I use a DOVO Astrale 5/8 Ebony Straight and an old Henry Sears and Son vintage. However, other than that, my kit consists of:

A VDH Brush
A VDH Mug
And VDH Shave soap.

And these three work perfectly for me. You can buy them in a cheap kit on the internet and at Walmart and I see no complaints with them. Sure, the boar brush may be a little rough, but it doesn't cause me irritation and you get what you pay for. I started off with this and have seen no reason to not continue using it.

I supplement this stuff occasionally with some Geo F. Trumpers almond shave cream, some extract of limes/coral skin food and some decent cologne, but there is nothing like the barebones package that Van Der Hagen provides. Trust me, it's cheap and it works great.

Don't ask me about strops. I use the one my girlfriend got me and it works great. It was only 30 bucks or so off Amazon