Last week I anxiously received my freshly "Lynn honed" razor. The following day I received my order of Proraso pre/after shave cream, Proraso shaving cream and Trumper's skin food. After a busy week and a lot of convincing, this morning I was ready for my first ever straight razor shave. I started by taking a hot shower, being careful not to dry my face. I then applied the Proraso pre/after shave cream and let sit while I watched Lynn's video for the tenth time or so. After completing the video I rinsed off the pre shave cream (i'm not sure if I was supposed to or not if someone could let me know). I then whipped the Proraso shaving cream into a nice lather and applied it using a new silvertip badger hair brush. I let that set while I carefully and slowly stropped my razor, linen side first then leather side. After stropping, I added a little more lather just for kicks and was ready to give it a shot. I started on my right side using my right hand was not very impressed with the results. I adjusted the angle of the razor several times throughout the shave and it never really got super close and continued to pull the hairs rather than easily slicing through them. After finishing my first pass, I decided to relather and go with the grain again experimenting with different angles. This time it got a little closer, but not what I was expecting. I don't doubt that the razor is extremely sharp and would rather not prove it by slicing my face to shreds. I just hope that with a little bit of help and advice from all the seasoned veterans here that my shaves with get better with time and practice. I am using a 5/8" DOVO hollow ground "singing" razor from Classicshaving.com.
My questions:
1). What is a good angle to use and how do you know when you've got it.
2). Will better stropping eliminate the pulling of the hair?
3). Is there any particular type of rag that should be used to dry the razor or will a regular towel do?
4). Is the Proraso pre shave cream supposed to be rinsed off before applying the shaving cream?