Shaving.

Never used one, but they are regarded as super quality, and when you run out of blades, you could always buy more blades, or pick up a straight.  Straight razors are not really that hard to maintain, if you are somewhat coordinated.  I can get a half dozen or so shaves from my blade before I touch it up on a hone.  The honing takes me all of about 5 minutes, and brings the blade back to perfection.  

There is a learning curve, but lots of videos on youtube on honing, and advice on shaving forums.  I use a Belgian coticule stone for honing, and these can produce a super sharp blade, but has a certain smoothness to it that shaves very comfortably.  On a straight, you do have to wipe the blade dry before putting them up, as carbon steel rusts quickly, and blades need to be stropped before shaving, but that takes a couple of minutes, and is a skill that needs to be done properly.  

I like the aspect of shaving on steel that I rubbed on a rock, lol

Yea, the coticules are considered to be in the 8k range, but being a natural rock, there are variances, plus when mined, they come from different layers which affect the overall hardness. The have natural combos where a Belgian blue is the bottom half of the hone, and the yellow 8k on top, with the bottom blue layer around 4k. The thing I like with these stones is you can really get by with having one, instead of a series of several expensive progressive stones, but there are toys for every appetite. You can set a bevel by creating a slurry, and then as you hone, you slowly dilute with water until you finish by water only. I've also found that by adding a drop of soap to the water in the end phase you can bring the edge up some from there.

You could easily keep a razor running by using compounds, pastes, sprays, etc. Lappping film used on a balsa strop is another great way to hone, and it is probably the least expensive. Since you've some experience already with honing, you could pick up a vintage razor off the bay for next to nothing, and play with that to bring it shave ready.

I think with shaving, its fine to use whatever works.  My wife bought a razor from Dollar Shave Club, for use on her legs, and moustache, and it has something like 6 blades. ( really no moustache)  I gave it a few scrapes on the face, just to check it out, and it works, but has a totally different feel and vibe to it than a straight razor.  The straight will take some time to dial in technique, and can be frustrating at first, but once you have that Ah Ha moment with it, there's no turning back.  Skin stretching is a very important aspect, and even guys who shave with disposables or otherwise,  will be well served in doing so.  Face mapping is important also, and you need to take a moment and figure out which direction the whiskers are growing, as they usually aren't even, especially under the jaw.