Wow! Night and day difference... Cheap Ebay razor vs "shave ready" razor from here.
Boy I wish I would have found this place before I bought my first straight razor.
I made the mistake of buying an Ebay cheapie, not knowing any better at the time. Shaving was miserable, and I thought "How can anyone stand to do this?"
Web research about how to get a better shave led me to believe I was stropping incorrectly. Eventually I stumbled in to SRP, and quickly learned the importance of a good razor.
I purchased a couple of "shave ready" razors from the classifieds here, nothing too spendy, but what I figured to be good "starter" razors. The first one arrived in the mail this morning. One word can sum up my reaction: WOW! The difference is night and day. This new razor glides over the skin and cleanly removes hair. The other one bounced across the skin and tore out hair.
I am already shopping around for honing equipment, and gathering knowledge about how to do it correctly. I will probably buy a couple more razors, as I am expecting there will be a learning curve with honing...
Anyhow, I just wanted to say thanks to everyone here for helping to get me started, and offer the advice to any newbies that are maybe just getting started: BUY A SHAVE READY RAZOR. They aren't a whole lot more expensive than the Ebay cheapies, and they will make straight shaving an enjoyable experience that you're willing to stick with.
Thanks everyone!