Thread: Wrist ache from stropping

you might also, when feeling better, practice stroppnig with something other than your razor....no fear of messing anything up, and you can relax and practice 100 strokes....

Originally Posted by loueedacat

I might have this issue - so I'm going to lower my hook too and see what happens.

louee, rah,

There may have been a couple of reasons the old barbers had the strop hung from the chair so the attachment was slightly below waist high - it may have been a more strain neutral height. I dunno. My strops are hung from hooks on a well anchored board at elbow height so I just pull the strop straight back with my shoulder and I don't have to work my stropping arm either uphill or downhill. And I use the finger and thumb roll on the shank of the razor with minimum wrist turning - but I still use some wrist turn, not much, but some.

The finger roll works best on razors without a thumb notch. Those Le Grelots 1/4-1/2 hollows which shave so well can be a son-of-a-gun to strop with great facility particularly after you've cut part of the end of your thumb off.

It's normal that initially your wrist will feel stiff / sore because you will be making unfamiliar movements. Try to keep relaxed. If there is a lot of tension, you risk tendonitis.

If you give the 1961 barber manual excerpt from the SRP Wiki help files a read here (last two pages) you'll find some good tips on proper stropping that may help to alleviate the condition. Notably practicing flipping the razor between the tips of the thumb and forefinger without making the stroke. The wrist , as noted by previous posters, does not turn.

I was a wrist turner when I began. Upon reading the barber manual excerpt I relearned stropping with some difficulty. It is hard to break bad habits but doable. No more chipping little bits on the edge of my strop on the return pass once I stopped turning my wrist and slapping the blade audibly on that return pass.

A + 1 with Bruce on the height of the strop. I too, taking a lead from the old barbers I've observed, hang my strop just below waist high. Hanging the strop from a door knob works out perfectly for my particular height. Get well soon.

I dropped my strop way down, the bottom hits the baseboard when it hangs in place, the top is below waist high. It is way easier to strop down there. Before I had it around elbow height.

You could try changing your pattern. If you do an X pattern you might try a heel to toe down and toe to heel back motion. Or vice versa. Or change up the pattern daily just to change up the repetition a bit.

change to a paddle strop.