Well my strops from Tony arrived this morning... wow 4 days from the US superb

Ok so I have my wapi.. 2 strops (one practice and a paragon) and my usual shaving stuff.

I did 20 or so laps on the practive strop.. though its hard to say whether I was doing it that correctly as I do not have any experience yet to draw on.

I showered and used hot towels to soak my beard. Now I have a very tough stubble.. I usually use a DE with feathers blades to get a nice clean close shave.

So once I had toweled and lathered I was finally ready.

TBH is was very slow progress and I seemed to be all arms. My initial stroke down from my sideburns was almost blind as the blade/arm got in the way. There was a huge amount of tugging from my 3 days of growth.. it did not feel at all smooth so I moved ahead with very small strokes.

I have a goaty style beard which just seemed to get in the way (and how anyone uses huge blades I'm not sure )

I struggled on.. I found the neck region easier to access and so it seemed a smoother process. I also tried swapping hands and found I was better using my left (though I am naturally right handed).

Finally the first pass was complete.. now it was not that close.. I still felt spiky though it looked presentable. (and I had managed to not cut myself !)

So I went for a second pass (top to bottom) now it was alot easier as there was not much left to shave. The neck was still spiky so I can see the need for a S-N pass at a later date (as I would do with my DE). But there was hardly any irritation (as the alum block is quick to tell me about) in comparison to when I have overdone it with the feather DE.

First shave is over.. took over an hour from stepping out of the shower to finishing up. (hoorah for the weekend).

So what now... theres a few reasons why possibyly felt like cutting down trees..

1. My prep was not long enough and more time needed to soften my wire beard?
2. Not enough stropping (or incorrectly done stropping?).. what should I do next time ? 50 laps and then which "test " to see how the blade is ?
3. Lack of experience of a Straight. It may be my angle with the blade.. or maybe my stubble is tough and therefore the tugging is normal (as the skin was not irritated nor cut after the shave )

I just hope that I have not done anything wrong which may have ruined the edge of the blade and would then need re-honing ? Could one stropping session do this ?

Opinions/advice would be great fully received

Maybe I'll try again in the morning....

Cheers

Matt