You need to put this shaving thing into prospective. All of us here are lost souls on the road to shaving hell. We have no choice but to spend the big bucks on fancy razors, brushes, soaps and all the other paraphanelia. We've all been brainwashed. Remember at one time millions of men shaved with a straight every day and I can guarantee you few had any of these fancy-pants badger brushes and english creams and custom made mugs. All you need is a serviceable razor some soap-any soap even hand soap will do, heck you can even shave with water and some smooth leather to get started. You can pick up some inexpensive vintage barbers hones for a song to keep the edge and a $5 brush at your drug store.

I'm not saying I would recommend this kind of setup but in a pinch it will do and did for millions a long time ago.