Thread: Looking for suggestions for a starter setup

For a beginner brush I like one of:
OMEGA 10098 PROFESSIONAL BOAR SHAVING BRUSH -- less than $15
or
a Silver Tip Badger 22mm knot at about $100
HEINRICH L. THATER SERIES 4292/3 H 22MM FINEST BADGER SILVER TIP
or equivalent.

Brushes are worth shopping for. That is why the Omega Boar brush is at the top.
It is a darn fine durable boar bristle brush and while it takes longer and more work to make a great lather
it will do the job. I have two marvelous Thater badger brushes and am very pleased. The other
badger brushes I have are Dovo & Art of Shaving all nice. I was just looking and some good
brushes are less expensive than when I bought my last.

There are a couple grades of badger so get a good grade in a nice brush handle and stand (or make a stand).
Most badger knots are made in China and so all good brushes begin with much the same choice of knots.
Pay attention to the size of the knot and loft of the brush. Big dense lofty knots are expensive, when you
retire and have an extra buck or two hunt a world class 28mm knot like I did ;-) they are fun.
Find a handle that looks like a shave brush to you that also fits your hand.

Horse hair and artificial bristles satisfy religious needs for some, Boar is "pig" and
artificial works for vegans. Gathering horse hair does not kill the horse so some like it
for that reason.

I started with the Whipped Dog
+1
43 bucks 'sight unseen' razor, bought two and still use one of 'em, a ERN.
Larry is great, tell him what you need and he'll set you up right.

For a razor I'd start right here at SRP and the Buy/Sell/Trade forum. I bought my first razor from the old Classified section and couldn't be happier with my purchase as it came shave ready and I knew that I could find the seller again if needed. The gentlemen here are generally doing their best to welcome new members to the hobby and several sellers routinely post razors and/or kits that are a great deals for the new shaver (and even for those of us dealing with RAD).

Whippeddog.com does indeed offer complete brushes but you purchase the knot and handle separately and ask Larry to epoxy the former into the later. I have bought one brush from the site but cannot personally vouch for any other product sold there.

My best advice is to take a big breath before diving in. I know that once you've decided that you want to give straight razors a try it can be very difficult holding back. The fact is that one of the best decisions I made was to wait a few months before purchasing my first kit and putting steel to skin. To be fair, my wait wasn't entirely voluntary but I used it to my advantage as it gave me a chance to learn as much as I could from the fine gentlemen here at SRP. I fully believe that this opportunity to read and learn went a long way to making my early experiences extremely positive.