I have been using a Parker 96 as my "entry" into wet shaving. It has a long handle because of my ham hock sized hands. It was worked great for me. I recently got my dad's DE razor (unknown make/model) that had sat in a cabinet since he died in '82. A little cleaning off some dust and it has been a great shave and it has a short handle.

I can hear the comments about only using one or two razors, how do I know what is good; or other people have had a bad experience with Parker. My answer is that this is such a personal opinion hobby. What is a beautiful shave for you with a $100 razor may look like a cheese grater on my face. My $30 razor gives me a beautiful shave and my hand me down is a personal heirloom that is worth more than $5,000 to me. The hand me down is probably worth $20 on an open market but this is opinion and personal choice.

Every face is different with curves, dry skin, oily skin, acne scars, etc. all the opinions here are good and based on honest experience. The best opinion I saw was to experiment with what you can afford and just enjoy the shave