Hi Suff,

As you can see already, you've found the 'motherload' of good help. Some of what you describe in using the safety razor and then the str8 point to some technique items you can alter that should help.

The soreness, redness w/ the str8 and double edge (DE - safety razor) is the common razor burn. Almost always its from too much pressure of the blade against the skin. For months, I thought I was successfully using 'no pressure', only to find again and again that wasn't the case. With any tool, we're used to taking the tool to the work and applying some kind of force. In shaving - rather than taking the tool to the work (beard), it would be more effective to think of making the beard available to the razor by the ways you stretch and stroke. If the skin is taught and somewhat flat, the razor requires no pressure to do its work.

The whole 'shave ready' thing is huge. I bought a costly blade from a retailer, only to find their idea of shave ready was suitable for torture, not shaving. There's a reason my screen name is 'pinklather'. If you need a hand w/ your edges - PM me. 'Just the actual cost of return postage.

Stropping is also huge, and I ruined my edges like many others. My edges were more dull after stropping than before. The best thread I've found on the topic is grom Glen (gssixgun), where the stropping vid. from the honorable AFDavis is also linked. This one's golden.
http://straightrazorpalace.com/begin...ch-2011-a.html
Another great thread from another wonderful guy is:
Please don't nick your strop

For reference - when you nick your skin - don't keep shaving over the nick until it has healed. Doing so will keep opening the cut and make it take alot longer to heal. I believe it was Lynn (godfather of this site) who mentioned a dab of Neosporin helps nicks heal a bit faster. This is one case where the generic substitutes will not serve as well. Like most topical treatments, the 'inactive' ingredients are 90+% of the formula. The inactive ingredients in neosporin are a virtual 'who's who of great things for skin. The generics are not. It takes a few days for a nick to heal. Stay away from them until they're healed and you'll be a happier guy.

Keep posting here. The guys were very patient and kind with my ignorant questions as I learned. You'll find most of us to be very supportive.

'Hope to hear more about your shaves soon.