Well, compared to what a person would spend on disposables in a life time (estimated at $10,000 according to national geographic), the cost of our old school methods is much less than that.

There is that initial bite of the wallet when you first start out, but monetarily, the upkeep is next to none. We're probably forced to invest more time into the art of shaving on the straight razor path, but, if you talk to anyone here, you'll probably quickly find that we all enjoy it. Shaving is no longer a grudge in the daily monotony, instead, it's one of the plus'.

I think you might have used the wrong group of people to base the amount of shaving gear on. All us SRPers seem to have a need to aquire as many razors and shaving paraphenalia as possible When it all comes down to it, the only neccessities are a strop, a razor, and some place to have the razor honed when it gets dull. Three things, and well worth it