Thread: Hitting the brick wall.

The only thing I would add is don't put any pressure on yourself to figure this out quickly. When I was learning i'd shave with a straight for a couple days and then DE the rest of the week. Give yourself time to grow into it. Also, sometimes if you develop bad muscle memory habits, a couple days off helps you approach it fresh. And no shame in doing two passes with a straight and then cleaning up with a DE until you start hitting paydirt with the straight.

Also, go SLOW on the strop. You may need to touch up on a coticule if you've rolled the edge.

But stick with it. It's awesome and your face feels better than after DE.

After reading all of the others' advice on here in re: your technique, it might be helpful to actually hear the sound of proper and improper stropping over on the Wiki.

Razor stropping - Straight Razor Place Wiki

That being said, I've shaved once and stropped twice so I don't really know what the hell I'm talking about.

Face preparation is key to a good shave. A nice foaming soap or a non-soap like Kiss My Face shaving gel is good. The razor must be sharp. The finishing of the edge on the strop has to be done right or it will degrade the edge off of the stone. Are you using magnification? A 60x-100x illuminated microscope from Radio Shack will really show you what's going on with the edge and then you can correct from there.

Originally Posted by Bruce

... we'll fight off the throngs of our new admirers....

Are we fighting over worn or unworn thongs? Oh, throngs..........nevermind.

Jim