When you get your strop (assuming that's on its way with your shaving soap), practice stropping using a butter knife. Focus on keeping the razor flat and the spine on the leather, do not add any additional pressure, just the natural pressure of the butter knife's weight and later (when you are ready), the razor's natural weight. Start slow, build up your technique, you are not in a race, and focus on quality. The speed will come later.

As for shaving, slow down a bit, take the time to get more of a feel for the razor on your face.

Quote Originally Posted by lethies91 View Post
Hello,
This is my first post and thought I'd share my first SR shaving experience for your enjoyment, and also to hopefully get tips for how to do better next time.

I just got my first straight razor in the mail today and as you can probably imagine I couldn't wait till after my shower tonight to try it out. I may have gotten a little too excited though. After getting out of my shower I applied a lather to my face and used a warm soaked towel against my face to prep. After this I applied another lather. I started by shaving WTG in the side burn and cheeks area as suggested. However, after this small area and short wonderful experience I was left hungry for more of it. Greedily, I moved down to parts of my neck. Now, having been given my first pocketknife at the age of 5 I felt pretty comfortable with a blade. I didn't think that straight razor shaving would be such a different beast but sure enough my lack of experience started showing, and it has a color, red. Yet, even after having nicked myself multiple times, I decided to venture further to try shaving XTG. It was a poor decision but I can't exactly say I regret it. Overall, despite the mild discomfort, it was an awesome experience and I can't wait for hair to grow back in order to give it another try.

Places I think I went wrong
  • Trying to shave more than just my cheeks the first time. I got to excited and definitely don't have the technique down yet.
  • Not waiting for my shaving soap to come in. I couldn't wait to try, so i just used what I have which is Old Spice shaving cream in a can that you would use with any cartridge razor.
  • May not have done a great job stropping. For now I am using an old pair of jeans and didn't feel as if laying the blade flat gave the right tension so I elevated the angle.
  • Again, not having the technique or the experience.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I'm sure that with more practice and less eagerness I will become better but it wouldn't hurt to hear it from others as encouragement.
Thanks for reading.