I am a 23y/o from Virginia, that joined the Army at 20. Obviously in the military you need a close shave and I never had any problem using cheap disposable razors. When I deployed to Afghanistan I started to get razor burn very badly so i switched to a more expensive razor, which worked for a while until it too started giving me razor burn. This continued until I was using $20 dollars of cartridges a week. I broke down and bought a $90 electric shaver, which worked great for the last 9 months of deployment. When I returned to Germany I was told since I was now a SGT I'd have to shave closer, My reintroduction to blades brought back painful and consistent razor burn. My wife has bought me a straight razor for Christmas and I am just looking for proper use. I have read several of the guides (First Shave, Intro, Stropping, lather and cutting techniques) But any additional help would be great.
I have a carbon DOVO Razor and some Van Der hagen soap with a boar brush, and a norton 4k/8k hone and a straight razor designs strop. From what I have seen here it looks like my wife did some research before buying. I am getting more comfortable with shaving(except my deeply cleft chin), but still wanted to make myself familiar. I am familiar with care of metals but my first honing might be a bit of a challenge because I am not used to such a fine edge nor a straight edge.
Thanks for any feedback,
Bob