Thread: Help - first razor - several questions

tony miller strops, non better, a good badger brush, and shave soap from mama bear are good,or prorasso cream italy's best selling for many years

I am a big fan of the red russian type strops due to their feedback when stropping, am fanatic about the soaps from the gentlemans quarter; bay rum, leatherneck etc, be sure to get a badger silvertip brush. You said you got ahone with the razor, what kind?

Wow, lots of questions in one post. Are you interested in good value for your strop or pure quality? In therms of quality, I think that most people agree that Tony's strops are the best. In terms of value, some people find the Illinois to be rated high. When I bought my strop, I was told not to buy the best strop because it is easy to dent it as you develop proper technique. A good strop should last for a long time. I think that was one of your questions.

You can dull the edge of your razor with bad stropping technique. There are videos in the wiki and a recent post (flipping the razor or something similar) that approach some of the details. I am sure that there are other sources of info as well.

In terms of soap, it is a matter of personal preference but there is a thread going in the soap forum (best soap anyone or similar) that addresses that part of your question. You already got a good recommendation (Proraso) and if you live near a Bath and Body Works, their C. O. Bigelow shaving cream is made by Proraso.

Same thing with aftershaves. A lot of people like the Clubman Pineud others, like me, prefer Bay Rum and some like more contemporary scents and formulations.

WARNING!!!! Before you use your hone, make sure that you know what you got.

Al raz.

Hi & Welcome, There is lot's of great videos on you tube about straight razor shaving, stropping & honing that will help you. The more you learn the better shaving experience you will have-!!
Good luck

Thanks all for the help.
what I got as a gift was this big box of peach color bars of soap, a badger brush, I have no idea the quality, it says Raiser Pinsel pinceau a barbe with a 1000 which looks like a stocking number. It sure feels soft. Then a hone, my brother said he'd get me a link to what it was. Then the razor.

The razor was new out of the box.
I actually got a decent shave out of that. When I had the angle right, it felt as good as my mach 5 blade. And I didn't cut myself at all.


Another question, can you really get a smooth shave shaving with the grain? I never did with my mach 5's. That was the only way to get my skin smooth for a couple of hours. I grow a ridiculously thick beard. Or do you guys actually shave against the grain.

For the ever popular BBS(baby butt smooth) 1 pass with the grain, 1 pass across the grain, 1 pass against the grain.

so if I picked up this strop. Do I need anything else like conditioner for the leather?

And what about the stops made out of other materials like canvas or wool?

Its a good basic strop, no conditioner needed. Alot of things like canvas vs linen vs wool etc is just personal preference.

OK you answered a few questions I had with that one, The razor must be stropped before each shave and stropped a lot after honing...
That is a good solid performer that you picked out, personally I like the #827 a slight bit better but either will do for the same price....

You "must" (better put that in quotes before the strop it on yer jeans or hand, guys kill me) have a shave ready razor and a strop to use a straight razor to shave....