Thread: Close, but not comfortable

I don't think you can over polish an edge by stropping. Probably after 40-60 passes you accomplish nothing further. Of course if you do hundreds of strokes and start applying more pressure thats a different story. As far as stropping before shaving I agree with that. The idea is to have a fresh edge to shave with. On the microscopic level the second you stop the stropping rust begins to develop. You may not see it but it is there and the longer you wait the more accumulates. Unless of course you place the razor in a vacumn. Then you don't have to worry about rust.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Unless of course you place the razor in a vacumn. Then you don't have to worry about rust.

But then you have to worry about other things like dust bunnies and carpet fiber

Please forgive and excuse me for saying so, but I think other possible problems are beard prep and shaving technique. I don't know why those areas have been completely ruled out as possible problem areas.

There is nothing to forgive or excuse...any possibility can be discussed without fear of wounding my pride.

As for beard prep, that is one area that I actually have a lot of confidence in, as I have been shaving with a double-edge for two or three years, and in that time I have experimented with lots of different shaving products, finally settling on a few high-quality soaps that I have come to trust. I neglected to mention it in my initial post, but I am not using any foamy goo or anything like that.

As for shaving technique, that is certainly a possibility. Coming from a DE, I know what kinds of angles are necessary to cut my beard, but a safety razor is not a straight razor and it's possible that I am mis-applying the principles. I try to be cognizant of angle and pressure at all times, and I know that in many cases, a particular rough patch is definitely because I dug the razor in too hard or opened it up too far by mistake. The more I shave, the better I am getting about fixing those goofs, but I'll be the first to admit my technique is far from perfect with a straight at this early stage.

I appreciate the suggestions, hoglahoo. You are quite right in pointing out that it would be a mistake to focus exclusively on the condition of the blade without discussing those other factors. In my case I am leaning towards the blade being the main culprit for a number of reasons (it tends to push the hair on my forearms aside instead of slicing it during testing, I can't cut the pad of my wetted thumb even with a fair amount of pressure, and as I said the blade grabs and pulls my beard instead of cutting), but your suggestions do have merit and I am not dismissing either one.

Lets see how the shave goes, but yea, you follow all the conventional wisdom and still get tugging and pulling then maybe its time to stop listening to all the conventional wisdom. Thats a good life lesson there too.

About 7 passes on the strop is all you need to polish an edge, then after a few shaves re-draw out the edge and begin again. Redraw anytime you get some pulling, you fail the TPT, or the razor fails to draw on the strop.

After reading my posts, these URLs might make more sense to you, and help you out a lot. You need to read all three of them carefully, you'll note my advice in there if you read them with a "critical thinking" mindset.

stropping, first stroke

stropping, last stroke

archives, la pogonotomia III

I'm just here to fix problems, after that you can return to all the conventional wisdom you want.

Follow-up report: as I said in an earlier post, last night I stropped using more pressure than I had been, and I was rewarded with a different-feeling and different-sounding stropping experience. I felt the razor drag against the leather more, and there was a more pronounced "sssschhhhick" noise on each stroke. Then I followed that up by going back to my ultra-light pressure strokes. (Interestingly, I noticed that rasping sound carried forward into the light pressure strokes...it sounded louder than normal even with no pressure. That could easily have been because I was simply more aware of the sound, though, and not an actual change.)

This morning I gave it a few more "pressure" strokes and another 10 or so light strokes (also giving my strop the first nick, sigh) and then shaved. I knew from the first downward stroke that the stropping had made a difference. I didn't feel the immediate tugging that I had been feeling. It wasn't quite there yet, as the blade still felt grabbier than it should, especially on most of my neck, but definitely an improvement!

Next step for me is to get the blade looked at and possibly refreshed just to make sure I didn't do anything stupid to the edge in my ignorance, and then try to do a better job maintaining that edge with improved stropping. I also want to improve my evaluation technique...I have a feeling that at least some of what I am perceiving as a dull edge is because I am not picking up the subtleties of the thumbpad test. I read things like "the edge should immediately break the skin of a wetted thumb" and "it should feel like your thumb is stuck to the blade" and I am expecting something dramatic and immediate. I suspect the feeling is just more subtle than that and I am just not attuned enough to pick it up.

Again, I truly appreciate all the helpful suggestions. The generosity of spirit here continues to astound me.

That sounds promising. I think you're on your way to a stropping merit badge!

Stropping technique is a key component of a great shave. I didn't believe this at first, but then I hit a similar milestone by applying some pressure while stropping, and the edge refinement was quite noticeable.

I also use the TM starter strop (fantastic strop!), and one thing that you may also want to try and play around with is to use the rough side for initial stropping and then go to the smooth side for finish stropping.

I put a little of the TM neat's foot oil on the rough side and rubbed it in to soften things up. Start with light pressure, as the rough side has a lot more friction than the smooth side, and then you can experiment with adding more pressure.

Give it a try. For me, it seems to freshen up the edge a bit more than smooth side stropping, but that may all be in my mind, as I haven't conducted any relative experimants to see what, if any effect it may actually be having. That said, the rough side definitely gives you more draw and a different stropping experience, which I happen to enjoy.

Thanks, that's a neat idea. I don't have any oil, but I will run the blade over the rougher side a few times just to get a feel for the different draw, before finishing on the smooth side.

I am finding I really enjoy stropping, but I am just no good at evaluating the edge with the thumbpad test. I have been practicing a lot with double-edge blades, and I still can't get the feel for it. Last night I took my blade out of my DE razor, which had about six shaves on it and hadn't been used for a few weeks, and then I unwrapped a fresh blade out of the box. I wetted my thumb, and touched each. Damn if the used blade felt stickier than the new! My thumb seemed to glide over the new blade, but the used blade felt a little grabbier.

I then stropped up my secondary razor (my primary one is out for possible refreshing by a pro), tried the test on it, and I just could get no feel for any stickiness. If I lightly ran my thumb over it, I met with no resistance. The harder I pressed my thumb, the stickier the edge felt, but even pressing hard enough to dent my thumbpad a good deal and the moving my thumb up the blade didn't break the skin. And yet the razor shaves pretty well. I don't know, maybe the tips of my thumbs and fingers just aren't very sensitive. I'm really curious how my primary razor feels once I get it back...if the expert says it passed the TPT for him and it still doesn't feel sticky for me, I'll know I am some kind of unfeeling mutant.

Just want to follow up in case any other newbies might browse this thread looking for tips.

Still using my secondary blade, but the stropping tips in this thread continue to make a world of difference. It seems like every time I shave, the edge feels a touch keener. I usually strop at night...10 or so passes on the unfinished side of a TM apprentice strop, and then 30 passes on the finished side, starting with a bit of pressure and then easing off for the last dozen or so. Then, I give it another 10 or so quick, light strokes just before the shave the next morning.

It really has made a difference, and I just want to impart something to any fellow newbies I have just recently learned: It is impossible to research your way to good stropping technique. I have read a dizzying amount of posts on how to strop in the last few weeks, I printed out Dr. Moss' guide and studied it daily, I printed Joel's stropping guide on B&B and studied it, I even printed the relevant sections of an old copy of Moler's Barber Manual and studied that diligently. I felt like I was prepared, I knew what I was doing. But still, my stropping was poor at first. The only, ONLY way to get good at stropping is to strop. Get a back-up blade, get a practice strop, and go to work. It takes time to learn what good stropping feels like, both on the strop and on your face afterwards. Learn the basics by reading, but perfect the skill by doing. I am far from there yet but I feel like I am making good progress, thanks to the excellent advice I found here.

Excellent update, thanks!

Personally, I have never been able to get the TPT. I usually assess edge keeness with the HHT. I usually start with the hairs on the back of my left hand (I'm right handed..). I try a test cut 2-3 mm above skin level. The advantage of the arm hair tets is that you will be able to actually feel the tug of the edge that is sharp (cuts the hair), but is still not quite "there" yet. My idea of shave ready edge is a back of hand HHT that severs the hair with barely any noticeable tension at all. Sometimes teh hair just literally falls in half when I touch the razor to it. I love that!

Keep up the good stropping! I've become somewhat addicted to stropping.