I understand the above posts and agree completely, however I do not have a great control over the blade yet, and I still scrape far too much (I'm sure of that) because I do not have the most 'comfortable' shave. It's far more comfortable to shave with a DE (that's what I'm comparing to now, to see how I'm progressing in the comfort zone :)). When I have a patch of hair, I still scrape over it a couple of times, at least as many times as I would with a mach. Yet still I do not have razor burn. For example, if I shave using a disposable (which shaves just fine for me, only I have terrible razor burn in the neck area) you can simply not touch my chin or neck in an 'ATG' motion with something as soft as your hand for example. Yet now, after all the abuse I'm giving to my face, I can comfortable rub and scratch there. And I'm pretty sure it's not due to great technique, because I'm pretty sure I still have a lousy technique. I used the same beard prep using a disposable, fyi.