Hello all,

First of all I should say I have been shaving with a disposable blade straight razor for about 9 months now. I don't mean to say I am an expert in any way, but I have had success with my Parker SR-1 which I load Wilkinson's Sword blades into. My beard prep and lathering have also been practiced and used for these 9 months, however, I believe my lathering is only mediocre/average.

That said, I have been reading posts on this website also for about 9 months so I know the basics about skin stretching, blade angle, beard prep, passes, etc. My problem is I bought my first real straight (a nice looking Torrey No. 900) from this website last week. I had 2 day stubble. Then I beard prepped and lathered as usual, but when I used the Torrey for with the grain pass, with about the same pressure (very light), angle, etc as my disposable, only about 15-25% of the hairs were cut..... and it was loud and pulling hairs.

You can imagine my disappointment... The razor was advertised as shave ready by the seller, whose username I don't remember (I don't know if he's a recognized honemeister or anything) and the ad is gone. It is a Torrey No. 900 5/8 looks like hollow or extra hollow ground, round point.

So my question is if there are people who have undergone the disposable --> real straight transition or anyone else's thoughts about radical differences between the two (which I didn't expect there woud be). I really couldn't believe how it wouldn't shave my face. I even did a few back and forth rubs of the blade on my face and only a few more hairs were cut. Although I know this isn't advisable, my skin has gotten more resistant since I shave with a single blade disposable. Another observation, when moving the blade over my stubble it was much louder than my disposable (and it wasn't singing), just catching hairs. On my against the grain pass, the razor literally pulled my chin skin by catching the stubble (my chin is probably the most dense growth).

I had to use my disposable to finish the job. One note: I did not strop the razor, but it was shave ready, so sometimes I know they say it is optional. I know it is important, but would it really make the razor so ineffective?

Thank you very much for you help. You have a great community of support going on here.