As a relative newbie to straights I also extend my welcome to SRP and the world of straights. By all means look through the site. As already mentioned the Vendor Corner forum is a great place to visit. In it you will find Kenrup who has great starter kits. As a bare minimum to start you will need a straight razor (I have no experience with the disposal razor straights and had no interest in the them), a strop, and some sort of shave cream/soap. I also recommend buying a decent brush (they can be had for as little as $10 or less) and some soap/cream. We have a few great vendors of those. The soap/cream decision really gets down to personal taste so I won't recommend any one vendor or source. You decide that. You really don't need to buy a shave mug. A kitchen bowl will work just as fine. But there are some very nice, inexpensive shaving mugs out there. The classifieds are also a great place to look. You can get some great buys on a number of items. Most all the razors are truly shave ready (you can look at the ad and it will say if it is or not), and they are very good bargains.