Thread: Need help spending money...

If only it were as fun as it sounds. Anyway, I only have about $80 saved up to Finally start out on, (school keeps me pretty broke all the time) but I'm really hoping that's enough to finally get into straight shaving. My thoughts were to go with a Wapi (I THINK I saw a site around here with one for ~$40) or perhaps a razor from the classifieds here and then one of Tony's starter strops. Then hopefully I'll just have to kick in another $15-20 for the brush, cream, etc. I just wanted to run this by some of you guys who know what you're doing before I put in the orders. Do you guys think this sounds like a good route or do you know of possible better ways to spend my money/get started? Thanks a lot in advance.

If you spend $80 on a razor, you'll still have to spend another $20 or so plus shipping to have it honed before shaving. I got a pre-honed Wapi from Mike Ratif (you can find him on the site.) If he still has any, this is a fantastic deal. But beware, the Wapienica requires more careful shaving than most razors becuse the scale is so heavy. Welcome to shaving the way our ancestors did. Hope you enjoy it.

Welcome to SRP,

$80 should be enough to get you a honed razor and a strop. Naturally with a fixed budget you have to make choices on what's most important to you. Some excellent vintage razors with mostly cosmetic issues can be had very cheaply in the classifieds. If you want brand new razor you're pretty much limited to the chinese Double Arrow or the polish Wapienica.
Tony's strops are great, of course, but occasionally you can find a strop in the classifieds, which generally would be cheaper than a comparable new strop.
These two are the essentials.
Then there's a brush and a soap/cream, which should run you somewhere in the $5-$10 at your local store (that's the cheapest and you may have to replace the brush in few months if it sheds its hairs). You could probably get by with whatever you're currently using (foam?), but an extra $10 shouldn't take too long to earn/save in US even being a student.
Anyways, your plan sounds reasonable to me.

Kenrup has either a Wapi or a double Arrow razor available last time I looked and also has a starter strop available.

I started a little over a month ago:

65$ for Razor and Strop (Kenrup)
10$ for a Brush
2$ for a improvised scuttle (mixing bowl in a ceramic bowl only a little wider)
I tried different soaps because my skin is sensitive, but there is always a way to keep it cheap. William's mug soap is good for the price. Proraso soaps and cream are nice too. Try to get samples if you can. Nivea makes excellent aftershave balms and they are really cheap.

I was lucky enough to get a lithide hone for 10$, but as I said, you have to be lucky.