I forget which company I started buying from but it was either West Coast Shaving or Italian Barber (Canada). Signed up on Badger and Blade (yes, a forum specifically for shaving). I learned that there are mild medium and aggressive razors. Also the material the razor is made from makes a huge difference. When I started the new wet shaving journey with the three piece double edged safety razors I was buying aluminum out the zinc alloy known as Zamack. They are light and seemingly good for beginners looking for a mild shave, but I was pairing it with cheap Derby Extra blades that were from the same pack of 100 from back in the 90s. Those are the worst blades. You don't know how bad something is until you find something that works. I Bobby a Blackland Blackbird razor and it came with Personna blades known as Lab Blues made in Verona, VA. That was a game changer. Now I can go 100 shaves with the same blade. In the past 5 years I can't actually recall ever throwing away a blade even. I have old derby blades i still use for opening boxes (of more shaving gear). I remember thinking about Feather blades being the sharpest and people on the B&B forum raving about them and I was using them in the beginning and they were super sharp and I always looked like Fresh Kruger was my barber. Feather blades on my early aluminum Razorock razors were horrible. Once I learned how smooth Stainless Steel razors are and paired with my personal favorite Lab Blues blades I then realized i loved heavy brass handles and I prefer the most aggressive razors with the largest blade gaps. I'm nose using a Wolfman WR1 with a 1.10 gap and a WR2 with a 2.00 gap. Probably too much information. But I can go on all day.
I go nuts about collecting stuff; but, collets, broaches, taps, dies, drills, end mills, saws, and other tooling can be had without repetition.
Yes, you made me very thankful I have worn a beard most of my adult life.