Cheap Strop?

My first razor came in the mail today. Its a Genco Master Barber. I figure for the price, I couldn't go wrong. I actually managed a decent shave for my first time. Not much blood on the blade, but the left side of my face is smoother than the right side. The curve where my neck meets my chin and cheeks needs some practice to get a closer shave, but I was very happy. I don't have a strop yet. It seems that a cheap one will run me about $50. I saw some vegetarian strops, and figured if they would work, I would try an old belt. It seemed to work, but I have no experience with a real strop. Will I get even better results with a real strop, or should I just stick with my $7 belt strop?

Many people have had good experiences stropping on newspaper, when a proper strop is unavailable. Look around the strop forum there's lots of discussion about it.

Otherwise, look on ebay for a used one that isn't cracking and has no pronounced bends in it. You can probably get one for around $20.

Maybe I can help you here, because I had the same issue with my start up. I initially bought a cheap e-bay strop that said nothing on it except "made in Pakistan" I was NOT pleased with what I got. Even after conditioning the leather, the strop was still bowed, so I could never get the blade flat against the leather. (even when i pushed hard, which you shouldn't do.)
After that i switched to newspaper while i located a new strop. Newspaper does work well, and made a very decent replacement for a strop. However, its hard to get a mastery of stropping technique on the newspaper (in my experience).
Kenrup was very helpful, and hooked me up with a very nice strop for only $35, and it's been doing an excellent job for me. I still use newspaper after a few shaves just to freshen the edge a bit.

Anyhow, the lesson I learned is that its worth just a little extra money to get yourself a strop you can be sure is good. So get one from one of the vendors here. Nothing fancy, but something reliable. It may seem like a good idea at first to try and get the cheapest strop out there, but when you consider that the strop is going to be your main equipment for razor maintenance, it should be worth the extra bit of money to you.

+1

so far i do not like my dovo brand

Check out the Tony Miller starter / apprentice strop at www.thewellshavedgentleman.com. About $30 before shipping. You can't go wrong with it; it is a truly excellent strop. You can check out what others say about Tony's strops in the reviews and strop threads.

A strop is one of those things that once you buy if you take reasonable care of it, it can last all your life so it pays to spend a little more to get a good quality strop. if you watch eboy you can get a good condition vintage strop probably for $30 or so and I've never seen a poor quality vintage strop. Maybe the condition can be bad but they made good strops in the old days. For new stuff contact Tony Miller he has really good quality stuff for reasonable prices.

Sure you can use an old belt or newspapers or balsa wood and all kinds of stuff in a pinch but a strop is really an essential piece of equipment the same as a razor so if you would pay enough for a decent razor do the same for a strop. Your razor will thank you.

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Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Sure you can use an old belt or newspapers or balsa wood and all kinds of stuff in a pinch but a strop is really an essential piece of equipment the same as a razor so if you would pay enough for a decent razor do the same for a strop. Your razor will thank you.

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Definitely agree with this. Instead of spending money on something cheap now, save the money and get a nice quality strop. You will be happy for a very long time. While waiting/saving for a nice strop use the newspaper.