Seeking recommendation - Newbie

[Havachat45]

Phew, this is going to be a long one.
Firstly - welcome to SRP JMF, and
Secondly - well done on doing your reasarch first before jumping into shaving with a straight.

I don't know if classicshaving is connected to Lyn, however, straightrazordesigns is and, therefore, you will get great products, a shave ready razor and good advice from someone who uses the products himself. I am making no judgement on classicshaving 'cause I've heard nothing but good things about them too.

I've never dealt with Lyn personally, either.

As far as shaving creams/soaps go, they are like everything else in this adventure - personal choice.
I started off with Mitchell's Wool Fat Soap only because a member here gave it to me 'cause his face didn't like it.
I am expermenting with others as I go, as I hope you will.

I have only got one brush (a finest badger from Frank's Shaving) and you will find many and varied opinions on brushes in the relevant forum. I personally don't have the discretionary income to spend $300 on a brush seeing that all the badger hair comes from China anyway.

As far as razors go, again it is your choice. I just had a look in the classifieds here and found a nice 5/8 Keen Kutter for 1/4 the price of the Philarmonica just above it. Both would be good shavers and, in the overall scheme of things, you (probably) wouldn't be able to tell the difference between them at this stage of your journey.

You'll need a strop and Larry at whippeddog (?) has some kits that would suit your budget. I've used the Frank's Shaving ones too and they are good value.

Most of the enjoyment of this adventure is the journey to better and better shaves, however, some things remain constant like the need for a good quality, sharp razor, a good strop and good lather.
The rest is just a variations on the theme to how you acheive these things.

There are many who are of the opinion that a full hollow is the best way to get your technique correct and others who maintain that a wedge is the best to start with because of it's forgiving nature (of technique). Eventually you will get a good shave if you persist with the right tools - how you get to that place is your own journey and, whilst we may advise you and answer your questions, we would never try to take that journey from you.

You mentioned that you didn't want to throw too much cash at this adventure until you decide to continue with it so I've given you some inexpensive yet (in my opinion) good quality choices to consider.

I'm sure that many more will add there $0.02 as well

Read as many of the forums as your behind can take, use the search bar at the top of the page, meet up with other members if you can and, most importantly, enjoy the ride.