Thread: First Post, First Shave, Lots of Questions.

Hello all, love the forum. Been reading for awhile and finally tried my first shave tonight with not so great results. I purchased a honed and stropped shave ready geneva razor from fleabay lathered up and went to town. Ouch. First question, how do you know if a razor is really shave ready? It felt like I was grinding my face with sandpaper, very uncomfortable, lots of pulling, I did manage to get a couple smooth spots going ATG. Can your technique be so bad that even a shave ready razor will have this effect? I tried a few different angles thinking maybe my face is different, lots of lather, water.. I know there is a big learning curve and it takes practice but is this horrible of a first time normal? Does beard lenght make a difference? I had just shaved the day before so I only had very short stubble.