Got my razor back from the honemeister today (CF Wolfertz blade). So naturally I went for my first shave with it (and a straight razor in general). I did ok, I guess, but there were some issues. Hopefully some kind soul can advise...

1. I stropped about 40 times. I obviously didn't do it right. I was pretty timid about it, and once I picked the razor off the strop in the wrong direction. I'm worried that I rolled the edge. If I did roll the edge, how can I correct this? More stropping? I few strokes on the barber's hone? I stropped again once I finished the shave and applied a little more pressure. When I did that it felt better on the strop.

2. The razor pulled a lot. I'm assuming this is from the improper stropping? I did my cheeks ok, and my chin was pretty good, surprisingly, but when I did my lip and neck, it felt like I was dragging it through pipe cleaners. I still have stubble in both places, though it's much better. Could it be....

3. A lather issue? I used cream (Real Shaving Co), and it went on great, but when I went to reapply some lather, any lather in the bowl was just gone. Does that mean it wasn't wet enough?

4. What about pressure? At first I was using hardly any pressure, and it wasn't going so well. So I added some pressure and it did better, but it also pulled more...should I feel at least a little pulling or none at all?

Overall, I'm pretty happy about it, but I look like a 12 year old learning how to shave for the first time. I just hope I didn't do anything bad to my razor.