Well I just completed my very first shave with a straight, a Dovo ebony silver steel. And I think it was a relative success, for a beginner.

I decided to jump straight in, and shave my whole face with it, without the aid of a disposable. For a pre shave prep, I had a hot shower, followed by a hot towel compress for about 1min, lathered up with Razorock xxx and an SRD silver tip 1 brush, and off it went!

I only managed to give myself a few tiny nics, but didn't need the steptyc pencil at all. Although I may have used a bit too much pressure, as my face does feel a little red and raw, but not too bad. After the shave I followed up with Razorock after shave wax.

One thing I noticed is, the blade is much more noisy than what I thought it would be, I could really hear the whiskers being cut. Also I think it may have been pulling/grabbing slightly, so I'm not sure if that was the blade being a little dull, my technique or the fact that my lather was a rather poor first attempt and didn't seem to offer much glide(maybe I didn't have enough water?).

I bought the razor shave ready from Lynn at SRD, then before I shaved I gave it 20 passes on the cloth strop, and about 70 on the leather, but being the first time it was a poor attempt but at least I didn't slice my new strop in half.

Any ideas as to the razor Seeming to tug and pull a bit?