Thread: A few questions from a beginner.

Hello,

To start, I would like to say that I was happy to find such a community, I thought for a moment that only people living in caves were actually still using straight razors :P

I have been through a lot of information lately, maybe too much info . . .
I had the idea of bouncing to a straight razor a year ago, and have had one since, but have not used it. Why? Well cause its not sharpened; I had it as a gift and I thought it was going to come pre-honed (or whatever you call that) but when I tried, it was like pulling my hairs off instead of cutting them. I then had a look at what kind of equipment I may need to sharpen/hone the blade, and saw it was quite expensive.
After a few month of thinking about it, I have got my act together and am ready to buy hone stones. I read that the Naniwa stones were among the best for honing razors. However I do not know what kind I should by: I was thinking of a combo like 1000/8000. Unfortunately I only found seperate stones 1000 and 8000.
I then read that I need to strope the blade before each shave, so I need a "stropper". I saw 4 sided ones, but I think a two sided strope will do for me.
I also read that pastes could be applied on stropes, but I did not understand really why, and if I need to.
Last but not least, do I need some "official cream" to shave with, or can I take the basic gillette or whatever brand it is?
I have found many websites offering different products, but it would be easier for me to order from one same website, so if you know any good one, would be great

Thanks a lot for your help, I am sure many answers could be found in already posted threads on the forum, the wiki and so forth, but my brain is already too over loaded with information right now and I am losing sight of what I really need to know, so I decided to go for the easy way

Cheers.

Ps: here is a picture of my razor, brought in France: Le Dandy.
http://download790.mediafire.com/49y...n/DSC_0332.jpg