I’ve been learning straights for about a month now. I’ve made some pretty good progress but still have enough frustrations that I’m considering hanging it up and going back to my DE. I will admit that I may not have approached this in the best way, and there’s enough about straights that I like that I’m willing to try one more call for advice before cashing out.

I’m getting a good WTG pass pretty much all over my face with the slight exception of the curve of my chin. I realize this turn is one of the most difficult to learn and I’m willing to work on this. I can also get a good XTG pass on my cheeks from ear to chin, but my beard’s lighter there. My beard’s pretty dense and tough on my chin. My XTG pass here (and to some degree my WTG pass here) is fraught with the blade sticking and tugging. I can generally work my way through it, but it is a narrow safety margin between shaving my beard and cutting my face. In my quest to finish my shave, sometimes my face loses. I’ve tried S-N passes which I can generally get started toward the bottom of my neck, but as I approach my jaw line, the blade sticks way too much to get through it.

I think my stropping is coming along pretty well. I wouldn’t consider myself an expert, but I think I’m doing a reasonably good job. I actually kind of like stropping my blades. Paying close attention to blade position, light pressure, even movement, I find it comforting.

I have been shaving with an 11/16 half hollow REX and a 7/8 full hollow Böker “The Celebrated”. My pre-shave consists of lathering my beard in the shower and leaving the lather on for the duration of my shower. I give it a good long rinse and keep it wet after the shower. I lather with MWF, strop my blade, rinse my face and re-lather. I got the REX off of the SRP classifieds as shave ready. Not sure if it came not fully sharp or, more likely, my early stropping technique dulled it. Or perhaps it’s not a sharpness issue at all. I can shave the hair on my arm, but they don’t ‘pop’. I bought the Böker as a reference razor, but I think the size of the blade may have been too much for me to handle. Unfortunately, I have now shaved and stropped the Böker enough that it’s not really a reference razor anymore. I would say that the Böker shaves a tad better, but I still have sticking and grabbing issues with it, and I absolutely cannot do a coup de maître on my upper lip with it. I’m not certain that I didn’t also dull this razor as a newbie learning to strop a larger blade.

So here’s where I am, and here’s where I would like your input. On the one hand, I’m feeling perhaps straights are not for me, and I should go back to my DE. On the other hand, perhaps I didn’t give this a fair shake. Perhaps I should have stuck with more beginner type equipment (e.g. a 5/8 or a 6/8 shave ready razor honed by a known and trusted honemeister and another 5/8 or 6/8 shave ready razor used strictly as a reference razor or perhaps a 5/8 or 6/8 shave ready razor and send my REX in for a sharpness test/hone by someone like Lynn). What advice would you give someone in my shoes?

Thanks.