I love this forum!

My wife got me a straight razor (basic soligen steel, forgot the name and i'm at work) for my birthday and I've been giving myself a weekly shave with it since. I assumed that since I knew how to properly sharpen a knife I was in the clear. Obviously... I'm sending it off for honing after a brief bit of lurking here.

The good... I have a boar bristle brush and mug with decent shaving soap, a linen n leather strop, and a barbers stone for maintaining the hone.

The bad...The instructions with the strop didn't mention conditioning the leather, so it's been used without any kind of hand oil or anything else. Poor little thing!

The ugly...The first few experiences shaving were... invigorating? Excruciating? No, not that bad, but rather unpleasant. I had assumed it was shave ready (woops) and then went about putting an edge on it myself. Much improved, but... nothing like what I had hoped for when I made the switch.

Anyway, I'm hoping to overcome my limitation. I can get a decent shave now with my razor, though it's not as fast as I'd like. But I absolutely cannot shave my upper lip. The blade just tugs at the stiff hairs and the pain instantly makes my eyes water and I give up. Till I get the honed blade back, I'm going to assume it's a sharpness issue and not a lack of manliness.