Thread: Help - first razor - several questions

I just recieved a straight razor for christmas. But they just bought me a hone of some sort, it wasn't marked.

What is a good strop, that is a good value?

They gave me a c-mon caddy knife is that a good quality razor (it is the one his barber recomended)?

If I've never really stropped a razor before how bad can I screw it up if I understand the general concept?

And how much does the well shaved gentlemen's strops usually run?

What are some of your favorite cremes and aftershaves?

Thanks for the help.

C-Mon is good! Bad stropping will reflect in the shave. Lay the blade flat on the strop with the spine leading, do not strop edge first. Move the razor up the strop, roll it over n the spine and drag it back, keeping the razor flat and using just enough pressure to keep it flat! You have to strop after every honing and before every shave! Check the SRP Vendors for strops, soaps, brushes, these 3 things are basic must have.

Brands? links? Personal preferences and why?

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?