Here is my two cents, knowing what I know now, I would recommend he get a gillette tech off the bay or BST here. Next 100pk of gillette nacets, he can't go wrong. I do recommend he get a sampler pack of blades from a quality vendor, there's plenty to choose from and he should look under vendors here on b&b if unsure were to go. Now for the soap I would say keep it simple. Grab a shave shave stick and a cream. I personally LOVE the speick cream, heck even grab a Palmolive stick/cream and while hes at it have himself do himselfa favor and grab a stick of ARKO. As for a brush honestly there's too many options ino which is not a bad thing. I have come to enjoy synthetics so much so I have givin all my other brushes away. I recommend synthetic as they are cheap, easy to use and require no soaking. They are across the board cheaper than many of its counter parts. He can easily find a suitable brush for cheap. Bowls are optional. For AS (aftershave) he should go with some samples until he finds what you like or you be stuck with a lot of products to give or throw away. I've come to love and mainly use two presominatly out of the 4 I have in rotation. Those two are Aqua Velva Musk and Blue ice. Whew that was a lot and I hope it helps happy shaving.