I think King Gillette is smiling in his grave. Its easy to look at the initial cost of straight razor stuff and think its a load of cash. I had the same initial reaction. I think the breakdown of $165 for stuff is probably in the ball park.

I crunched some numbers just for fun. This amount is roughly comparable with using the mach 5 system at 1 cartridge / week. ( 8 cartridges @ $25 Amer. * 6 = $150. ) If you figure in the resale price of your initial investment at 50% of what you paid, your break even point is 6 months. After that, you are money ahead.

This analysis may seem a bit silly as I would doubt there are any here who were initially attracted to straight razor shaving because it could potentially save them money. Don't, however, be scared away by price. Disposables really do cost more. If you get bit by the collector bug, you have to spin the numbers a little differently. But that's a matter for a different thread.

Now that that's out of the way, I think the biggest barrier is the knowledge and you've come to the correct place to get that.