Thread: The high price of buying a straight razor kit ????

this or similar may be else where on here, but I see it as a common question on many sites & forums
New Guy / Gal wants to get into Straight shaving for whatever their reason and a common theme of questions follows like so:
looking for a cheap str8, cheap brush, cheap strop or cheap hone etc

Note: Thrifty & Cheap are no the same

Nothing CHEAP is usually good, but being expensive is not always better either

OK so you are off to a good start if you are here on SRP, now hopefully it is before making your purchases so ensure you so do your research & ask questions prior to buying anything

Now the initial outlay of getting set up with a good quality kit can be and is daunting to many, but if you take into account the following guidelines you will be better off and shouldn't go to wrong and the true value of your initial investment can be realized


[B]Straights are and will always be the cheaper option so don't skimp on your initial outlay & you will be set for at least a lifetime[B],

but you need some guidelines, so stick to these 10 easy steps:

1 Don't get sucked in by the hype and get RAD, SAD, BAD, HAD or SSAD etc - one of each essential item is enough to survive,
2 DON'T GET SUCKED IN BY THE HYPE - Seriously 1 Brush, 1 Razor & 1 Strop is all you need to survive ( unless you damage one of them )

3 buy 1 good quality Brush ( $50 - $200 budget )
4 buy only 1 good quality razor "shave ready" - preferably a heavier grind wedge to 1/2 hollow as it will last longer ( $100 - $300 budget)
5 buy 1 good quality strop with a natural second ( linen, cotton etc) ( $100-$200 budget)
6 paste the inside of the linen strop ( $20 budget )
7 never look at any stones, as they only make your bevels flat
8 learn to strop properly and strop 20 plus laps on clean linen & clean leather prior to every use, then strop 10 plus laps on clean linen & leather after every use,
9 strop on pasted linen, only as required to keep the edge keen as this will eat your steel over time,

10 if you find yourself questioning your options for any of steps 3 to 7, refer to steps 1 & 2 again.

I intentionally left the soaps & after shaves out of this as they are a consumable and a decent puck of soap ( $20 budget ) and a nice after shave ( $50 budget ) can each last up to a year, so don't look any further one soap & aftershave really is enough to survive, if in doubt refer to steps 1 & 2

Now the true cost of your investment can be calculated

divide that $700 high end kit outlay by the number of shaves it gives?

lets say you start shaving with a straight when you see the light at age 40 & use it until the age of 80 (40 years)

So you use the razor for every shave for the rest of your life as you want,
along the way you pass on your insight to all your Grandchildren, so they start shaving with a Str8
the whole kit which is now a family heirloom and gets passed to your youngest grandchild to use for their entire life (60 years as a number age 20 to 80)


so 100 years of shaving an average of even once per week, gives you 5200 shaves
that higher end $700 outlay is divided by 5200 shave that equals
less than 14 cents per shave once a week or less 5 cents if 3 shaves a week average are had

now then if you treated the investment with care & looked after it, in 100 years the value of the kit is possibly the same if not higher depending on luck, condition & current market (if there is one at all) and your investment could even be sold off to the highest bidder, getting your initially cost back so technically your whole kit didn't cost anything at all in the long run & there was a century of shaves received from it

So if you can follow these simple steps & not get seduced by the lure of shiny blades with rare scales or softer tipped brushes with fancy handles or an inclination to join the national geological society to help you look for smoother and smoother rocks or the requirement to use a different scented soap or aftershave every day - let the rest of us know how you did it

so best of luck and remember this is JMHO & YMMV


I have managed to stick fairly close ( I use this term rather loosely ) to these steps still after 4 years nearly with:
1 initial cheaper sacrificial strop & 1 high end strop for the long run
1 best badger brush to start & then 2 vintage brushes I re-knotted with Silver tips
a couple of barber hones to start found these futile then moved to a decent set of a 400/1k Diamond plate, 3 quality synthetic hones 1K, 4/8k, 12k with 3 natural stones mid to finishers ( I don't like rounded or frowning bevels )
the Str8s went a bit pair shaped with over 100 in the kit but now thinning the herd back down the keepers
and enough soaps, creams & aftershaves to last 5 years, oh well my young fella helps deplete these is my excuse