I gave up on shaving with blades when I was 16. The disposables were killing me with ingrown hairs. Tried my great-uncle's Gilette DE with similar results.Used a Braun for 8 years and a Philips for about 2 years. So when I decided to try shaving with a straight, I was very concerned and decided to go cheap. However, I got decent shaves with an Islamabad-"Solingen" honed on Japanese chisel hones (still 4k/8k) and no in-growns. That's why I decided to invest more in straight-razor shaving now that I know it can be done.