all great advice...just know this is kind of the "hard" part, but still a awesome time for you...everything is "new" and can seem overwhelming with so many options out there..i dont think i would EVER tell a newbie to try a feather blade but that doesnt mean that a feather blade isnt the perfect blade for you, so dont throw them away...blade sample pack for sure but focus on technique because you will have the rest of your life to try new things...which is awesome BTW....sooooo WELCOME to the den.
My advice...find one blade, for example a Feather ( a solid choice by all accounts) and work with it for a while...get used to it and then begin experimenting with different blades. Its like the toothpaste aisle...there are just too many choices. If you have a favourite razor use the Feather as your basic shave and then if you have a second razor use a different blade and experiment with a new one every week. So many blades, so little time.
Welcome aboard! Lots of good advice and all I'll add is that I prefer the Russian blades mostly....as you will soon find out I'm sure. However, try all you care to and see what works best.
Have a look at @GDCarrington blade challenge! Personally, I started out my DE 'career' with Astras and Feathers, reaching for the latter quickly. Since then, having gone through a sample pack from Connaught and a few promos from Italian Barber, I still reach for the Feathers. And Polsilver Super Iridium. Probably because these two are the sharpest of the ones I've tried. But please, keep the razor pressure light!
Welcome @Scott Guich My $0.02... Unless you're actually trying a blade for yourself, you're not researching at all. You're reading others opinions on how a particular blade performs for said others. There're far too many words floating around in the interwebs like, mild, aggressive, forgiving, sharp etc. and they mean different things to different people. If you're new to the DE scene, don't buy anything in bulk or regular sized. Samplers are out there for just about everything. Buy them instead. There's a serious annoyance factor to being saddled with a product "everybody" raves about and you end up loathing.
If you want a forgiving blade, give the Big Ben a try (it's a Lord blade and for all I know could be the same blade repackaged under different Lord labels). BB is not as sharp as others but is adequately sharp. The strength of this blade is that it is very smooth and never irritating, which is where the forgiveness comes in. I've got a variety of blades I'm slowly burning through but the BB is my usual go-to blade, and I don't think I've ever nicked myself with one. Tryablade.com might be the best place for you to check at this point...buy as few as you like of whatever brands you like. Best way to learn.
Another shaver's systematic review (to come) of ten different blades, available at http://www.tailorandbarber.com/blog/2015/6/14/the-great-razor-blade-experiment. But again, there's Omaney's point. And YMMV.
Oddly enough, whenever I personally introduce someone to wetshaving, I always start them out with a Feather blade. I don't tell them it's the sharpest blade out there, I just tell them to use no pressure. It's amazing how quickly they learn good technique.
If it's stupid and it works...it's not stupid. Seriously though, I've seen many shavers on this forum struggle later on because they used blades that allowed them to press harder than they should, with minimal damage to the skin.
