First straight shave a partial success

[CRuzin]

I finally had my first straight shave today with a Kropp I got from drfred. The razor is in great shape and appeared to be very, very sharp. I haven't had a razor honed by a known honemeister, so I'm not sure what "shave ready" really is. As sharp as this razor is, I imagine it's pretty darn close if not truly shave ready. Did about 25 passes on the strop beforehand. Lathered up, used a hot towel for a couple minutes. Lathered up again and went for it. The razor was a lot less intimidating than I thought it would be.

My cheeks and neck turned out flawless. It was as good a shave as a DE. In fact, I found it a little easier on my neck with the straight than with a DE. My upper lip and sides of my chin weren't as good though. I've got some pretty good razor burn going on there. It felt like the razor was pulling instead of cutting like it did on my cheeks and neck. Also got a few weepers on the side of my chin, but nothing a little styptic pencil couldn't sting away.

Overall it went WAY better than I expected it go. It took about twice as long as I normally take with a DE, but that's to be expected since it was my first go with a straight. As manly as I felt when I first tried a DE, I felt 10x more manly when I was done with the straight. I believe I'm hooked!