Hey folks,

There are two funny phrases I've used to justify spending more money for something better than I really needed. "I'm too poor to afford anything but the best", and "The quality is remembered, long after the price is forgotten." You might not need a Les Paul Classic guitar to play good music, and you might not need an Armani suit to look good, but if you had the money - wouldn't you want to buy them? Assuming it wasn't going to affect your rent or your mortgage payment, or prevent you from eating in the next month, wouldn't you want the better item, even if it cost more?

This is a subjective question assuming you would. Imagine the guy who collects expensive classic cars; he buys cars like an Aston martin DB5, maybe a Ferrari 250GT California... but never drives them. He just waxes them with a diaper and keeps them parked in his garage. He might argue that while he doesn't enjoy driving them, he might have a mint condition '56 Corvette that he can still appreciate locked away for years to come, that he could sell down the road should he choose. And we all love this guy, because he gives us hope; hope for an opportunity that one day he might relinquish his property to you, and you would receive it with warmth and joy in all it's well preserved integrity. And you would pay for it, maybe twice or three times what the original cost was, because of the scarcity and high-quality condition that it remains in.

Now imagine his neighbor, who appreciates cars and buys both top-of-the-line classic cars and modern cars, like a 64 Lamborghini 350GT and a Porsche 997, and he does drive them. In fact they're his daily drivers, and he drives the pants off them. He drives them to work, to the grocery store, to his brother's house, and to the gym. He drives them for the appreciation of driving, to use them for what they were intended and made for- to be the most exhilerating way to get from point A to point B. And his cars are full of worn parts, cracked leather seats, rock chipped paint, door dings, curb rash on the wheels (picture his '85 Dolorian after 20 years of daily driving)... and though he could he would never sell them because he appreciates them so much. He doesn't care what they look like, or that they don't look as good as the day he bought them. He doesn't care that he won't a huge monetary return for his investment - his return is his enjoyment of their use.

Now ask yourself - who is better off? The guy with the 'mints' stuck in his garage, waiting to be sold, or the guy who has put them through their paces?

Relating this back to razors... who would you be like? Would you buy an expensive new razor like a DOVO Bergischer Lowe, or a Thiers-Issard Leaf & Vine, Red Stamina, or a vintage Mint Dubl Duck Wonderedge and store it in it's box, only to take it out and marvel at it. Would you hesitate to sharpen it for fear of rubbing off the gold? Would you only shave with it on special occasions, or only on weekends, to minimize it's use?? Would you want to preserve it, to pass it on to your children, original as the day you bought it, or to sell it down the road for a pretty penny as a 'mint'? Or would you use it as your daily shaver, enjoying it's use as often as you can, appreciating it as a superior instrument, and that is the reason why you own it? To use a superior tool because it is superior.

I know which I would be.
Which would you be?