I'm with Rosco somewhat, but only to a point.

I'm new to SRP and to straight razing. I hemmed and hawed about switching over for about three years, even though my Merkur left me stubbly and my beard doesn't grow in thick enough to look like a beard (the worst of both worlds). I knew this place existed, but didn't really look through it enough to see that people did loaners.

The reason I didn't switch over was price. A cheap razor, plus honing (which I wouldn't have even thought of if it wasn't an option at vintage blades), plus strop. That's quite the upfront investment. I could afford it, sort of, but it would cost me more than a couple of drinks.

Eventually I budgeted out a bit of my student loan to pick up to goods and now I'm converted. I might have gone on for years more pondering how a straight razor would work.

A try-before-you-buy, or even better a try-to-buy (as in, you like it, you pay the rest) might have gotten me into it sooner. Even without the student loans, I could've set aside a bit for a month or two and afforded the cost with ease. I just didn't want to have shelled out the money and left with a nice looking but failed idea in my medicine cabinet.

My biggest concern, however, is health. I don't know where the faces of my internet neighbours have been and if you're not putting the razor in an autoclave once it's returned, I don't want it near my face. Frankly, you should consider if this is something you should be doing because you are potentially opening yourself up to a negligence suit. It's easy enough if you can befriend a dentist or a tattoo and piercing shop, but you are looking at adding in an extra cost.

That said, I would've been all excited for this if I heard about it sooner. Going to CVS and finding the Burma shave soap and brush for about $5 combined lead me towards having a badger brush and nicer soap, but a lack of a gateway razor and strop kept me away from that.