It was suggested by a member here that I start a thread posting in detail my shaving woes and troubles for ongoing assistance so here goes.

For the past 10 years I have been shaving with cartridge razors. Usually they leave my skin with problems and not a good shave at all. My beard is very stiff and tough. Sharp even. The cartridge razors have been lasting me no more than a week, and if I changed the razor everytime It needed to be changed it would last less.

So in the past 3 or three weeks I decided I would try to take up straight shaving. I started with a Heirloom starter set from Tony. My first shave was with the Dovo Best Quality razor that was included in the kit. The shave was actually worse then a cartridge. I could not get the razor to cut my beard. I spent an hour at a time for the first 5 shaves trying to better my technique but with no luck. The soap that came with the kit I think may be part of the issue so I have ordered a Taylors Cream from Classic shaving and guess what (it was delivered to the wrong address, or someone took it off the porch because I didn't get it.) Classic is working to resolve this issue now but I haven not heard back from them yet.

Thinking my stropping technique might be to blame I had the razor sent to Lynn to be honed and am waiting for it to return in the next week. I tried stropping exactly as I have been reading about on the paddle, and following the instructions that came with the kit. The strop is narrow and the razor is supposed to be stropped at quite an angle with a large amount of the blade starting off of the edge. I tried stropping at more of a flat angle, but apparently this is not helping. Some members have suggested using a 7/8 half hollow or wedge but I have not been able to find one. Also, thinking a better brush may help over the Boar bristle that came with the kit, but have not found one that I wanted to but yet. I am not sure what brand or type to start with. I bought a quality oil and have been using that as well as prepping my face the best I know how. Shower, Oil, towel, lather, towel, lather shave. I watched Lynn Abrams DVD and found it interesting but not much of help as far as the actual shave is concerned.

My beard grows heavily on the neck and some spots grow at odd angles. Usually with a cartridge two passes and I still have spots that are not cutting well. Well that is all I am sure most of you want to read for now if you are still reading at all so I will end this post here. Talk to you all soon.