Sounds like your on the right path. The 100 shave benchmark is only an average some are sooner some are later, but once gotten you'll rarely ever want to use another way of shaving. And you will notice that it keeps getting easier and closer shaves. I've been at it about 10 months and still have areas that don't always make it to bbs. Some is skill and some is equipment. Like the neck area using a shorter or smiling blade helps most of the time. Also I found that I nicked my strop way less by laying it flat on the counter.