3 shaves down and a question

After getting everything i need together i have done 3 shaves, twice around a gootee and sideburns and a full face shave this mourning. So far i have been pretty happy with the closeness of my shaves, no drag unless I get a off of my angle and no nicks yet(knock on wood). However, I have a very stiff beard and can shave twice a day if i want. When I went to shave off the gootee area I was unable to get a smooth pass and had to strop my razor another 20 strokes to get a non-dragging pass. Is there anybody else who has to do this, or is me being a beginner a part of it, or both? Thanx for any help

It is a matter of technique, I am sure. With a properly honed razor with proper steel it should not be a problem. Both angle and face prep may be responsible for the drag. I very much doubt it was a sharpness issue. Perhaps as you were focusing on shaving "new ground" your angle slipped a little, or something along these lines. What ever it might have been, just keep practicing and it will all come together soon.

+1 to what Str8fencer said.

It is probably technique. One other thing that might help: If there is any drag when I shave, in addition to reviewing my blade angle, I add more shaving cream to that area and try again.

You are doing great. It took me two months to get even a basic clean shave. After a 100 shaves, my technique really came together. I am now approaching 200 shaves and I can get a BBS shave anytime I want. Experience will give you control of your technique. Just keep doing what you are doing.

Happy Shaving!

I think you are doing much better than you think you are doing!

I myself tried a little experiment this past weekend: I shaved off my goatee and have very coarse thick beard hair on my chin. My three razors did not do a good job and most of my DE blades in a shavette would stall. I touched up my straights on 0.5 micron CrOX on balsa, then test shaved all of them. Then I stropped them. I compared this to half a Feather DE blade in my shavette. After this experiment (sorry I am a chemist and an anal retentive one at that), I concluded the following:
My straights can be as sharp as a feather DE blade, but with the advantage of a heftier blade.
Stopping did help the edge.
After a pass or two re-stropping helped. (I saw this in a another thread and tried it.)
So, in my experience (and researching others' experience) stropping mid-shave can help!

After looking at the suggestions given(suggestions that are really appreciated), I decided to change my routine a bit. I started by shaving my goatee area with my straight freshly stropped, and with better stretching of my skin had a much nicer shave. The rest of my face went smoothly, and yet when i went to clean up my neck area I started to feel some drag. I ended up stropping my razor a few more times and went back to a no-drag shave on my neck. Could too much pressure on a razor while shaving, cause it to become dull, quicker?