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...it appears the most difficult part for me is to get the angle correct. I would shave and it would be a smooth shave, but wouldn't take all the hair. I adjust the angle and it's not as smooth, but the hair comes off. Is it the angle? Lack of stropping experience? Was the razor not "shave ready" like advertised? Do I need to get it honed? One things for sure - I LIKE IT!
Hope this helps...1st pass downward is to be FLAT
It'll come easier with practice. Here's more information about angles:
File:Cutting angles.jpg - Straight Razor Place Wiki
Oops, this is what I meant.
The blade angle diagrams , are meant as a guide and not meant to be hard line rules to follow mindlessly . Obviously , you can't shave with a protractor taped to your razor , so you're never going to know exactly what angle you're shaving at . It's a "feel" thing , for me . You will start to develop the feel for the correct angle after a few shaves . Start with a low angle and work your way up with minute adjustments , until it is shaving good . You don't need to make a big change in the angle , to make a difference , a little bit will go a long way . It just takes a little practice , and will get a little easier , every time you shave .
Everything needs to come together for a good straight razor shave. For example, what is your stretching like? A "correct" angle with poor or non-existent skin stretching won't be as effective. Try pulling the skin with your other hand so that you make the whiskers stand up in that area (rather than lie flatter). Then shave there, trying some angles, just in that area, to see how it goes. I'd suggest doing this experiment on a flat part, like the cheek. You may be surprised.
James.
Watch videos too. They helped me alot. Sometimes I don't get all the wiskers in one cut, I just continue on then relather and have at it again to do a cleanup.
I'm pretty sure it's a blade angle issue. If the razor were not shave ready, you would know it. A razor that is not shave ready is actually painful, if not impossible, to shave with because it will pull every whisker on your face. I'm not sure if you read in the WIKI about using a butter knife to practice with, but this seems to be a good way to get use to blade angle. A 30 degree angle will put an approximate gap of 1/4" to 5/16" between the spine of the blade and your skin.
Some straight that you buy new say they are shave ready from manufacture but really it's not, best bet maybe to get it checked.
It's helping me to consider that stretching is an angle issue too. The angle that counts is the one in the very tiny zone where the steel is meeting the skin. If you're shaving an area that has any looseness at all, the skin can bunch up right before the blade edge, like a loose rug. So even though you may have a 30 degree angle to your face, right at the blade edge there might be a 1mm spot where the skin is bunching up and the angle there could be 80 or 90 degrees. Until it's cut. :p Stretching helps make sure that the angle in that small zone is the same as the angle you can see.
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.