Hi everyone,

I recently got my hands on a Ralph Aust 5/8 full hollow from SRD along with the 3" leather and pressed felt strops. Also got some Chrom Ox spray for the felt for later use.

I've been a DE user for almost a year (after switching from the mach 3s) and loved it. I never thought it would lead to this straight razor path so soon... if ever.

Anyhow, after doing a ton of research (read lurking) on these forums, I finally bit the bullet and went for it. The razor arrived very fast (Great service with replying to emails and questions). After reviewing Lynn's videos on stropping for the 20th time, I gave it a shot (no nicks on the leather yet) and the razor popped the hairs from my arm. But I'm figuring that has more to do with Lynn's honing than anything . Well after prepping my face, which is no different than the routine I use for my DE, I started with just the sides as per the conventional forum advice. First few strokes I had to find the angle, but finally, success! Against better judgement, I figure I would just dive into a full shave. What's the worse that could happen?

Well, I'll be happy to report that I manage complete a full shave with no cuts, blood or anything on my first attempt. Was shave perfect? No, but wasn't that much worse than my DE. My second attempt was slightly better and again, no nicks or cuts of any sort.

Just curious if this is typical for beginners or if this is just beginner's luck and that karma will rear it's ugly head eventually. Also, I think I'm doing the stropping correctly as the shaves are relatively effortless (once i get the right angle) and as mentioned before, I'm able to just pop the hairs on my arm off. At what point will a brand new razor give me feedback if the stropping has been done incorrectly. Or would i know right away?

Anyhow, this is a great forum. Thanks for the knowledge!