Thread: Very Uncomfortable with Heavy Growth

I have only shaved with my newly acquired straight razor 3 times. The first time I did 1 cheek, the 2nd time I did both cheeks, and the 3rd time I did 2 passes on both cheeks. This 3rd time I had about 5 days of growth and it was very uncomfortable to shave using the straight (no problem with my DE). I focused a lot on angle (about 1-2 spine widths away from my face), short strokes, and it was very uncomfortable to shave with. My prep is good (I shave after I shower), lather was great, so I'm not exactly sure what the problem was. The 2nd pass was A LOT better, very comfortable, 1 thing is for sure a straight takes off a lot of growth fast, so the 2nd pass was more of a cleanup pass. At the end of the shave not much irritation at all, maybe a tiny bit.

I guess I can just chalk it up to inexperience? Not sure how well my straight was honed b/c it has been fairly uncomfortable all 3 times. I also feel like a bought a cheap strop and it doesn't feel consistent across the whole strop.