Noobie with limited funds

Hello all,

Forgive me if I am exercising futility, but I am very interested in getting into straight razor shaving, with little money. A loved one knows how interested I am, and wants to buy me my first equipment for my birthday. I am finding that it looks like my hopes to get everything I need is going to cost well over our $200 budget. I am prepared to just continue to be patient and save up, but I was hoping someone may be able to give me some insight into more affordable options. Any help would be greatly appreciated! You all have a fabulous site going here, and I look forward to using this valuable tool, and giving good input when I can!

-Fritz

Many thanks for the info Harley! I assume if I buy new, I still need to have it professionally honed?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by fwkaufman

Many thanks for the info Harley! I assume if I buy new, I still need to have it professionally honed?

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If you buy from StraightRazorDesigns, the razor will come professionally honed,with a certificate for a free subsequent honing.


Gary

I posted before seeing zib's post. Again, many thanks, ani look forward to posting about my first experiences.

Wow! That is a fantastic deal!

There is always the classifieds.

I'm in the same boat. I don't want to spend a ton of money until it is something I'm pretty decent at.

$35 - Razor - Classified
$15 - Brush - Pharmacy
$5 - Soap - Pharmacy
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$55 - Total without Strop

I haven't found a place to buy a strop yet. Any suggestions.

Also, will I regret buying a $35 SR off the classifieds?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jeffy

I haven't found a place to buy a strop yet. Any suggestions.

Also, will I regret buying a $35 SR off the classifieds?

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Try the Filly. Ken Rup is a member here.

As long as it's shave ready, I can't imagine you'd regret buying an economically priced razor!

Happy shaving!

I started out with a $7 boar brush from CVS, $20 of disposable straight blades and an injector and $12 of Col. Conk Soap.

Once I got the hang of straight shaving, I bought a decent badger brush, 3" leather strop, and a Dovo Tortoise for under $200.

After 6+ months, I bought 3 other upscale straight razors which totaled over $300+ and a nice silvertip badger brush, and a 4 sided paddle strop and pasted three sides of it with ChomOx .50, 1.0, and 3.0 in addition to shaving creams and Mama Bear Soap.

It has been over two years since my last razor purchase and the only thing I spent on Straight Shaving was a few more disposable blades and more shaving soap. Financially, it will be a few years before I come out head of buying M3, M5, ...MX? Performance wise, I am 10X better off and extremely happy with Straight Shaving.

As you can see, you take take this to your comfort zone and you will know when you hit it. There are a lot of price points to get in and move around.

Vendors who advertise on this site do a great job in taking care of SRP members, but always check out the SRP classifieds as some of us end up with more than what we need and are happy to help out a newbie in a quid pro quo transaction.

Pabster

I was in the same boat. Here's what I ended up doing:

From Rup Razor:
$47 Gold Dollar 6/8" (Lifetime re-hone)
$22 Filly Strop
$69 Shipped

From Amazon:
$17.50 Col Conk Gly Soap & Mug
$12.32 Tweezerman Badger Brush
$29.82 Shipped

$2 for a styp pen @ Walgreens

$100.82 Total

Well, I ended up getting:

Rup Razor
$22 - Filly Strop
$12 - Basic Boar Brush Kit (boar bristle shaving brush, glycerin shaving soap,styptic pencil)

Forum Classified
$40 - Geo Wostenholm & Sons XL Sheffield 5/8
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$74 - Total


I figure this should get me off to a good start. I'm pretty excited to get everything.

Cheap?

Classifieds or whippeddog.com. My starter equipment was a $23 razor, a belt, $11 brush, and $10 cream. Later I got a $13 strop.

If you have more money, go ahead and get something shinny!

Here is my personal budget set of choice:

A razor either from the classifieds here, or from whipped dog.

For a strop, get the filly from ruprazor.

15 dollar tweezerman badger hair brush

Soap: Momma bear

*Whipped Dog actually has a whole set of items for very inexpensive prices. They aren't the highest quality, but they get the job done well enough, and if you don't want to spend an arm an a leg to figure out if you will like straight razor shaving, then he is highly recommended. Larry is also a wonderful man to deal with.

+1 on just about everything that has been said..

their are some great soaps and creams for very little money.. and a brush can also be had inexpensively.. i can very easily see you getting up and running for less than $100

Looks like I'm going with the Dovo special 6/8" package from SRD. I am lucky enough to live only about a half hour away from their retail store, so I am just going to check it out in person. Really excited!