Thread: Newbie with Dovo 5/8 and strop kit from SRP initial questions...

Practice practice practice both making lather and stropping. More strops is better. practice lathers are cheap. You either don't have enough water in the lather ot it may be too hot. That brand does not like heat

I'll chime in on the lather question: if it dries up, there's not enough water. Trick is, you need to add just a few drops of water at a time and then 'whip' the lather back up.... when you get it right it shouldn't be running, but it shouldn't stick to the sides of your bowl (or another way to think about it is that it should easily be rinsed from your blade under runnning water, but shouldn't drip off the blade when shaving. An added suggestion: you're new and probably taking your time, so lather your face in 4 quadrants (one cheek or half neck at a time... that will help keep the lather drying out while you 'slowly' shave

In terms of the strop, you'll do well to remember that the number of laps on the strop mean less than the pressure used.... don't pull the strop insanely tight, and play a game to see how light and slow you can go without coming away from the strop.

I have about 18 razors, I keep them out of the bathroom, but I always have my 'next' blade in the main washroom..... I never use oil and have never seen any rust (well no rust not related to me missing a spot while drying my razor after use)

edit: when I said 'but it shouldn't stick to the sides of your bowl' I mean, it shouldn't stay on the sides without and lather at the bottom of the bowl... it should slowly be falling to the bottom

@ecormier, @cubancigar Thanks for the tips. I'll check the water content, as it doesn't rinse off the blade that easy. It surely does take me longer than with the DE, so lathering in quadrants may help too.

Will see how things go tomorrow, with my next shave.

Originally Posted by pcm

Yeah, I stripped after, 30 times, figuring that I'd rather not do it enough that over do it, while I'm still learning.

You cant over do stropping if done properly. If not done enough you will find that your razor will not be as sharp. Try up it to at least 50 going slow and light. Good luck