Hi all - I'm Michael and new to this place.

First, let say a big thank you to Lynn and everyone here who has posted so much information. This place is an amazing resource!

I've enjoyed shaving since I first started. My father got a me a shaving "kit" for X-mas when I was ready to start shaving, and have used a brush ever since. But I've always used disposable cartridges. I've never really had a bad shave - some worse than others, but for the most part all of my shaving experience had been good, and I've always highly enjoyed shaving.

When I was in college I went on a study abroad program to Greece and Turkey, and had my first straight razor shave in Ankara when I was about 21. Ever since then I've wanted to try SRS myself, so I finally got a basic Dovo 5/8" and a 3" latigo strop. I got it from SRD because it was professionally sharpened and shave ready.

Everything arrived to day, and I had at it. It was the worst shave of my life. Granted it was my 1st SRS and I've got a learning curve, but this was ridiculous! A coupe of nicks, nothing too bad, but serious razor burn and pulling. Lots of blood. My neck is on fire!!!

This is what I can come up with;
1) inexperience
2) the razor wasn't sharp enough. OOTB I wasn't really impressed w/ it's sharpness. I'm a private chef and have Japanese knives that I sharpen myself on waterstones (Shapton GlassStones). I can get my knives plenty sharp for my needs, but I don't consider myself an expert sharpener by any means. My new razor wasn't noticeably sharper than my kitchen knives - would not pass a hanging hair test.
3) Didn't lather my new shave cream properly. I've been using a liquid soap from MyChelle called So Clean, and it's been GREAT. But I wanted something different and got some Truefitt & Hill shave cream. I build lather on my face. This technique w/ this cream didn't raise a thick lather - it was kinda flat, but thick, and dry. Try as I might I couldn't get a wet slick lather on my face. I think this exaggerated the effects of a not-sharp-enough blade.

If anyone has any thoughts or comments, I'm all ears. I'm not ready to give up, but I need to do something different to get better results. Thanks for lending me your ears! mpp