Stirling as well)
First year of shaving I spent about $60 on shaving. (razor, blades & samples, brush, soap samples, soap, alum...etc)
Last year I spent a total of $30 on shaving. (blades, aftershave, soap)
This year, i'll spend even less as I'll only need soap and aftershave. (maybe a new alum block because i'm a bull in a china shop)
Some of the Above The Tie razor owners stick to their one razor. One ATT razor costs less than all the razors I've purchased. But I've found my true love and wouldn't have without kicking the tires exploring other designs. I still admire razors other than my daily driver (including ATT) and must acquire more razors, at least occasionally. I think the modern DE movement has improved upon the original experience. This is the golden age of the new DE shaving experience. Are you experienced?
You only have one razor and use fairly inexpensive blades. It's not the DE part that's expensive.
- Thread starter
- #6
Yes that's true and I'm sure some people may shave with a Mach 3 and buy all the different creams, soaps, aftershaves, and balms. But the majority of people buying all these products including my self use a Se or De razor or they'd just use the stuff from the department stores. That's why I used DE shaving as the headline. I would have never bought any of the products myself if I hadn't started DE shaving, but that's just me.
I am going to say I haven't spent over $150 on DE shaving in the last four years. About 11 cents each on my Astra SP's at 100 each. I have about a dozen razors, about $50 on ebay for three and then I got three in a box at a junk sale (One was a nice Gold Aristocrat) for ten for the lot. Two for ten each at antique/junk stores. Probably not $20 together for the rest of them, I just look for razors when my wife drags me into some yard sale or antique mall. I buy cup soap about twice a year, VH at Walmart when they had it. Most of my shaving brushes were gifts. The wife buys me old wood cigar boxes and Old Spice cups and soap when she stumbles on them for birthdays and Christmas, but she would probably spend more on fancy new stuff than these things in second hand stores and at Church fund raiser yard sales.
I shaved about two weeks each with a disposable cartridge back when i was using them. That would be about 26 a year. I would say shave cream compared to puck soap would be about a wash. Just looking at Walmart.com and saw Sensor 3 blades for $1.49 each online without tax. That comes to about $42 a year with tax compared to an estimated $37.50 for real DE shaving and I have about a hundred blades if you added all of the different brands up still on hand.
In my case the excuse is true.
I would say I am an inbetweener. I could have got by with one razor, one brush, some pucks as needed and a hundred blades every six or eight years. I have spent more than that, but not as much as cartridges would have cost.
On the other hand, rhodium plating for one of my slims would be nice, then there are some preshaves and balms I was looking at. One trip to Amazon or an online Shave shop and I could blow my old annual cartridge budget for years in a few clicks.
P.S. What would my used cartridge razors be worth now if I had gone that route? In my book DE is the winner whiskers down!
Thanks for starting the post and topic,
More Old Spice for my friend,
Doublesharp
I shaved about two weeks each with a disposable cartridge back when i was using them. That would be about 26 a year. I would say shave cream compared to puck soap would be about a wash. Just looking at Walmart.com and saw Sensor 3 blades for $1.49 each online without tax. That comes to about $42 a year with tax compared to an estimated $37.50 for real DE shaving and I have about a hundred blades if you added all of the different brands up still on hand.
In my case the excuse is true.
I would say I am an inbetweener. I could have got by with one razor, one brush, some pucks as needed and a hundred blades every six or eight years. I have spent more than that, but not as much as cartridges would have cost.
On the other hand, rhodium plating for one of my slims would be nice, then there are some preshaves and balms I was looking at. One trip to Amazon or an online Shave shop and I could blow my old annual cartridge budget for years in a few clicks.
P.S. What would my used cartridge razors be worth now if I had gone that route? In my book DE is the winner whiskers down!
Thanks for starting the post and topic,
More Old Spice for my friend,
Doublesharp
Last edited:
Hi,
Sounds like someone needs to join the next monthly restraint....
Stan
Sounds like someone needs to join the next monthly restraint....
Stan
- Thread starter
- #9
Hi,
Sounds like someone needs to join the next monthly restraint....
Stan
Lol, my name is Chris... And I'm an addict.
- Thread starter
- #10
Yes, the cartridge razors would be worth noting. I started using my Merkur 34c because it's a solid piece of hardware that'll probably last me for the rest of my life and beyond. Like one guy said above, I only have the one razor so it's not necessarily DE shaving costing me so much, but I'll probably buy more razors in the future. And as far as the razors themselves, yes... Super cheap.
- Thread starter
- #11
That's great!!! I love Stirling products. And I've dropped my alum block a few times and it's luckily only busted the corners each time. So I have just sanded the corners.
Hi,
Seriously, I got to thinking and realized the issue is....right here.
I started shaving in 1976, and used one razor and soap and brush for long periods at a time. A few razors were given to me, but in the end there were a half dozen total. Two brushes used at home plus one more in the travel kit between 1976 and 2011. Soaps were what I could find in the drugstore as I ran out. Blades, too.
Then I found B+B. By accident. I had need of a couple razors matching what I used at home, for use in an apartment for a couple years working away. I wanted to be able to fly back and forth carrying nothing. Anyway, I had an Old Type and a NEW Long Comb at home. So I went to eBay and bought one more of each....and got an oddball for the 2nd NEW LC. What was it? A quick search landed me here.
It was a British Raised Flat Bottom. But, I had never heard of it. More reading was necessary. Then, I bought a couple new brushes. Tried a vintage soap. A couple different blades. Then I spotted Slants. Oh! Neat! Rabbit Hole!! You all know what I mean!
All of a sudden, the Away job ended. Home I came. Now I have all this *stuff* for shaving. Oh, dear.....
So, I joined a Quarterly. Then a Yearly. During that, I sorted my stuff and passed on most of it. Except for this wonderful Slant and the family heirloom stuff. Gotta keep that! It is priceless.
So, now after 1 Quarterly and 2 Yearly Restraints, I am cured....maybe! So, onto Year #3.
Oh. And DE shaving *did* save me lots of money vs carts, and does so again now. But, there was a short period there where it surely did not! But, without that period, I would not have discovered that the Fasan Double Slant is really good for me. So, it was worth it.
Stan
Seriously, I got to thinking and realized the issue is....right here.
I started shaving in 1976, and used one razor and soap and brush for long periods at a time. A few razors were given to me, but in the end there were a half dozen total. Two brushes used at home plus one more in the travel kit between 1976 and 2011. Soaps were what I could find in the drugstore as I ran out. Blades, too.
Then I found B+B. By accident. I had need of a couple razors matching what I used at home, for use in an apartment for a couple years working away. I wanted to be able to fly back and forth carrying nothing. Anyway, I had an Old Type and a NEW Long Comb at home. So I went to eBay and bought one more of each....and got an oddball for the 2nd NEW LC. What was it? A quick search landed me here.
It was a British Raised Flat Bottom. But, I had never heard of it. More reading was necessary. Then, I bought a couple new brushes. Tried a vintage soap. A couple different blades. Then I spotted Slants. Oh! Neat! Rabbit Hole!! You all know what I mean!
All of a sudden, the Away job ended. Home I came. Now I have all this *stuff* for shaving. Oh, dear.....
So, I joined a Quarterly. Then a Yearly. During that, I sorted my stuff and passed on most of it. Except for this wonderful Slant and the family heirloom stuff. Gotta keep that! It is priceless.
So, now after 1 Quarterly and 2 Yearly Restraints, I am cured....maybe! So, onto Year #3.
Oh. And DE shaving *did* save me lots of money vs carts, and does so again now. But, there was a short period there where it surely did not! But, without that period, I would not have discovered that the Fasan Double Slant is really good for me. So, it was worth it.
Stan
Last edited:
- Thread starter
- #13
Wow that's great. Maybe I'll calm down after a while but I don't see it happening anytime soon. But I've only been doing this for about a year.
well it can, but it won't if done right!
If I spend less than fifty dollars a month, I'm saving money. A fusion cart. lasted three shaves before it was ugly to shave with. Over the 18 months I have spent far less. In the last three months I've spent thirty two dollars. I have managed to accumulate some good razors, blades, soaps and brushes. I didn't do it all at once, and the majority were far under budget.
Well I save money per shave, but my hobby budget has been blown out of the water.
I agree with the ATT saving me money on new razors. I started with an EJ89 and after reading for a bit, I was headed directly to the shaving addicts portion of the universe with an entire shopping list of things to try. The first on the list was the Above The Tie S1 slant.
After trying that out, I completely lost interest in more DE razors. I have lots of other things (soaps, cremes etc), but the ATT cured my DE razor acquisition craving.
Aside from the 4 vintage razors I bought and the second brush I bought (out of necessity more than anything--my Escali was finally showing it's age, though it still works pretty well), and the second shaving cream, I'd call myself a minimalist. I don't plan on buying anything else, and I may sell or give away the other razors depending on how they perform (I don't have two of them yet, and haven't gotten to try the other two because they arrived around the same time, after I had shaved).
I save money all the time DE shaving. Then I use the money saved to buy more razors and blades. 
Of course. Never assume that popular topics are all that anyone does no matter what the discussion forum site. New, shiny stuff is just more exciting to discuss but not everyone collects stuff and/or rotates supplies.
I buy blades in 100 packs just for the pricing. When I run low I purchase another 100 pack. I only have one soap. I have more than one DE from my days of figuring what worked for me but I do appreciate the build quality of the vintage DE's that I tried so I've kept them around. However, I only use one DE. I'd only have one brush but my preferred brush doesn't fit in the travel tube so I kept my former brush for travel. Only one AS. My DE, my brush, my preferred soap and my preferred AS aren't cheap but the equipment are one time purchases. I enjoy my shaves but I'm not into collecting shaving stuff. The supplies last a long time. My preferred blades aren't the cheapest blades out there but they're significantly cheaper than carts. $30 is about 2 years of blades for me. I have enough other interests that lighten my wallet as it is.
Again, it's just not very interesting discussion to say "Used X again, just like every prior day for the past Y time". Always be very careful when trying to determine trends based on posts in any discussion forum site. They all present skewed data and you have to be able to account for that in order to determine such trends.
One doesn't have to stick with Proraso or products in a similar price bracket to be a minimalist. It's MDC and DRH for me.
Last edited:
Similar threads
