Hi all,

First post here so hello from the UK. I've been banging on about straight razors to my gf for a while now, so lo and behold I got one for Christmas Got a proper brush and some decent shave cream. I've got a Dovo 6/8 straight razor but don't have a strop or hone yet (under the impression they came pretty sharp so could be used out of the box) but planning on getting them pretty soon.

So basically I'm two shaves in and my face is very sore, I've gone through the proper prep and kept my face well lathered, only done one pass so far (with the grain) as I haven't been able to get much further. I haven't experienced a very close shave yet and feel around my chin and upper lip a lot of tugging, however my hair around there is very course.

I've had quite a few cuts to my face, I was fully expecting this being a newbie but I thought I'd experience a much closer shave without any tug or pull. Is it the blade I need to sharpen? Or my method?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Cheers.