Happy Friday Folks,

I'm brand new to wet shaving. For 28 years I've been using disposable cartridge razors and got into this universe by thinking about how wasteful canned shaving cream is.

Fast forward a couple of weeks and I've got a new 5/8" straight from SRD, and a VDH shave kit with soap and brush.

My first use of the VDH shave kit with my old cartridge razor produced the best, closest shave of my life. Great success... I'm done with canned shave cream for good.

Three days ago, I tried my first straight razor shave. Things went pretty well on my cheeks and sideburns with the grain, but I had lots of razor burn on my neck. I assume this is due to a combination of my shave technique and pre-shave prep.

So last night I took more time on the pre-shave. I rinsed my face with water and lathered up, then let the soap sit on my face for 5 or 10 minutes, then rinsed it off, wet my face, and lathered up again before shaving.

I find that the soap tends to dry out during my shave. I'm pretty slow. So I reapply on occasion, but still I'm getting some aggresive razor burn on my neck, particularly where it's hard to go with the grain because of the direction my hair grows there.

I'm trying to figure out if I can improve my pre-shave to prevent this, or if it's a matter of my angles and stroke, or maybe both?

Any advice would be welcome.

This board has been really helpful in getting me started down this path.

Thanks,
Handjam