As a newbie myself, I keep reading all these threads about not getting perfect shaves the first time. I have gone through this also. However, for me, I realized there is a HUGE learning curve when starting out. My first shave was with my newly restored razor (Thanks again Bill) and felt pretty good. From there each shave got worse with razor burn on the jawline lasting most of the day. I changed angles, direction, applied more lather and anything else I could think of but the burn persisted.

I assumed like most of the new people that I had destroyed my edge while stropping. I was probably right. I started doing a few passes on the pasted sides to clean up the blade and continued shaving.

I took a few days off from shaving with a straight due to some travellng. This morning I shaved with my straight again. First thing that I noticed was my stropping. It had really improved over time but I hadn't noticed since I was doing it everyday. But today I noticed that it was smooth and the razor glided over the leather with no pressure just swish swish.

Then the shave, no burn no nicks. Still not the provervial BBS but alot better than it had been. My mustache and cheek areas were smoother with only two passes then the m3 I had used while travelling. Under the chin and neck area still need some work but it will get there.

Overall, I think the answer is patience. If you bought a good razor and had it professionally sharpened, the skill will come to give yourself a good shave overtime.