Hey guys! Im new to this forum as well. Watched so many YouTube videos on straight razor shaving and watching those guys effortlessly glide the razor over their face was too much for me to resist. I went en route for the "perfect shave" and bought the col ichabod conk/dovo straight razor starter kit with the strop and whetstone. I've been trying for about a week now, and it seems that no matter how taught i pull my skin, or at what angle i hold the blade, it doesn't glide smoothly. It pulls my hair and i haven't been able to get a close shave at all! Im Italian and have really thick, coarse facial hair so I'm sure that makes the learning curve much tougher haha. Im getting really frustrated that no matter how much I attempt to hone and strop it, nothing feels any better. I just ordered a Norton 4000/8000 combo whetstone due to the great reviews I've read here. Do you think I'm going in the right direction? Is there anything that you guys have experienced as newbies that could help me? I of course would like to blame the dullness of my razor at this point haha. Any input would be greatly appreciated!
Ps: I'm in Canada and I've called around to quite a few knife shops and they will not touch a Dovo straight razor. Seems I'm out of luck around here :/