Since last Saturday I have gotten through my first five shaves with a straight razor (dovo best). I have been wet shaving with my mach III for about a month now. This week has been quite the learning experience.

Shave 1. I figured out my lather sucked. Not near enough glide for a straight. Lather had been plenty sufficient for the disposable carts but not even close to what I needed for a straight. Scared to death to strop the razor. Took probably 20 min to strop the razor prior to shave. Had to go over the entire face again with mach III to get a decent shave.

Shaves 2-4 improved lather but still rough. I learned the importance of angles with the straight and was trying to find the proper angle. Getting better at stropping but still extremely slow. Had to go over most parts of the face and neck for a touch up with the mach III.

Shave 5 (today). Best shaving experience I've had with a SR thus far. Had a light bulb moment regarding angles. Finally found an angle that actually cut the hairs on my face rather than wiping off the lather. Also included the best stropping session to date (I've been doing the butter knife practice strop for the last 2 weeks). Razor felt better today than the last couple shaves (I think due to improved stropping). Due to the better shave today I only had to touch up two spots on the neck with the mach III. Best shave thus far. Not near BBS but I couldn't be more excited to keep learning.

Thank you to all the contributors of this forum for all the advice. I know that I would not have been this successful on my SR attempts had it not been for this forum. I look forward to continuing on the journey with all of you.