Welcome, I am new here also, I just finished my 4th shave since joining these forums. I was fortunate enough to meet a member on this forum that lives fairly close who gave me some great advice as well as showed me his razor collection and was nice enough to actually give me a starter razor and a good strop as well as sample soaps. Later that day he sold me a dove Bismarck from his collection which was professionally honed, I felt really lucky because I had your same reasoning, I did not want to start with something that I wouldn't use later and this razor will surely last me a lifetime. I was on a budget so I used a coffee mug, cheap brush from walgreens and the sample soap given to me, I am very satisfied with the decisions that I have made so far and with the advice of the good people here every shave is getting better, I hope you find what you are looking for and maybe you will be as lucky as I was.