Thread: Where did my velvet squeegee go?

I am on shave 13-14 or so and I haven't had any cuts or anything for the last three shaves which is good, but for the last three shaves i have been hanging my strop on a drawer in my office which is much lower than the door knob I was using before.

I suspect that something changed in my stropping that has dulled my razor. Thinking back to my stropping today, i was applying a decent amount of pressure with my thumb to hold the razor against the strop when drawing the blade back to myself. This would be the thing that changed the last 3 times i stropped.

I hung my strop back on my door knob and did about 30 laps or so. When stropping this way, i apply virtually no pressure. I am letting the razor's weight do all of the 'work'. This seems to work ok, but because i am such a newbie, I am not sure i have anything to compare it against. I am not sure what the draw is supposed to feel like. I have a filly strop.

My plan is to strop it really well and shave with it. If it still pulls, then I am going to do 7 passes on the pasted side of my filly and strop it and shave with it. If that doesn't work, then i will send my razor back to get my free honing. Does that sound like a reasonable plan? I really hope i don't have to send my razor to be honed because I don't want to wait that long! I considered ordering another razor to use in the meantime, but I am not sure what the effects of that will be on domestic tranquility.

Thoughts?

For a newb 13-14 shaves before a touchup is not shabby at all - in fact that's great. I suspect it isn't necessarily the change in your stropping routine; there are so many variables in edge longevity, including beard prep and shaving technique. It probably just needs a simple touchup. What type of paste is on your strop? If it's something not too agressive, like chrome ox, try doing 10 light laps or so and you should be back in business.

Hmmm...Sounds like a plan.

When you do strop it on the pasted side of your filly, my only suggestion would be to initially do so only 10 complete strokes. If that doesn't work, then do so another 5x, then another 5x.

BTW...do you have a fabric strop of some kind? If so, then you could strop it on the fabric after doing so w/ the paste--before moving to the finished leather of your strop.

Unfortunately, i don't have a cloth strop. I only have my filly with CrOx on it. I will run my razor over the pasted side a few times and see what happens. I am a little nervous about it, but I am sure it will be fine.

I will keep everyone posted.

Just be sure to clean the blade thoroughly after the pasted stropping, so you do not get any paste on the clean leather!

I did 11 laps on the pasted side of my strop to touch up the blade. I didn't really know how to get all of the paste residue off so i just washed it with water and then stropped it gently on a towel. After that, i stropped it on the leather side of my strop for about 40-50 laps.

The edge feels different now. It feels a lot smoother than when i got it from SRD. I am not sure why that might be. I usually only strop about 25 times so maybe that made the difference. Perhaps i was not stropping enough before. It could also be the case that my horrible technique was a little harsh on the blade on my first few shaves. Any thoughts?

This might be my best shave so far. It was super smooth and velvety, but I think shaving after three beers might not be the best idea. I got one little nick and a couple of weepers during my touch up when i was going against the grain too much, but I am still pretty pleased with myself.

Originally Posted by thecornerbooth

I did 11 laps on the pasted side of my strop to touch up the blade. I didn't really know how to get all of the paste residue off so i just washed it with water and then stropped it gently on a towel. After that, i stropped it on the leather side of my strop for about 40-50 laps.

The edge feels different now. It feels a lot smoother than when i got it from SRD. I am not sure why that might be. I usually only strop about 25 times so maybe that made the difference. Perhaps i was not stropping enough before. It could also be the case that my horrible technique was a little harsh on the blade on my first few shaves. Any thoughts?

This might be my best shave so far. It was super smooth and velvety, but I think shaving after three beers might not be the best idea. I got one little nick and a couple of weepers during my touch up when i was going against the grain too much, but I am still pretty pleased with myself.

Ah yes, such is the power of chrome ox. As well, 25 laps on leather really isn't that much. My razors see a preshave minimum of 100 laps - usually 40 linen and 60 leather - followed by 10 linen and 20 leather after my shave. Try increasing your laps on a regular basis and see what happens.

BTW - nothing wrong with a few beers before shaving When you get to the point when you don't cut yourself after those beers you know you've made it

Since i touched up my razor, I noticed that when i shave the left half of my face my razor doesn't seem to be as sharp as when i shave the right. The shave quality is about the same, but it tends to drag more. Could it be that i dulled just one side of the razor with bad stropping technique (wrist rolling for example) or is it more likely to be related to shave technique?