Survey: Estimated total expenditure on Shaving gear

[Nick the Knife]

Folks,

Haha now don't throw stones at me for posting such a poll - as I KNOW many of us here did atleast on some level think that getting into wetshaving would save us countless dollars over the overpriced multi-blade cartridge systems! Quite seriously it definitely was somethng that drew me.

Anyway just wondering how much ALL UP folks estimate they've spent on shaving gear whilst it's been a hobby/interest of theirs - so if you're @gthomas04 there's no need to estimate what you've spent on the past 94yrs you've been using Arko......just the last decade or so!

So razors, blades, soaps, creams, strops, kamisoris, sharpening stones (that are primarily for your razors), shaving aftershaves etc etc - they're all fair enough to include in your guesstimate.

Hopefully we won't have too many tears - though I think we'll want to make sure our significant others don't see this thread.

Cheers, Nick

PS. It might be optimistic but I think I might just sneak into the $1k-2k bracket but it's only be by the skin of my teeth as I did have a reasonable buy earlier this month. haha it does sound VERY defensive but a lot of that is a preposterous number of razor blades that I'm prolly going to have to sell off here and there when the shavepocalypse hits (it is still coming right???? )

 

[Pjotr]

Outrageous poll! Should be deleted and the author severely reprimanded. Thought I could sneak in at the 100-300 range but after a quick tot up decided not to kid myself. Can we have a poll that only covers expenditure over the last couple of years? That would make me feel a lot better. This sucks!

 

[khun_diddy]

I'm in the same zone as you Nick. I think I've been fairly restrained thus far.

That's about to change, I suspect, given I've begun doing 'Internet searches' for J-nats and kamisori!

 

[Osman]

I only started in February and I am just under the $1000 area.

 

[Mark1966]

Any poll that has to have a special category for me is a good thing right?

Actually I saw the thread title and thought this will be interesting - in fact though I'd be surprised if I was the only person in the top category, it is set far too low IMHO

 

[Monsta_AU]

I'm definitely in the $2k-$5K range.

 

[Nick the Knife]

I'm in the same zone as you Nick. I think I've been fairly restrained thus far.That's about to change, I suspect, given I've begun doing 'Internet searches' for J-nats and kamisori!

Hmmm yes well those J-Nats will quickly see you ascending towards the next tier up! I have to say this is all making me feel a tad better about my spend as like I said there's two very large blade purchases in their that between them probably account for 30-50% of my spend. I've been a bit of a low-mid range accumulator of stuff - no manchurian badger brushes or MdC here.

I only started in February and I am just under the $1000 area.

Just under eh? That is fast work. I think at the same point as you (~6mths into things) I'd done the obligatory Merkur razor, Proraso, entry level badger brush + an Omega boar - had a handful of blades and that was about it, so prolly ~$200 or so as got stung paying full retail etc. New users these days have such a plethora of choices so I can imagine it'd be very easy to plough $500+ in and only have the basics plus a few other extras. Haha you've a very promising future in this hobby! ;-)

Any poll that has to have a special category for me is a good thing right?

Actually I saw the thread title and thought this will be interesting - in fact though I'd be surprised if I was the only person in the top category, it is set far too low IMHO

Haha well there's several polls of this ilk that could have a 'special' category just for yourself, and though I don't know that it's a good thing I do think that if every member here had to go into a liquidation sale of their shaving gear today my money would be on yourself being the ONLY person who'd come out well infront of what you've put in to originally purchase the goods. It's not many folks who can say they likely have one of the very best collections of a certain category of item in the world and I think you'd definitely be in the same room with whoever is up there with you in that regard.

On a sidenote, @Mark1966 - are you aware of many other individual collectors who you feel have a collection of razors thats as good or superior to yours?

You really think there'd be anymore folks above $5k? @borked seems pretty well spec'd and is a real dark horse on a lot of stuff and as for those ADL lads with their straights who knows - same for @Mark with his straight and stones but I think there's a good chance you're on that top tier yourself.

I'm not going to be so crass as to ask for an estimate but FWIW do you think there's any chance you'd be in the top category IF it were instead set at $20k+ ? Again I do think that whatever the sum is (and I bet you've a pretty good idea given your line of work) ultimately its going to work out quite well as prices will only ascend, especially for the gems you have amassed.

 

[Mark1966]

...Haha well there's several polls of this ilk that could have a 'special' category just for yourself, and though I don't know that it's a good thing I do think that if every member here had to go into a liquidation sale of their shaving gear today my money would be on yourself being the ONLY person who'd come out well infront of what you've put in to originally purchase the goods. It's not many folks who can say they likely have one of the very best collections of a certain category of item in the world and I think you'd definitely be in the same room with whoever is up there with you in that regard.

You would be surprised at the collections some people have - I think I can hold my head up but there are some SERIOUSLY impressive collections out there

On a sidenote, @Mark1966 - are you aware of many other individual collectors who you feel have a collection of razors thats as good or superior to yours?

Not in Australia, but that may be ignorance, but overseas yeah for sure. Achim (Mr-Razor) has an amazing collection and apart from some of the names around the YKW site there is a group of older collectors not on the 'net that reportedly have some amazing kit

You really think there'd be anymore folks above $5k? @borked seems pretty well spec'd and is a real dark horse on a lot of stuff and as for those ADL lads with their straights who knows - same for @Mark with his straight and stones but I think there's a good chance you're on that top tier yourself.

I think some others might be there if they did the maths ...

I'm not going to be so crass as to ask for an estimate but FWIW do you think there's any chance you'd be in the top category IF it were instead set at $20k+ ? Again I do think that whatever the sum is (and I bet you've a pretty good idea given your line of work) ultimately its going to work out quite well as prices will only ascend, especially for the gems you have amassed.

Let's just do some simple maths. Postage from the US of A in the good ole days - $15 and lets assume parity. Lines in my acquisition spreadsheet before I stopped in September 2013 - 518.

On the basis that at least 80% of purchases are from the US - 80% of 518 x $15 = $6,216. So $5k doesn't even cover postage, up to two years ago where I stopped collecting

Not including the cost of hardware itself or software purchases ...

So you and your significant others can rest easy!

 

[khun_diddy]

I remember seeing the collection of a guy that used to work in promotion for Gillette in the golden era. So much mint it made my eyes water.

 

[gthomas04]

I think I would be on the lower end of the $300.00 - $1000 range. I got lucky and started before inflation hit. When I joined I believe there was only about 4 or 5 active members so not much competition for ebay goodies. obviously @Mark1966 and I worked opposite ends of the marketplace so I was able to get my small razor collection in place early on. A few blade purchases and the rest I have just plucked the low hanging fruit of soaps and creams as people here disposed of things. No terribly discriminating but I have my needs met.

 

[Ginge]

In the short time I have been DE shaving I would be getting close to the $800 mark and I still am looking at another razor not sure what my next razor will be
Merkur Futur
Feather AS D2
Above the Tie 5 piece
Slant razor
atm just trying a few different soaps and try to keep it to say 3 artisans

 

[SydBJW]

I think I am in the $1,000 - $2,000 bracket. Have really not spent very large amounts on razors (compared to some) but have spent considerably more on brushes and especially soaps. Have really not spent much at all on blades thanks to @Monsta_AU who tends to trade me soaps for blades and the old blades last quiet a lot of shaves

 

[khun_diddy]

I think three things have saved me from the Money Pit:

a) Not being bitten by the Silvertip bug.
b) Obtaining a brassed Gillette New early on in the piece.
c) Having access to the incredible collection of @boldsworth.

As I say though, it will all go pear-shaped as soon as natural hones start coming online.

 

[alfredus]

What I learned from collecting music: there are far more collectors out there than you think and there are many many who don't want others to know, what they have...

So it wouldn't surprise me, if the they are similar collections to @Mark1966 in OZ, that have just not been documented.

 

[Mark1966]

[QUOTE="alfredus, post: 50776, member: 1283"...

So it wouldn't surprise me, if the they are similar collections to @Mark1966 in OZ, that have just not been documented.[/QUOTE]

Nor me. But none that have been actively collecting over the last few years that I've been aware of