To each his own,

If you are the kind of person who is always on the go and prefers a much "Faster" pace of life, then straight shaving is not for you. After all a Mach is a MUCH faster shave that if you follow the 3 pass technique can actually give a VERY decent shave. So for someone like that then I have to agree a straight is no replacement for a Mach.

But if you prefer to slow down, and take the time to make sure it's done right, take time to enjoy the "art" of the shave then a straight is very much a good replacement, after all a Straight DOES give you a much smoother shave once you have learned the techniques, and once you take the time to do all the pre/post work involved... My 5 O'Clock shadow doesn't' come back until WAY WAY later now that I use a straight.

Right now my face is still pretty smooth and I shaved over 14 hours ago, my Mach could never do that for me (but it DID get me looking very good very fast)


Oddly enough, I find that now that I am waking up an extra 20 minutes early just to be able to do my shave routine, the act of forcing myself to slow down and enjoy puts me in a much better frame of mind for work and the rest of my day in general, I find I have something I enjoy waking up to (I'm single so don't have a SWMBO to wake up with ) and it really has improved my overall mood...

Just my opinion tho..YMMV