Looking for a more experienced opinion

[silentorpheus]

I figure this forum is as good a place as any for this question, though I suppose I could have put it in the newbie zone.

After my first week of DE shaving, I'm getting serious straight razor envy, and wanna get myself a beginners straight setup. I'm not looking to spend a fortune, as I just went a little wild with getting my general wetshaving supplies to a spot I feel satisfied with

Both here, and on SRP and SMF, I've seen a handful of decent beginner/basic shave ready straight razors come and go recently for the $35-$40 range. Add to that a basic strop (like the Filly for $20) and that puts me in the $60 range. For that price point, I could also get the starter kit from ruprazor with the filly strop and a gold dollar straight.

I guess my question is what advice might those more experienced have? Is one of those above options better than the other? Is there another option for around the same cost that I'm missing? Or should I just hold off, save up, and buy something more expensive? It's not as much about not having the spare change as much as not wanting to gamble too much at one time on something I just want to try out, without knowing if it's for me. I think I might have told myself the same thing about wetshaving in general, so I suppose I could just suck it up But this is a little more specific a venture.

Edit: I just noticed my new current user description, so the apropos nature of this post makes me chuckle.

 

[Chimensch]

In straight razor shaving, there's no strict relationship between the quality of the shave and the cost of the equipment. A relatively inexpensive razor, from a reliable source, will shave every bit as well as a more expensive razor, since the extra cost is usually for the esthetics (decoration and costly scales) that have nothing to do with removing hair. Starting out on the cheap to see if you like it is very prudent. Then, if the ADs strike you, you'll have years and years to buy lot's of pretty razors, rare hones and exotic strops.

 

[Luc]

In straight razor shaving, there's no strict relationship between the quality of the shave and the cost of the equipment. A relatively inexpensive razor, from a reliable source, will shave every bit as well as a more expensive razor, since the extra cost is usually for the esthetics (decoration and costly scales) that have nothing to do with removing hair. Starting out on the cheap to see if you like it is very prudent. Then, if the ADs strike you, you'll have years and years to buy lot's of pretty razors, rare hones and exotic strops.

+1

I would recommend staying away from those cheap straights from china on ebay. A vintage razor on BST will be perfect (shave ready of course).

And it's even more addictive when you use it!

 

[gugi]

it would be alright, you will likely not be able to tell the difference for a while anyways.
however you should have a realistic idea of the commitment involved. if you just want to try it for a couple of shaves, don't bother. if you would be likely to stick to it for 6months before deciding whether you want it or not then go for it.

golddollar vs. vintage - i have no idea of the gold dollars but i have a healthy skepticism about a brand new $10 razor, so i'd go the vintage route.
i have very few brand new razors and none of them had a price tag less than $150. But I like them to shave at least as good as the good vintage ones and at this point I can tell the difference.

 

[silentorpheus]

I'm not even considering buying anything from the 'bay. Between the inflated prices and the unknown variable of the seller's reputability, I'm not in the mood to take that gamble.

I also totally understand what gugi said about not expecting it to be a 'try two shaves, and make a decision' endeavor. When I say I want to try it out to see if it's for me, I fully understand that could take months of learning and experimenting, to get past the learning curve and see where that gets me in relationship to my DE's. That's part of what I'm looking forward to.

Guess it's back to haunting the B/S/T's here and elsewhere looking for the right deal to get my feet wet.

 

[Thebigspendur]

You've already gotten good advice here so the only thing I'll add is this; many guys start straight shaving and even though we tell them it takes time and skill, after a few shaves they become impatient and give up. The correct atitude in learning to use a straight isn't well I'll try it and see if its for me rather the correct attitude is, this is a skill I need to learn and I'm willing to invest the time to learn it properly.

The key words here are time and learn.

 

[spanx]

I suggest you spend your cash on a vintage strait.You can rest assured they used good steel back then.This is not saying new ones don't but vintage wiil be better on a low budget.You can save a little money on your strop by making it yourself.It is not hard and I think theres somthing in the wiki on it.It won't take more than a month to get the hang of using the straight but that's just my experience with using them.Good luck fighting off all the disorders that come with straights when you get the hang of it.

 

[leighton]

I agree with the vintage straight guys. They are much better than the stuff from China. Something is wrong with razors that cost $5-10 wholesale.

Of secondary concern with the BST is shave readiness. Just do your research and make sure the edge your getting is very good. Unfortunately theres no reviews on honesters, so you'll probably have to pm the senior members and ask them who they like.