Thread: Strop mid-shave?

Does anyone else feel like they need to strop mid-shave?
Today I did my FIRST solely straight razor shave, with no DE touchups. For the past week, i have been slowly shaving more and more of my face withthe straight, as I get comfortable with it. Today, I did three full passes. W-X-A.
It's pretty good, nowhere near as good as I can get with a DE (though I know it will get there with practice). No blood, almost no irritation.

However, by the third pass, the blade was cutting noticeably less well. I had stropped thoroughly before the shave. My beard is pretty tough, but not fully wire-like. I was shaving with a Rup- sharpened DA. (Which started off the shave feeling much sharper and smoother than my first 'starter" razor that I got last week).
So, do I need a mid-shave strop?
Is my lather getting "old" maybe? Or perhaps the time out of the shower is letting my beard dry out and get tough again.

Occasionally I strop midshave when I realize I didn't strop enough before my shave

Never feel like the blade is dulling mid shave?

Yes, but that's when I figure I just didn't strop enough beforehand. It happens to me fairly often though... Maybe I need to experiment

AH, got it..."enough." That was a big word I missed when I read your post the first time. I thought you meant you forgot to strop before hand. Seemed like an odd step to forget. Makes much more sense now. No more posting before I've had a second cup of coffee in the morning.

if it keeps happening, I'll have to experiment with stainless steel 9holds an edge better). There is one custom maker (maybe more?) using S30V...assuming it can take a good shaving edge...it should be able to handle a six pass shave without dulling!

I just figured it out, the razor I have been using to shave, almost exclusively (there are days where I just don't have time and grab the triple blade disposable) for about 3.5 months. at first I didn't strop half-way, now there are days that I do, I'll do one side of the my handsome face then on the other it isn't feeling as sharp and I'll strop it. but this was only after it started to dull.

Red

I do my initial WTG shave, then lather up immediately so the beard is still hydrating as I almost always do some touch up stropping. Generally only about 20 back and forth passes, if it takes more I probably started from a less than properly stropped edge. Then I reapply lather once more as the time to re-strop probably dried the lather a bit. Carry on from there, ATG, redo areas, and nit picking on my upper lip. I may do some more stropping here but in all honesty if I am that far without desired results, it generally does not make much difference at that point.

Thanks everyone for all the great feedback.
I tried this morning, after teh ATG pass, when I felt the razor was losig its edge a bit. 20 passes while the third lather sat on my face. WOW. What a difference!

It might mean that I am not stropping enough, or perhaps not WELL enough. This razor is by far my best shaver to date (says the man who only has three razors and a half dozen straight shaves under his belt.) It startes off much smoother than any other, but felt pretty dull by the end. Not today.

I think I will strop and prepare two razors from now on, so I don'thave to strop between passes. Hey...who DOESN'T want to get to use TWO of their razors every day!!!

Have never tried this but I am intrigued now and may have to experiment just for the heck of it.

Just to muddy the waters a bit, I NEVER strop between passes. If a razor feels like it's starting to go during the shave, I'll earmark it for 50 linen and 50 leather before the next and final shave before ending up in the "needs honing" pile. On the other hand I can't normally go more that a couple weeks with a razor between honings but the honings are light.... maybe 50/60 round trips on my coticule or 20 to 30 passes on a Shapton 16k and about 50 on my pasted benchstrop and it's back to normal for another 2 weeks of shaving.

Regards

Christian