Hi,

This post will have several references, to different issues (or sub-fora). As I am still a "beginner", this seems a right place to go for this, but feel free to move it if otherwise.

Here I go again. In the past few weeks, my "evolution" reached a point where I barely cut, once or twice a week. Never something serious.

Hand made two strops. The two of them are the same size (got three MDF identical stripes: Slightly under 3" by about 20"). One of them is plain leather (not even a lubricant, leather is very thin indeed http://straightrazorpalace.com/strop...n-leather.html), another one is a bed-cloth strip with the finest paste abrasive I have. There has been some improvement, but not too much. The longer strop is a lot more comfortable than the shorter one; even with a few passes I get some results. As they are completely flat, the full length of the edge gets stropped.

I have looked for a better shaving soap or cream (I was using Gillette canned spray foam https://www.gillette.com/WebHandlers...iveSkinLAT.png). Got a Gillette "gel" (green something, that turns into white foam quite fast http://cdn.gillette.com/en-US/-/medi...1-201407090612). It seems to be slightly better (strong mint scent, and slightly more slippery than the one I was using). None of them is specifically designed for straight razor shaving, if such a thing exists. I might go back to some of the threads (http://straightrazorpalace.com/soaps...ving-soap.html) for homemade creams/soaps. I've got a brush as well, but it is useless. Even if I soap my face by hand, and try to work on it with the brush, it somehow "kills" anything and leaves a clean surface. It is losing hairs since the very first day. It was very cheap indeed, but will probably try something better in the future.

Future plans? Probably another razor (just if I stumble with something), a nicer brush, and keep an eye open for a better soap (I have to end the gel first, though).

Will keep you updated ;-)

Rgds.

Martin