With this situation I think there is more than one thing going on here that needs to be addressed. One is that u are still new to str8 shaving. When I think new I think anyone <1 yr under their belt. And with that you are still dealing with the learning curve. Especially since you said that you don't know anyone personally that str8 shaves. Granted I'm like that also but I look up to people here on SRP who have shown yrs of experience as the guru's (at least to me) whether I like what they say or not.

2. From what has been said I don't think that you have provided yourself with a good shave den setup that will optimize your performance while reducing your learning curve. For example make sure you have a fixed mirror you can shave in front of. I have seen picks of some peoples shave den be in their bedroom but they get good shaves. If fogging is an issue. Wipe it down, crack a window or door, or go get some rain-x anti-fog. But you will need both hands at all times when str8 shaving in order to get the best results.

3rd and lastly. Though we recommend in order to get the most comfortable shave to prep your beard, if your razor is pulling that much on an unpreped beard I would want to think that your razor is not "shave ready" even though it passes what we call a HHT. Only the shave test will tell if the razor is shave ready. And so I might venture to say even though I think it is too much a go to answer for too many here. Here I go. Your bevel may not be set anymore or needs a good refresh. So either give it a good refreshing to where it passes the shave test or go ahead and rehone from bevel set. Plus not having a good strop will definitely hurt your results so I would get that alleviated ASAP.