All good advice here. What kind of razor do you have, where did you get it, was it professionally honed beyond the factory edge?

Angle and stretch are important. There's no single stretch for your whole face; for my chin I probably do dozens of separate ones and dozens of short, narrow passes. Where the whiskers are stouter (mustache and chin) I have to raise my angle a little bit to give the edge a better bite at the whisker base, but for most of the face and neck I keep the spine about a spine's width from the skin. For any against-the-grain pass (which I don't recommend unless you know the blade is in tip-top shape), keep the spine flat to the skin. It's much less likely to follow the barb down into your flesh that way.

You'll notice as your shaving and stropping techniques improve. It just feels better and better. Very rewarding that way.

Best wishes to you.