Share your shave of the day!
Frugal Friday
- Brush: I Am (house brand of local grocery store chain Migros)
- Razor: Wilkinson Sword
- Blade: Wilkinson Sword
- Lather: Arko – Berber Tiraş sabunu
- Post Shave: Wars – Classic - Energetyzujący Płyn Po Goleniu
- Fragrance: Brut — Original
Theme: To my chagrin, the cheapest soap by weight in my den seems to be Arko at CHF 22.80/kg, eking out a narrow victory over my palmolive stick (CHF 30.67/kg) which I bought in my local pharmacy a few years ago when it went out of production. The soap performs well enough, but I struggle with the scent. This is based on a technicality, because I do own an even cheaper soap, Vitos, but it’s in my mountain den, so it’s not in my collection today.
Relevant post and splash: also the cheapest in my den. Wars is CHF 43.33/l and Brut CHF 78.00/l.
Challenge: Luckily I got rid of my horrible clipped boar brushes at CHF 1.50 per brush last year after Frugal Friday (I bought them for my Rookie Lather Games, when there was still a bonus point for using 30 brushes and they were tërrible), so this brush is my new cheapest one at CHF 6.80. It’s still garbage, but less. The Wilkinson razor is GBP 4.99 including the blades, making it my cheapest. Saving so much money on today’s shave wasn’t worth using that brush. I’m getting rid of the brush and Arko.
I’m getting rid of the brush and Arko
Hell yeah! [“Good!”, if you’re from Texas]. This year I finally noticed that the wording in the challenge is: cheapest wetshaving product in your collection. If it weren’t for Stirling, I’d probably take a hard look at Tabac or MdC.
Huh, I didn’t realise Tabac is expensive in the US. Here it’s much cheaper than Stirling (5.8¢/g vs 8.7¢/g and that’s not even taking into account Tabac is triple milled).
Yeah, today, on Amazon, Tabac is $19 for 125g, or ~15¢/g. But as you point out, 125g of Tabac (or MdC for that matter) goes a lot further than 125g of Stirling.
Your Mountain Den? Sounds amazing!
Just a small pile of shave gear in my parent’s apartment :)
June 28, 2024
- Brush: L’Occitane Plisson Synthetic
- Razor: Wolfman Guerilla (Gen 1)
- Blade: Bolzano Superinox (German) (16)
- Lather: Williams Mug Soap - Soap
- Post Shave: Aqua Velva - Musk - After Shave Cologne
- Fragrance: Eau Factory - Noble - EdT
WMS cost $1.75, or $1 per oz. Of course now that it’s “unobtanium”, it costs a bit more. It is not worth the inflated price, but it was absolutely worth $1.75. It’s decent soap!
AV Musk was $3 for 3.5 oz.
This bottle of EdT was $10 at Lidl.
June 28, 2024
- Brush: AP Shave Co Strawberry Cream 26mm G5A
- Razor: Parker A1R Travel Razor #ZAMAC
- Blade: Gillette 7 O’Clock SharpEdge (Yellow) (4)
- Lather: Stirling Soap Co. - Island Man - Soap
- Post Shave: Combe Inc. - Aqua Velva Classic Ice Blue - Aftershave
If I’m to do a frugal shave, then it will be a straightforward, no frills affair. So, no witchhazel, or talc. That’s for sissies.
I was surprised to find that this AP Shave Co brush is, at $60, my least expensive brush. It is equal in cost to several other synthetics I have, and tied with my cheapest badger brush. I’ve given away brushes that cost less so I’m left with rather high-end bristles. Anyway, here’s the cost rundown of my setup:
- Island Man - bought off the 'zaar so not fair, but Stirling is definitely the best cost/gram shaving soap I have. I make up for the great value by owning more tubs than I’ll ever be able to finish. Oh, did I mention how great the soap actually is?
- Parker A1R Travel Razor - $30
- AP Shave Co brush - $60 (this one was best for the photo)
- Aqua Velva - $5
Cheap gear, absolutely excellent shave. It’s the blade that does the cutting. The better you wield it, the better your shave.
