Reality check

[Nishy]

Am I on my own here?

Stainless steel, bronze, titanium, aluminium. Did my stubble just develop iron man status or is this all really overkill?

Soaps seem to be getting into the luxury market each day, let's face it the scent lasts all but 10 minutes. Then an aftershave is thrown on. Only brushes have seemingly gone down in price given the rise of synthetics. However, comparatively speaking synthetic hair has a huge mark up (IMO).

I understand the above are slight 'improvements' to the overall experience of shaving and every artisan/vendor/customer has a right to buy and experience the difference. But is it starting to get beyond the point of saturation?

Will my zamak cast razor out perform a stainless steel favourite/unobtnaium? Possible not, will it shave me (with good technique) without any issues? Yes. Hansel & Gretel walked into the candy house. Have we?

Sponsored by yesterday's shave: EJ89, Omega boar and a dollop of Ingrams.

 

[The Gentleman]

You don't need a Rolex to show time

 

[R181]

I think you are pretty much spot on in your comments. If you can't get the job done with basic inexpensive, yet good, products spending more on gear will not help a great deal. OTH if you can do that and want to enhance your shave a bit by adding some luxury products, why not if you can afford it.

Similarly a Rolex will do you no good if you can't tell time in the first place. Once you can the options are limited only by your budget for what you want to display that time.

Bob

 

[Shaverrific666]

Very true Nishy! You are not alone. You are spot on.
I can get a spectacular shave with a Palmolive stick, a Zenith boar and a 1950's Gillette Tech. Using insanely luxurious stuff does not improve the shave one iota IMHO. My shaves have improved just from preparation and technique as appose to actual "products". There have been numerous times I have bought some highly regarded artisan soap then realized that a drugstore product like Ingrams or Proraso..simply lathers and performs better!

That said I do enjoy certain luxurious products as part of this hobby

 

[R181]

Very true Nishy! You are not alone. You are spot on.
I can get a spectacular shave with a Palmolive stick, a Zenith boar and a 1950's Gillette Tech. Using insanely luxurious stuff does not improve the shave one iota IMHO. My shaves have improved just from preparation and technique as appose to actual "products". There have been numerous times I have bought some highly regarded artisan soap then realized that a drugstore product like Ingrams or Proraso..simply lathers and performs better!

That said I do enjoy certain luxurious products as part of this hobby

I really think the beginners need to have the aspect that a good shave depends mostly on technique than gear reinforced. Not discourage anyone from spending money on luxury stuff.

Bob

 

[DamianJ]

I think my best 2 razors are my DE86 and Rockwell 2C. Both of them give me better shaves than my ikon OC which is my most expensive razor.

 

[Gairdner]

Hey mate, couldn't agree more! Had a grand shave the other day with an Omega boar knot, Arko and a vintage Gillette.Topped off with the ridiculously cheap yet supremely effective and nicely scented Benjamin's Bay Rum and a free tube of Vitabiotics Wellman Daily Moisturiser in place of my usual cheap Astral. Honestly, if all I could afford was an Omega boar, Ingram/Arko/Palmolive, a vintage Gillette Tech/Merkur 34c/EJ89 and the above extras, I'd be well-shaved and a happy man.

Sometimes we just have to step back, think and take moral stock. There is a beauty in simplicity that cannot be found in detailed, muddled, expensive collections.

A wee bit of luxury is grand but too much and it becomes vanilla, wallpaper and just 'there'. I recently bought a pot of Trumper's Violet shaving cream which is a more expensive software purchase for me. The scent is good but not as grand I remembered and the performance not up to that of Ingram or Arko. I must admit to being not a great fan of Artisan soaps either. Not criticising them at all, it's just that Arko, despite it's controversial scent, performs so damn well and leaves my skin feeling pretty good.

It's all down to individual choice but I do think there is a little of the status symbol effect in a lot of shaving gear.

 

[Chris]

Despite being a huge fan of steel razors I freely admit that they don't necessarily shave better than something a lot cheaper. Two of my favourites are the Gillette Tech and the Fatip, both of which are easily available for under £20. In fact I've paid under £20 for a virtually mint cased Tech.

 

[Batch300]

Diminishing returns, personal choice and personal values.

Both a Vauxhall Corsa and Mercedes-AMG will get you to the in-laws house. One is more enjoyable to drive, faster, and possibly safer. One may make the in-law visit less irritating. One realizes the high cost may limit expenditures on other necessities or hobbies and happy with that decision.

Personally, I like Mervyn Cadman and group buy brushes. I have more fingers than shaving creams and no pre-shave or post shave fragrances.

 

[lloydrm]

The only real game changers for me have been straight razors and shaving soaps that do not irritate my skin (there aren't many). The first one was a surprise. It offers all I had been looking for: very close and comfortable/irritation free shaves. The second is self explanatory, I believe.
Sometimes I feel I waisted all the money and time hunting down scarce vintage and modern razors, legendary brushes and most prized soaps. Not sure its been worth the effort. Maybe if i see it as a journey.

 

[Rowlers]

Agreed. Choice is great, but you need to work out what suits you and your wallet. I thought I would regret selling my nice stainless razors, but to be honest I haven't missed the one bit. I now like brushes, but all mine are cheap, traded, re-knots and lovely wooden one that I can design myself. Soaps are pretty much the smae, nothing is vastly better than any toher an some of the pricey "artisans" are fairly crap to be be blunt!
The likes of Colonial and IB are, hopefully, driving down stainless too!

 

[iamsms]

Will my zamak cast razor out perform a stainless steel favourite/unobtnaium? Possible not

I am yet to find a razor that isn't outperformed by my 34C for me. Tried quite a few 'High End razors' and 1 or 2 unobtainum.

I find it funny that a lot of us bring out the 'Mercedes/BMW vs Toyota' and taking from one place to another analogy when it comes to shaving with cheap/expensive items. I am yet to drive a BMW that I enjoy less than my Honda Civic. When my civic gets a few thousand miles more under it's belt, I am definitely getting a BMW.

But if someone offers me a Wiborg for my Zenith 26mm boar (with added condition that I can't buy another boar) or wants to give me a Titanium BBS1 for my 34C ( again with similar conditions) my reply will be : Good day to you sir, but no thanks.

Shaving, fortunately isn't that expensive that I can't afford something I want. I have simply found that price to preference curve for me isn't linear.

EDIT: I actually didn't notice that a gentleman here already made the automobile analogy. My mentioning civic vs bwm wasn't aimed at him.

 

[Gairdner]

An erudite post indeed, sir.

 

[slapo]

@Nishy: you seem to be having these thoughts of late. I could have sworn I saw a post of yours much like the OP recently. Nothing wrong with that, just q curious observation.

For myself, I require a razor that clamps the blade really tight, minimising the flex. Only took about 50 of them and a bunch of posts by folk raving about blade rigidity to find out.
My recent purchases were pure curiosity, really.
It doesn't matter what material is used, but the shave geometry does. Otherwise, I can't go comfortably ATG, or I have to mod the head to alter the geometry.

Soaps I only have a few, as I knew reasonably well what I had been after and don't care much about getting more or changing brands until I'll have to.

Brushes I have a few due to their sizes and properties - I tend to use one depending on what I need.

 

[Dule083]

Any goods will find his buyer, but some prices are waaay beyond reality

I really want to buy Wolfman one day but with this prices that will stay only wish. For the name of god guys, this are tools for shaving, with all respect for makers what is the pourpose of them except to cut whiskers. So I like hi quality made product but in the end of the day quality of shaving is only thing for me that separates razors.



So If some razors cost more than 10 (ten) times than Gillette #77 I expect that he shaving at least 4 times better.

Be honest did any modern razor shaving at least twice as good as good old RFB or Hoffritz?

Maybe is the time to stop pay this insane prices, and then guys that made razors will back in reality and put some reasonable prices