Face preparation is key to a good shave. A nice foaming soap or a non-soap like Kiss My Face shaving gel is good. The razor must be sharp. The finishing of the edge on the strop has to be done right or it will degrade the edge off of the stone. Are you using magnification? A 60x-100x illuminated microscope from Radio Shack will really show you what's going on with the edge and then you can correct from there.