Originally Posted by 1adam12
I have only been SE shaving about two months now, but I can definately share what I learned about stropping the hard way. I dulled out my razor a few times until I got the kinks worked out.
Hold the strop taught. Do not try to play with sagging, be safe and save yourself the frustration. Hold the razor flat with no pressure even though the urge is there to do so. Go slow. Very slow. Speed means nothing, it just looks cool. Here is the key that really made the difference for me. Most stropping videos I have seen do not show it because they are going so fast. When you roll the razor between your fingers make absolutely sure at the end of the stroke to roll it on the SPINE not the BLADE. In other words when you are on the stroke moving away from yourself; at the end roll the razor AWAY from yourslef. On the return stroke roll the tazor TWARD yourslef. This will prevent you from folding over the edge when you roll the razor over.
Good luck and hang in there it only gets better. You will be so proud of yourself once you complete that first really smooth shave; you will forget all about the 20$ you blew on a bad strop from Pakistan. :D