The second 'ring'!

The stubble finally grew long enough so last night I went for round two with the ring!

I lovingly removed the implement from its case and inspected and to my shock it's not the edge thats concave but the gringing of the blade is slightly out. Yippee! It's straight (I know simple things...)

Jumped on the strop and after reading stuff from the other newbies decided that 30 linen and 60 leather passes should be enough. The razor still did not pass the HHT but hey I'm told the best way is to shave and you'll know!

I had been using Wilkinson Sword soap in the blue tub but had read how poor it is and bought some relatively cheap cream to give it a try.

Razor stropped, next job lather! On the advice of Randy the water was H O T. Applied a steaming flannel to the face and waited. Now usually the forearm takes a pounding as I try get some kind of feeble bubble from the WS soap so, as I pulled the soaked brush from the sink and headed for the cream in the mug I expected a battle. How wrong! Rich creamy lather in seconds and hot too. Applied and waited for a couple of minute and thought 'What the hell, a couple more laps on the strop cant hurt!'

To the good bit! I gingerly took the razor to my cheek and remembering the words of Randy and Xman set a shallower angle than the first time. I was after the shoooooop effect described by mrcpu. Thought to myself, here goes, one long stroke and............shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhoooooop! (remember what I said about simple things earlier?!?!?)

One pass, one shoop and a really clean shave! :y I am still struggling on the neck but no sign of the bouncing razor I had before thanks to the advice gained on here! :bow Thank you all!!!!! No cuts either! Here's hoping I am not being lulled into a false sense of security!!!!!!!

Simon

For those about to Strop, we salute you...

IN a few months it will be second nature!:w
Donald

A few months?

I am in for a real treat! :( :eek:

Simon,

I don't do more than 30 passes on a leather strop, I am sure 60 won't hurt it but for me it's too much time. You might try coming down to 45 next time and see. In addition I use short strokes while shaving rather than one long one but whatever floats your boat. Great news on the shave.:y

Its nearly time again so I'll drop to 45 and let you know! This really is too much fun to be healthy!

The soap plays a big role in comfort - all lather is not equal.

A couple more tips:

1) Err on the side of using too much soap or cream - this isn't to say you should be wasteful, but if you use too little soap or cream, you can get lather that looks good, but that dries out or doesn't lubricate as well.

2) You can reduce the nubmber of laps (a lap being one up and one down) you do on the linnen - I find that 10 to 20 are fine. I then do between 40 and 60 laps on the leather - as your stropping gets better, it will take less time.

3) I also find that working the lather into the beard helps get thicker lather and stand the hairs up so that they're ready to be mowed down.

4) Stretch your skin - experiment with different hand placements and find out what the best way to adjust your hand placement (the hand that isn't holding the razor) to maintain good skin tension - especially when going against or across the grain. Stretch before you put the razor to your skin - otherwise you can cut yourself by essentially pulling the skin across the blade (learned this the hard way!)

5) Take your time - better one good pass and some touch up with a safety razor than two rushed passes and a bloodbath.

It will likely take a month before all the various moving pieces (beard prep, stropping, blade maintenance, shaving technique) come together, but if you persevere, it will get better and easier.

Good luck and keep at it.