Wow! I never knew how complicated all of this was going to be. I live in Poland so it's pretty tough to find ANYTHING in stores around here (ok, impossible). So, on a recent trip to Berlin I picked up a Solingen 38 5/8" razor for around 50eu, a badger brush, styptic pen, and shaving soap. No strops to be found anywhere.

Not able to wait, I got back to the hotel, whipped everything out and went at it. The razor blade had a sticker on it that said it was super sharp but I really didn't sense that it was as sharp as all of the posts/articles/blogs I'd read were talking about. Granted, I'm sure my lathering technique is lame-o at the moment but just don't think the razor was "shave-ready".

I guess my conundrum is trying to figure out what I really need to truly get into this new shaving art form. I read that a second razor would be needed. So I put a bid on a Solingen Kain&Abel on a ebay-type auction site here in Poland. Looks like I'm going to win that for around $45. Also picked up a cheap strop that was being sold on that same site. My fears though are that (1) neither of my razors will be sharp, (2) the strop will be either insufficient or I won't have a clue what I'm doing and (3) there's no one actually here in this area that seems to know how to help me.

Reading about pyramid honing techniques, various kinds of strops, strops pastes, etc is overwhelming but I don't want to throw in the towel. Anyone feel my pain? Should I just send my razors back to the states to be sharpened, try to do it myself (don't even understand what "sharp" means really, or what???

Thanks for letting me rant a bit!