Hello all! I just decided to get into the world of straight razor shaving and I must say this has been a tremendous resource! I ordered a used and pre-sharpened razor from the classified section of this site along with some of the other bare essentials from other various internet sources. My razor came in today and I almost immediately had to try it out. I thought I'd post to share my experiences and ask some questions.

The first thing I did after a nice hot shower was lather up my face. I used Bigelow soap from a tube because I heard it works and I didn't want to wait for my Trumper sandlewood to come in next week. While the lather sat on my face I started to strop and can only guess as to the effectiveness of my technique as I have only ever seen it online. The moment of truth came when I first held the blade to my right cheek. My first couple of stroke went great! I was so excited. In almost no time the whole right side of my face was bare... not that I was rushing, it was just very effective. Had I read Lynn's introduction I probably would've stopped there, but I decided to continue on the the right side of my neck. This is where I first ran into trouble. The grain of my neck changes directions in so many places I decided to go with the same strokes I've always done with my cartridge razor (which I will not miss!). I thankfully did not have any major accidents but I noticed the pull increase with my wacky grain. I tried to strop and I think this is where I ultimately caused my "fatal" error. I'm pretty sure I rolled the blade in my lack of experience as my shave quality immediately decreased. Once again I would have stopped if I had read Lynn's introduction but I continued on to shave my entire face, which was not a very pleasant experience. The shave quality on the right side is noticeably better than on the left.

In spite of my problems I am still super excited about the world of straight razor shaving. Even with my set-backs the whole experience was still an improvement over my Gillette. Unfortunately my razor seems to no longer be up to the challenge. When it arrived it passed the hanging hair test, which I mostly did for fun as I know it's not a 100% indicator. After what I did today it no longer passes that test, which I attribute to improper stropping. Is there anything I can do to bring back the edge relatively easily? I do not own any hones right now but I am open to purchasing them. I've worked at a machine tool shop for years and am very comfortable working with my hands, I just believe I need more practice in this particular endeavor. Any help is much appreciated.

- Brian