Hello, All:
Newbie here.
I got recruited into DE wet shaving a few years ago, and am very happy I took it up. I have a set of decent brushes and razors, and an absurdly large collection of shave creams, aftershaves, and the like. It works well for me, and I share the enthusiasm of the wet-shaving community.
But I have always balked at taking up the fearsome straight razor. Shaving like JFK was cool; shaving like Sweeney Todd seemed insane! I am frankly scared of the straight blade, and thought the DE safety razor was perfection in all respects - a great wet shave you could hope to live through!
And yet . . . and yet . . . I read these forums and see the enthusiasm you men have for straight razors, and I wonder if there is something more I'm still missing. I start to get the same sense of intrigue I had when I first got turned onto DE shaving. I tremble at the siren song of the singing blade, wanting both to fling myself into its lacerating embrace and to make for the safety of the safety razor before it's too late.
So my question is: what's the benefit in switching to straight-razor shaving if you're already wet-shaving with a DE blade?
DE safety razors are light-years ahead of plastic cartridge junk, I'm sure we all agree, but I doubt that the naked blade is that much better than the double-edge blade in a safety razor. (In fact, I see a post in the "Honing" section which claims that the DE blade is the standard of sharpness which straight-razor sharpening should aspire to.) Is a straight-razor shave noticeably better than a good DE shave? Given that I've already purchased all the equipment I need for DE shaving, and I only spend about $1 per week on DE blades, it would take me several years to recoup my investment in straight razors, strops, and hones, and even then I would continue to save less than $1 per week - so there's not much financial advantage in it for me. Why should I switch if I'm doing pretty well with DE blades without risking my life each morning?
Or, as the Cowardly Lion so eloquently put it: "Talk me out of it!"