mvoorhis in Central MA

Hi all, new straight razor shaver busy trying to absorb a huge volume of opinion on this site.

Where am I coming from? I have spent a long time DE shaving. My normal DE setup is a Merkur 39c with Feather blades, and this has worked very very nicely for me for a long while. I've read though that one can get an even better shave with a well maintained straight and I've always been curious. The feather DE blades are just wonderful. The slant-bar mows through everything.

Assembling a Straight Razor kit is daunting. Dozens of strop manufacturers with prices into the triple digits. Strops of canvas, linen, and leather. A dozen makers of waterstones. Natural stones from all over the planet. Once again, the sky's the limit on prices. Water only? Slurries? $320 lapping plates? Or just use glass and sandpaper? The cynic in me sees this as a vendor's dream--legions of newbies grinding our way through it all, finding out what "works."

None of this kills my curiosity, but ... wow. 94.5k threads, 1.2m posts, 36k users. I feel like the little kid up on the high-dive board for the first time. You've climbed up the ladder & everyone's watching. Wish me luck, please!

How about confidence and concentration for the shave, and the good luck can be for wading through the massive amount of information to find what you need today.

Welcome, I am new myself but SE MA. You can do well going to second hand/antique stores. Read about razors and find out what to look for. You will be surprised by how inexpensively you can do this. Check the classifieds also. Good luck.

LNK

Using a de one would hope you have a brush and soap already. In that case you need a razor(50 for good used one in the classifieds and 100 new from srd) and a cheaper end strop( so you don't cry when you nick it). Check out the library link as most of the starter info is there. The search is also great for finding answers or just post them and we will shower you with info overload. Good luck.

As eddy said, if you have a brush and soap you like, you can get started with less than $100, and that's for a shave ready razor and strop. The stones you won't need for a while.
Welcome to the forum by the way :)