I believe my lather is good I've been shaving using soaps, creams a good badger brush for about 2 years now. The angle I've been following is almost 30 degrees for a WTG pass as said in the beginners forum. I did manage to nick my strop very lightly the first time I did it. Since then I have practiced every dy with a nutter knife before te actual razor. I do 15 laps on the canvas side and 50 laps on the leather. I go slowly with no pressure so I don't mess up. I did try cutting the hair on my arm after putting some lather on but had the same effect.