Thread: Looking to buy my first Straight Razor!

Welcome to the forum.

I think you will have to up your budget some in order to get into straight razor shaving with some decent gear.

You will need shave ready razor, even brand new razors can't be counted on to be shave ready. So, as TC has said, the best bet is to by a vintage razor from the classifieds or a reputable retailer that sends them out honed/shave ready.

You need a decent strop but not too expensive as you will likely cut up the strop learning to strop and in the process dull your blade in the process. Be prepared to send out your razor for honing fairly frequently in the beginning because of that and poor shaving technique.

Again as TC said, a good boar brush like an Omega 10066 for about $10 will do nicely but give it a couple of weeks of everyday use to break in and the tips to soften. Alternatively there are some pretty good synthetic brushes out there in the sub $20 range that need no break in.

Arko is about the most inexpensive soap that is still very good performing and plenty in the sub $20 range.

Realistically, I think I would budget $100 to $150 for all that.

Do a forum search, search box top right of page, for Gold Dollar to see what has been said about those razors. After reading those you may want to reconsider the idea of getting one of those or not.

Good luck and if you have more question be sure and ask.

Bob