My son just started. I gave him my Merkur 33c ( I found it a little short), a Omega brush, a alum stick, a stypic stick and Proraso pre-shave shaving cream. No blood yet. I am trying to encourage the Zen of shaving (recently discovered myself)as I always used to hate shaving.I am pretty new to wet shaving myself and with the exception of the shaving cream I received from Classic Edge, Proraso is a favourite . A good shaving cream makes such a huge difference, especially when using a straight razor. Good luck!