I think a 1/2 hollow 5/8 is an ideal 1st razor. Not too big for under the nose, hollow in chin, hollows on neck - and not too flexy for beginner technique. After your technique improves, I think a full hollow or extra hollow shaves nicer. The extra sound leads to a lighter pressure automatically in my experience. I think some extra hollows are too flexy for extra coarse or extra thick or extra swirly beards though - at least until you have a whole lot of experience. Shaving with a more flexy extra hollow definitely improved my angles and direction I approached certain patches of stubble on my face. The technique that yielded very close shaves and no irritation with a full hollow yielded irritation and extra close shaves with the extra hollow. A couple of weeks later, my technique had improved, and then the extra hollow was irritation free too (and the shave was a little bit closer). Unfortunately, any small mistake in angle or approach path leads to flexing which causes irritation. So I decided full hollow was best for my thick shafted and swirly beard