Thread: Why are my shaves only getting worse?

Originally Posted by richmondesi

One of the most baffling recommendations I see is for people to get a cheap, "beginner" strop. I'm with Alan 100% on this one.

While I may agree with the ideology, we must remember that beginners may not have the most solid stropping technique (such as deflecting the strop at the edge rather than the spine) and may even wind up damaging the strop with a too-sudden stop or some other n00b mistake. Better to bugger up a $30 strop and move to a better strop when the issues have all been ironed out. I know that had I made some of my early errors in a beautiful $100 strop, I'd be ready to barf. However, now that I've got a decent handle on technique, it is time to consider upgrading to some English bridle leather.

Originally Posted by SonOf1337

While I may agree with the ideology, we must remember that beginners may not have the most solid stropping technique (such as deflecting the strop at the edge rather than the spine) and may even wind up damaging the strop with a too-sudden stop or some other n00b mistake. Better to bugger up a $30 strop and move to a better strop when the issues have all been ironed out. I know that had I made some of my early errors in a beautiful $100 strop, I'd be ready to barf. However, now that I've got a decent handle on technique, it is time to consider upgrading to some English bridle leather.

I've heard that line of reasoning a lot, and I still don't agree with it

If you buy a cheap strop, say the $30 one from your example, and then you decide to buy a $100 one once your technique improves, your total investment is $130

Now, instead, you buy a better quality $100 strop to begin with. After you replace the leather component for $50, you're looking at a total investment of $150... To me, it's worth the extra $20 for a significantly better product.

When someone introduces a really high quality strop for $20-$30 bucks, I'll be all over it, but as it stands now, I'd rather buy the nice strop first