Thread: 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?

Originally Posted by fwkaufman

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

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
---------------------
$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?

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?

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