Before I begin, I'd like to say that in the two months I've been shaving with a straight razor, I've made great strides. I'm finally getting the most comfortable and smoothest shaves I've ever gotten. It's done everything for me I wanted it to do, and I'm really enjoying myself. It's a more-than-significant improvement. But I'm a perfectionist, so I was hoping for a little advice.

I'm still struggling with irritation on my neck. Most of the time, it's mild, but tonight it was pretty bad. I'm pretty sure I know the cause, and it's the pressure of the blade on my face. When I begin shaving, my first pass is smooth and easy with no irritation. But it seems that as the shave goes on, I start to press. After 15 years of electrics and cartridges it's still hardwired into my brain to press and scrape, and I've had a lot of trouble overcoming it.

What I need help with is calming down a bit. When my first passes go well, I get really confident. Normally I'd think it's a good thing but I feel like I start to feel a little impervious and unconsciously apply more pressure. I start to enjoy myself a bit and get excited. Tonight I kept catching myself pushing too hard and when I'd look at my neck I'd see big red patches of irritation. I'm not losing my focus or anything. I just get really overzealous.

Even with the irritation, it's a massive improvement that I'm really happy about. With an electric or Mach3 the irritated areas bled a lot and would be sore for days. Now, it's 30 minutes after my shave and my neck already feels a lot better, and I know that when I wake up it'll be completely gone.

Ultimately, it comes down to me just putting in the extra mental effort to regulate my blade pressure. But does anyone else have any advice?