Over the past several years I've really come to hate the drudgery of shaving. If you shave with an electric razor you get a boring, lame shave and ingrown hairs. If you wet shave with a new-fangled cartridge razor, like a Mach 3, you get a decent but expensive shave and razor rash. The solution? Old Skool wet-shaving with a safety razor.
I recently purchased a Gillette Super Speed safety razor on EBay, a badger hair brush and some nice shaving soap. Man, what a fantastic, close shave. And the experience itself is manly, invigorating and enjoyable...and its way cheaper.
Here's the cost breakdown for a year of shaving with a Mach 3: (1) Mach 3 razor-$9.00 (2) Razor cartridges at 4 a month-$144.00 = Total: $153.00 a year.
For the safety razor: (1) a once-in-lifetime purchase of a good sturdy safety razor that you can pass on to your grandson-$20.00 on EBay (2) 100 double-edge razor blades-$10 =$30 a year.
I didn't include soap and brush because you'd need that either way but those set you back about $15.00 for long-use badger brush (make sure you buy a good badger brush) and about $10 a year for shaving soap.
For more information on the lost art and luxury of wet-shaving see this and this. Badger & Blade is also a great resource.
Happy shaving gents!
