I don't think it has to be that pricey. If you don't have a nearby store that sells the Proraso, you can get it from Amazon. Mama Bear has a lot of soaps in the $9-$10 range. I personally like creams, and have both expensive (Castle and Forbes) and less expensive (our own CarrieM's). I like both a lot.

If you aren't equipped with a brush yet, I don't think you can go wrong with the Tweezerman. It's around $15, but is a reasonable quality badger hair. You could do far worse than to buy a Tweezerman brush and a cake of Col. Conk's Bay Rum soap from Amazon, and you'd only be out about $20.

Fred