Endurism Spotlight: The Straight Razor
Gillette sells the handle cheap and then charges you for every shave for the rest of your life.
A Fusion5 cartridge costs €3,06 in the Dutch shops. Change it every two weeks and you spend about €80 a year on five tiny strips of steel. Over a decade that is €800. Over a shaving lifetime it passes €4.000. You own none of it. Each blade goes in the bin and the next one is already on the shelf.
The object
A straight razor ends the subscription. A DOVO from Solingen costs €75 at the Dutch counter. It is one piece of carbon steel, hardened to around 61 HRC, hand-ground and fitted to an ebony handle. There is nothing to replace. You strop it before each shave on a strip of leather. You hone it once or twice a year on a stone. The edge comes back every time.
The math
Here is the money over ten years.
| Over 10 years | Straight razor | Cartridge shaving |
|---|---|---|
| Up front | DOVO €75, strop €40, hone €50 | handle a few euro |
| Blades and refills | none | about €800 (a €3,06 cartridge every two weeks) |
| 10-year total | about €165 | about €800 |
| After ten years | sharper than new, resells | nothing, still buying |
The razor costs €75. A good strop runs about €40 and lasts for years. A honing stone is a one-time €50 and outlives the owner. Add it up and the straight razor costs roughly €165 for the decade. The cartridge shaver spends €800 on blades alone and starts the next decade with nothing in hand. Both sides buy soap, so that cancels out. The gap is about €635. It widens every year the blade price climbs.
Ownership
A straight razor is also an asset. DOVO razors hold their value. Vintage Solingen and Sheffield blades trade briskly on Marktplaats and eBay. A well-kept razor sells for close to what you paid, sometimes more. Carbon steel takes on a patina as it ages. The handle darkens in the hand. The object you hand down is worth more than the one you bought.
The learning curve is real. The first week is slow and you will nick yourself. By the second month the shave is closer than any cartridge managed. The running cost has gone to almost nothing.
The last razor anyone in your family needs to buy.