I posted on here after about two weeks starting with a straight; now I'm a month, maybe a bit longer in and would like to give an update, including a few more observations I've made that might help other new people out.

The biggest problem areas I have had have been, like a lot of people, right around the chin and on the sides of the neck. My first impulse was to keep trying and trying to get those areas right, and quickly discovered this was not a good tactic; mainly a lot of aggravation and razor burn. From there I went to the tactic of attempting different approaches - this was a much better way to go, provided I didn't once again overdo it and do seventeen different angles on the same patch of face at once and leave it pulverized. One thing I found was that a cross handed approach (right hand on left side of face and vice versa) was a good way to get at the hollows of the neck.

The next thing I found was that sometimes ignoring a problem area is a worthy approach. This kind of worked for my chin. I convinced myself to stop worrying about it for a week or so and concentrated instead on improving technique in the areas around the chin that I was already doing okay on, and sure enough, within a few shaves, the chin area began to look a lot better because I was getting better in the areas immediately around it and slowly expanding into the chin area. Its still a work in progress, but I know I'm getting there.

Finally, a block of alum is worth its weight in gold in getting a grip on the skin. the only other alternative I can think of would be pine tar, which would likely have some serious disadvantages....

I appreciate the wealth of advice on this site - I'm sure I'd be a lot farther behind if I didn't have this to refer to on a daily basis.

Chris