Welcome to the Shave Den. A good beginner razor is the Edwin Jagger de89. Or if you go to e bay you can find a vintage razor like a Super speed which, I think, will be like your Dad used. Both should be within your price range. A good cheap beginner soap is Arko. I hope this helps.
Thanks for the info...Very helpful.......I think I'll try the EJ89 lined with some sample pack of blades. Still need to nail down a couple of options for either soap or cream. Neck can get sensitive and I would like to go as "clean" or chemical free as possible.
Welcome aboard. Keep it simple, expand later. I started with Merkur 38c, Colonel Conk model 1001 badger brush & Colonel Conk sampler shave soap, all for under $75.00. Not bad for starting. I now have 6 razors, make my own shave soaps & have 9 brushes. Happy shaving to you.
Van der Hagan Delux is a good, but inexpensive soap. It's available locally and easy to find at least where I live. Arko is another good cheap soap, but you need to order it online. VDH also makes a decent shave kit(ceramic lather bowl, boar or badger brush, a stand depending on the kit and a puck of their soap, I think some of their kits also come with a safety razor.
Welcome, you have landed in a great place! I am also a newbie so I can only tell you what I did to get started, but it has worked really well for me. I got the VDH Deluxe kit (can be bought at Walmart, CVS, Target and other places) to get a brush, bowl and the soap it comes with. I then bought the Lord L6 razor from Amazon. It can be had for about $10 and has been great for me! It is not the butterfly TTO type, but instead is a three piece. I also decided I wanted to try a few different soaps so I ordered samples from Stirling Soap. Then I ordered a couple blade sample packs from tryablade.com to try and find blades that would work well and not give me bad irritation. All have turned out wonderful in my transition from cartridges. Good luck with whatever you decide to do, but you will find whatever you get now will definitely just be the beginning!
Welcome aboard! I will add my voice to those who recommend getting a sampler pack of blades. As you go through them, I suggest keeping some notes on which ones you like or dislike (and why.) I also suggest adding a pre-shave balm or oil to your prep routine. Pre-shave oil is easy to make. Click the link to learn more. http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/how-to-make-your-own-pre-shave-oil.31132/
