Thread: Why are my shaves only getting worse?

Hi all,

I'm new to shaving with a straight (obviously). It seems like every time I shave, the razor pulls more and more on my hair. In the past this would have meant that my cartridge razor was dull and I would have thrown it away. Now I assume it means that my edge is dull. I got this razor from a member here and it came to me wonderfully sharp. I have shaved with it about 12 times and it seems like I bleed more and get more razor burn every time. I started out stropping it around 30 times until I read that this wasn't enough so now I strop before and after my shaves sometimes as much as 70 times on a poor man's strop. Seems like it just keeps getting worse though. I know that it isn't ready to be honed yet so it must be my stropping or else my shaving technique? Even if I have a good lather worked up the blade goes right over the hair leaving significant stubble which makes me shave the same spot multiple times which gives me razor burn around the chin especially. I try to strop evenly and also try to keep the blade flat. My strop is a little thin so I am forced to make a "x" pattern which is kind of hard... Is it possible that my stropping is only making it more dull? If so, can I bring it back? Help!

If your razor keeps getting duller and duller, that means it's your stropping technique. Keep the strop as flat as you can, and use very light pressure with the razor. Make sure you aren't lifting the spine.

It might be the "poor man's strop". When I originally purchased all my shaving gear, about 7 years ago, I spent the big bucks on a high quality strop. To me that made the most logical sense when it came to expenses for straight razor shaving.

Originally Posted by AFDavis11

It might be the "poor man's strop". When I originally purchased all my shaving gear, about 7 years ago, I spent the big bucks on a high quality strop. To me that made the most logical sense when it came to expenses for straight razor shaving.

"Stropping is King"

It sounds to me like you have degraded a quality edge with a substandard strop and, to compensate for declining keenness, started to press harder. If that's even close to what happened you should back up and revisit your strop and stropping technique.

You might think that it's too early to have the razor honed, and you may be right, but it's time to do something with it. If not re-honing, then a touch up with a finishing hone or a pasted/sprayed strop will be in order. Which brings you back to stropping.....

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.

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

When you say poor mans strop I'm assuming you ean the one from whipped dog. If that's the case, did you pretreat it as reccomended? I ask because I had the same issue and in my excitement to begin all shings shave related, I ignored the instructions. I then went through what you are going through. After I massaged in some lather and rubbed it with a coffe mug god knows how long, I took the razor across it about 40 laps and it was good to go again. While I usually go by the "get what you pay for" adage, it doesn't always mean that cheap price is cheap quality, but it may just need some love to get it right. People do that all the time with razors on here after all...pick it up cheap, polish, re-scale and presto! And as others have said, why drop a bunch of money on a strop you will inevitabley mess up?

Originally Posted by mrbison

Hi all,

I'm new to shaving with a straight (obviously). It seems like every time I shave, the razor pulls more and more on my hair. In the past this would have meant that my cartridge razor was dull
....snip...
My strop is a little thin so I am forced to make a "x" pattern which is kind of hard... Is it possible that my stropping is only making it more dull? If so, can I bring it back? Help!

Tough call from a keyboard.

One way to think about stropping is that you
set the blade on the strop and drag the edge behind
the spine slowly thinking that you are letting the
strop pull a slightly folded edge straight. No pressure
just let the strop do what it does.

If you have a canvas strop give it 25 strokes
with the same feeling then 40 on leather. The fibers
of canvas can "snag" little steel folds on the sharp edge
and pull then straight or off.

If you do not have a canvas strop try newspaper.
Take a 2 1/2" to 3" wide board that is 1/4" to
an inch thick and 24 inches or more long, wrap it with
a couple layers of newsprint and strop on it.
Set the spine down followed by the edge and
smoothly strop the edge.

Save this board. Later, you can glue common hobby
shop balsa wood or leather to it. Apply CrOx paste
or a spray of sub micron diamond and make a strop/hone
that will help many razors stay smooth and sharp.
Your board will have two sides so clean leather
and pasted balsa or leather is possible.

If these little tricks do not help consider sending it
out to a honemaster.

If you have a barber hone or another 8K or finer hone
you should give it a try. If you cannot improve the
edge send it out. BTW I like the Norton 4K/8K combo
hone...