Hi, my name is Mike, and I'm new to the forums, and straight razor shaving.

I recently purchased a Dovo Full hollow carbon steel 5/8 along with a boar brush, and $10 horsehide strop. The manufacturer said it was shave ready, and I eagerly stroped it, and went through the pre-shave routine. My first shave was okay, and after several okay shaves experimenting with my technique and angles I started to fear my "shave ready" blade perhaps wasn't sharp enough.

I was never able to take off my beard as cleanly as the people in the instructional videos. Plus my eyes would water whenever I went around my lips. Mind you I've spend hours at this point watching videos on how to shave, strop, and hone. I know watching videos doesn't make me any expert, and perhaps the shaves I had prior didn't give me enough experince but I decided maybe I'd try and hone my razor. I purchased a Norton 4000/8000 water stone.

I feel like the process went okay. I followed the videos as best I could, and then stroped my razor when finished. So that was a few days ago, and I needed to shave today. I stroped my razor, and lathered my face, and approached my face at the angles that had given me an okay shave only to have a shave that was worse than ever! I'm worried that perhaps I've honed the razor incorrectly and perhaps dulled or damaged it. I'd love to hear the opinions and suggestions of the people here.