Thread: when to strop?

I strop before and after and sometimes just when I'm in the bathroom. I have been known to strop in front of the TV too.

This is what I've started doing as well. I had a bunch of well-honed razors that didn't seem to be shaving me right. Then I realized my stropping was out of whack. Too much pressure, too loose etc. So I used a barber hone to refresh the edges on a few of the razors, and then started stropping them ultra-light, literally just the weight of the razor on the strop and only enough pressure from my hand to keep the contact consistent. I did 20 double strokes on the fabric, 40 double strokes on the leather. The shave seemed better, and so I repeated afterwards, and then did the 20/40 before the next shave and subjectively, it felt better still. So then, keeping really light pressure, I gave that same razor 50/100 and the next shave was downright glassy. For the first time my chin and moustache area was nicely done with no nicks, no temptation to "clean it up" with a DE razor.

So I'm convinced now that stropping before and after the shave, a goodly number of strokes, but keeping the pressure as light as possible short of letting the blade fall off the strop, is the way to go.

Of course, you have to start with a well honed blade, but stropping tight, light, and lots has really helped this newbie with a more comfortable, closer, shave with many fewer nicks.

Originally Posted by kcarlisle

+1 to all the above. I've never read or heard anything saying a razor needs to sit up like that. It's only steel and that would be like telling a soldier he can't shoot his gun for a day or two after firing a shot. LOL! Even though steel is affected by temperature changes & such, I don't think the hot and cold water from your tap is enough to worry about. As a matter of fact, I'm willing to bet the steel in a blade has finished doing whatever it's going to do in less than an hour after shaving with it when it reaches ambient temperature.

As I understand it, even though the edge of a blade appears smooth, it looks more serated under a microscope. Each one of these little serations gets a little out of wack from each shave and needs to be re-aligned. Stropping is what re-aligns and polishes these little serations. I read a good article written by one of the old razor manufacturers that talked about stropping before and after each shave. Stropping before a shave polishes the edge and gets it as keen as possible. The razor's edge can get a little oxidation along the edge that can't be seen by the naked eye. Stropping after shaving helps dry the blade from the friction. For the better part of my str8 razor shaving career, I've been stropping 20 linen & 40 leather before a shave then 15 linen & 30 leather after a shave. Since I've been doing this, I have never had a water spot appear on any of my blades and my razors shave really well every time.

...surprised me a little. She's been a bit skeptical of the whole straight-razor thing. But the other night, we were both in the bathroom and I was stropping my "test the strop lots and light" razor and she said that the sound of the stropping was strangely comforting to her.

These women, you just never know.

Originally Posted by AnarchoPhil

I strop before and after and sometimes just when I'm in the bathroom. I have been known to strop in front of the TV too.