Thread: First shave and don't know what to think

Hea everyone!

I just received my first "real" straight razor after shaving for a couple of months with a Bluebeards Revenge shavette.
I reached the point of shaving really comfortably with the shavette, but it never gave me a really close shave on some parts
of my face like the chin and jaw.

The blade I bought is a Mühle 5/8 inch round-tip hollow ground from manandshaving.com (Dutch website). It says that it is made
in Solingen on the blade and scales. According to the website and the sticker on the box the blade is already professionally honed
and stropped so it should have been completely shave ready but I have my doubts for as far I can have doubts as a beginner.

I started the the shave with the lathering of the face using a Mühle badger brush and a Mühle aloe vera shaving soap cake.
After getting the lather on my face as a white covering blanket I noticed that the lather dried to a plaster after shaving my cheek.
I reckon I will need to use more water in the future?

I pressed forward determined to finish my shave as I think I should have a basic technique as I used the shavette for quite a while.
In the end I relathered a couple of parts of my face as the lather dried quite quickly. The main problem I face is the following:

My face in the end was really irritated and red. I started on my right cheek which gave a very nice result but my left cheek did
not get even close to a shave as there are still stubbles there. My chin still had hairs even though I tried to shave it with a 30 degree
or higher angle. During the shave I noticed that the blade would skitter across the skin on the lower left part of my neck. During the
entire shave I felt I had to put a little pressure on the blade to get it across my face especially near the end.

Due to the incomplate nature of my shave I quickly grabbed my shavette to complete the shave to a passable result. I did not
strop the razor before the shave as the sticker said it should not be needed.

Hopefully I gave you guys a clear picture in the hope you can answer me the following 2 questions:

- How much water is enough to get a good lasting lather?
- Is my blade a bit dull or is there a certain part of my technique/preparation that should be the answer for my problem?

Regards and thanks in advance!

*EDIT: The parts I did shave of my face I did when the lather was still wet and foamy and was not in the plaster like state.