Thread: Very nervous about doing my first Stropping today

Well you can buy a razor from a honemeister that has been honed, stropped and mailed and it is recommended that you just shave without stropping so an hour before shouldn't be a problem. I always do my stropping before and then after the shave I rinse and dry the blade and do 20 more strokes on leather to make sure there isn't any micro gunk in the bevel.

Originally Posted by esp

What exactly happens to the metal of the blade? Does it comes out of alignment quickly?

Nothing happens with the alignment, it starts oxidizing though. I like to strop after I lather my face, that way the lather gets a chance to soften the beard.
How long to strop before you shave really depends on how oily is the leather (some of my strops leave a film on the edge which slows down oxidation of the metal), and how good you are stropping and shaving. Basically the changes start occurring immediately (on milliseconds scale), but you have to be able to detect them, and that is a matter of how big the changes are and how sensitive your detection is.

I usually strop before I take a shower. I haven't noticed any sort of performance degrading due to stropping time rest. Don't worry about it if you get right to it. As mentioned the biggest reason is for oxidation and as long as you don't live in a salt mine you'll be fine. Have fun shaving .

Lots of good advice so far. My routine consists of soaking the brush while showering. Once done, I make my lather and apply, I then strop the razor, reapply the lather and have at it for the first pass. I then re-wet my face, relather for the next XTG pass and so forth for the ATG. I end with a cold water rinse, dry the razor and the inside of the scales if wet and quick strop 10 linen and 10 leather to make sure the blade is dry. Hope this helps as well as the other advice.