Im relativly new to the straight razor game but I was able to do my first,second,and third shave with out any pain. A few good videos to watch is Jockey's shave videos on you tube. They helped me quite a bit starting out and they are very informative on technique. He also goes over how to make the best lather for shaving as well. Also the only thing that should really be hurting is your face after you nic yourself four or five times like i did on my first shave. But now that im on my third and fourth shave i usually only nic myself once or twice (upper lip, and chin) which generally seems to be the problem area from what i've read in the forums