I've been sorta collecting them for a while. My goto razor used to be a Chinese razor branded Weishi, and I think it's a good razor to start with, as it's cheap and a fairly mild forgiving shaver, not likely to give you bumps or knicks.
I don't usually use a shaving brush or shave soap, usually just Barbasol. The main reason I got into it, despite how neat it is to collect them (don't really have money to collect a ton, but you can find shave worthy razors for very cheap) is cost. The razors are from what I know/hear, still popular in foreign countries due to cost. The blades are all universal double edge blades, and the tooling for them is old and cheap. I can get a hundred Russian Astra blades for $13 shipped on ebay, and just chuck the blade after using it 3-4 times. It makes shaving a lot nicer, as you can always have a fairly fresh blade whenever you want. Even locally, I can get 5 blades for a dollar at the dollar store. Cartridges just cost too much for me, and that's how I got into it.
I'd recommend people here try one out. It makes life cheaper, and it's one less thing to be enslaved to, as far as corporations go. No need to spend gobs of money on cartridges.
