Originally Posted by
guitstik
There are two things that can ruin a razor, incorrect stropping, incorrect honing and faucets. Okay, three things, incorrect stropping, incorrect honing, faucets and dropping it. Four, four things that can ruin a razor, incorrect stropping, incorrect honing, faucets, being dropped and rust. This list can go on and on... Learn how to strop the razor correctly before moving on to honing one. Usually I would suggest that someone new to SR shaving go slow in fact that is pretty much my mantra, slow and finding a mentor in your area but that may be a difficult task for you considering your location. There still may be someone close to you that can help but with the experience that you had with the barbershop guys I say fat chance. Watch all the YouTube videos that you can find, I suggest all the ones by Glen and Lynn as they should be your benchmark for honing professionals. I could tell you to get a whole lot of stones but I won't as that won't help you. What I use and what others use will generally differ considerably but I use a Norton 800 for bevel setting and then move on to the Norton 4k/8k stone but only after it will shave arm hair off of the 800. After the 4k/8k I move to the Chosera 12k and that is pretty much it for stones, those three should be sufficient for all your needs. After getting proficient with those then you could start looking for new stones to add to the collection that you will undoubtedly start building when the HAD kicks in. As with everything tho, go slow