After a little over a week of lurking here, reading razor reviews and techniques, I took theplunge today and bought my first DE razor (a merkur progress). Got a great shave thanks to mapping my facial hair, which is something I never would have considered before. The local boutique was sold out of the brush I wanted (the L'occitane synthetic), so if anyone knows of a comparable synthetic brush I'd love to hear about it. I am vegan so I avoid the badger and boar hair brushes for ethical reasons. Anyway thanks for all of the great advice!