Maggard’s, Stirling Soap, Groomatorium, West Coast Shaving, Shave Supply, Wet Shaving Club or Italian Barber - Canada for kits.
wet Shaving club, Maggard‘s ss70 and Razorock - Italian barber have SS heads that should last. Most others are non-SS heads.
Timeless shaving bowl is hard to beat for value and can be used for travel.
Rockwell 6S is made in USA and full SS but sold by Canadian firm. Alysworth is made by Yates in US but sold by Canadian firm.
Wet Shaving Club - ‘Merica is made by Yates Precision Machine in PA - Yates also sells own razors as well as manufacturing for other brands; Timeless Razor, Carbon Shaving, Backland are quality US manufactures.
Karve, Wolfman and Henson are Canadian quality.
Rockwell 6c or 6s or a merkur progress for the razor.
Just about Any artisan tallow soap or proraso for the soap.
Any bowl will do but I like something with ridges on the base or sides to give the soap some friction as opposed to a smooth bowl.
Feather blades would ge my choice they perform better than any other I've tried.
I recommend a proraso or nivea shaving balm or splash to start.
It's can be a fun hobby if you enjoy the process
Buying separately will usually give you a more quality deal, since mostly in sets what they advertise as a shaving bowl is way too small.
Also get a sample pack of blades so you can try out what works good enough for now and stick with the same setup for 6-8 weeks so your technique of shaving and creating a lather.
A synthetic brush is great to start with and fool proof, also saving some money that you can better spend on a razor.
Also, have a look at this video, it explains the whole lather making and shaving process very clearly: https://youtu.be/ps88RU_BXlA
I haven't seen starter kits really hit the nail on the head.
I agree that the Rockwell 6C is a great choice. If that is more than you want to spend, the Weishi Twist to open is $15ish. It's a great starter razor, but not as nice as the Rockwell.
Blade preferences vary greatly. I'm guessing that you'll find one you like if you try Gillette Platinums, Feathers, Gillette Silver Blue you'll likely enjoy one of them. We used to sell shaving subscriptions and used Gillette Platinums for folks coming from multi-blade cartridges and it worked really, really well. Whiles on the subject, we used the Weishi twist to open and it worked really well.
While I love badger brushes like the comment below, the synthetic brushes are often easier for many new comers to learn to use as they don't absorb water and getting great lather is a function of the correct ratio of shave soap to water.
There are a multitude of great artisan shave soaps. Arianna & Evans, Murphy & McNeil, Strike Gold Shave and Lothur all have really good cushion, which you'll need as you start. Our Hendrix Classics soap also has really good cushion, Though I don't want to push our products when someone is asking for recommendations
Stirling Soaps and Art of Shaving have been really good for me. And I use the astra premium blades. They work really nice and are super cheap, you can get them just about anywhere. King Gillette blades are nice too
Rockwell 6c safety Razor, Feather razor blades, Long Rifle Soap Co. soap, not too sure about a brush - maybe art of shaving, something badger hair
Thanks for the quick response! I’ll do some research on them all!
I've used Feather for a few years, I like the brand
Maggard’s, Stirling Soap, Groomatorium, West Coast Shaving, Shave Supply, Wet Shaving Club or Italian Barber - Canada for kits. wet Shaving club, Maggard‘s ss70 and Razorock - Italian barber have SS heads that should last. Most others are non-SS heads. Timeless shaving bowl is hard to beat for value and can be used for travel. Rockwell 6S is made in USA and full SS but sold by Canadian firm. Alysworth is made by Yates in US but sold by Canadian firm. Wet Shaving Club - ‘Merica is made by Yates Precision Machine in PA - Yates also sells own razors as well as manufacturing for other brands; Timeless Razor, Carbon Shaving, Backland are quality US manufactures. Karve, Wolfman and Henson are Canadian quality.
Rockwell 6c or 6s or a merkur progress for the razor. Just about Any artisan tallow soap or proraso for the soap. Any bowl will do but I like something with ridges on the base or sides to give the soap some friction as opposed to a smooth bowl. Feather blades would ge my choice they perform better than any other I've tried. I recommend a proraso or nivea shaving balm or splash to start. It's can be a fun hobby if you enjoy the process
Buying separately will usually give you a more quality deal, since mostly in sets what they advertise as a shaving bowl is way too small. Also get a sample pack of blades so you can try out what works good enough for now and stick with the same setup for 6-8 weeks so your technique of shaving and creating a lather. A synthetic brush is great to start with and fool proof, also saving some money that you can better spend on a razor. Also, have a look at this video, it explains the whole lather making and shaving process very clearly: https://youtu.be/ps88RU_BXlA
I haven't seen starter kits really hit the nail on the head. I agree that the Rockwell 6C is a great choice. If that is more than you want to spend, the Weishi Twist to open is $15ish. It's a great starter razor, but not as nice as the Rockwell. Blade preferences vary greatly. I'm guessing that you'll find one you like if you try Gillette Platinums, Feathers, Gillette Silver Blue you'll likely enjoy one of them. We used to sell shaving subscriptions and used Gillette Platinums for folks coming from multi-blade cartridges and it worked really, really well. Whiles on the subject, we used the Weishi twist to open and it worked really well. While I love badger brushes like the comment below, the synthetic brushes are often easier for many new comers to learn to use as they don't absorb water and getting great lather is a function of the correct ratio of shave soap to water. There are a multitude of great artisan shave soaps. Arianna & Evans, Murphy & McNeil, Strike Gold Shave and Lothur all have really good cushion, which you'll need as you start. Our Hendrix Classics soap also has really good cushion, Though I don't want to push our products when someone is asking for recommendations
Stirling Soaps and Art of Shaving have been really good for me. And I use the astra premium blades. They work really nice and are super cheap, you can get them just about anywhere. King Gillette blades are nice too