Thread: the continuing struggle

Hey folks...

Disclaimer: I have been in a maelstrom of way-too-many-things-going-on for the last 3 weeks - so I have not had time to sit down and pour through these forums and wikis for answers... My apologies if these questions are answered elsewhere - just need some quick answers...

Been shaving about 30-40% of my face with a straight for about a month now... slow, awkward, bloody progress, but progress, nonetheless...

I continue to struggle with the same stuff everybody else must have struggled with when they were first starting....
- having a HELL of a time with positioning my hand - actually most of my errors are just a result of trying to contort myself around to SEE what the hell I'm doing
- I am NOT a lathermeister by any stretch... maybe a decent brush and scuttle will help, but thus far I SUCK at lather
- I am unsure as to how sharp my blade is... it came from Lynn, so I know it arrived shave-ready, but I don't know if I'm stropping effectively...
- I get lather flicked on my chest, the mirror, my eye, across the room - NOT exactly the tidy example Lynn sets on the DVD, shaving in a shirt!!!
- I'm not sure how to store my blade... put it in the plastic case it came with ? wrap it in a shammy?
- I'm getting these black spots on the spine of the razor... corrosion? pre-rust? how can I buff these out? I've attached a couple of pics - sorry for the quality - I used a pencil to point to the spots...

Anyway - sorry for the question avalanche, someday I'll have the time to dig through this forum for answers first....

And thanks for all the help thus far!! GREAT answers to my other posts...
I WILL NOT GIVE UP... with God as my witness, there will be a day when I shave with one of those BADASS-looking Japanese razors with NO BLOOD OR REDNESS.

Johnny

PS - at the risk of turning this into a novel... my barber and I were talking about shaving (I go to one of those cool, nouveau "old school" barber shops, http://www.uncleclassicbarbershop.com/) - and I told her that I believe there are ladies on this forum who shave their legs et al with straights... Is this true?!?!?!?! How FASCINATING and AWESOME.