an introduction and the newbie check-list

Hey all, Pike here. A 19 year old American who has been introduced into this culture of retro-shavers!

So the situation is: I'm a student and run on a student budget. Most of my days, I'm strapped for cash. I've been putting a few bucks aside here and there to get the things for my straight-edge razor kit one at a time, and I've been really statisfied so far.

So, from looking around the resources of this site, I gather this is essentially all I will need, assuming I don't get really into honing and whatnot:

badger hair brush (and stand to let it drip dry)
bowl/mug for lather
some sort of cream or soap
good old fashioned linen-leather strop
some form of "treatment cream" for the leather strop (?)
the razor (of course)

There's a skin/beauty store within the city that I know sells the razors for $70 and $120 (for the higher end). Does $70 sound like a generally good price to pay for a mid-grade razor to start off with (to which, I will probably get a nicer one in the future)?

Also, before I start shaving with the razor, would you guys reccomend going to a barber shop and getting a professional shave so i can get a general feel on how to start off?

Finally: do all strops have to be "treated" with whatever treatment cream or are they fine without them?

Thanks all.

Sincerely,
Pike.

If I were trying to put a shaving kit together for the minimum money and still have quality components, I would start off with a razor and strop from Kenrup that will cost in the 65-75 range. I would skip the bowl. Use a cereal bowl, large mug, or even just a plastic whip cream container. I would pick up a Crabtree & Evelyn best badger brush. I leave the other components to your imagination. YMMV and all of that...

get a shave ready razor from the classifieds here, a Vulfix brush, Make your own strop paddle to begin with, and then buy the strop you want.

I'm new to shaving as well, and my one addition to other folks' suggestions would be some decent aftershave lotion -- straight razor shaving is much closer than what I was used to, and the aftershave really helped with post-shaving sensitivity.

I am using aftershave from The Body Shop, which seems to work well.

Best of luck!

cass