Honestly, before you hit 50 is the best time to PvP, because you will not be PvPing with people who are level 50 and have the best gear. Almost none of the gear you can buy before 50 has expertise on it. Expertise is a stat placed on gear to make you better in pvp matches. It makes you do more damage and take less damage and once its maxed out it matters alot.
Before 50 is when you can learn your class, learn how to best use your skills, and not have to worry so much about the gear. Once you hit 50 you should decide if you like PvP enough to want to do well. If you decide to keep doing PvP then buy recruit gear. It has enough expertise on it to make a real difference. If you go into level 50 PvP with 0 expertise, you can be killed in 2 - 4 hits. that will not happen with a full set of recruit gear on. You will die a little more, but you will not feel useless.
Hope this helps a little.