Dull Blade??

It's really hard when you don't have a reference for anything. Shaving, stropping, the ol' enchilada. Everything is new. Just hang in there and expect issues all along the way.

I mentioned before that I refined my stropping technique and experienced a better shave. Well, I've taken it a step forward and it seems that I really was working with a dulled blade due, at least in part, to a faulty strop. These things happen in life.

I bought a poor man's strop from whippeddog, and followed all of Larry's instructions in regards to preparing it and taking care of it. But I noticed this morning that there were wrinkles in the leather that made the leather rough to the touch. Larry, in his infinite greatness, is replacing it. I have about 6 inches of smooth leather, so when I stropped today I made sure to only strop on the smooth areas and do more laps to compensate for the smaller stropping area.

I've never had a better shave. It's not as close as I'd like, but I saw more stubble washing down the drain than I have in the week I've been doing this. Plus, I did three passes and there's not a trace of burn or irritation, though I did get a tiny little weeper that really didn't even bleed.

There were other things that I think helped, like better beard prep and the fact that I let my face go for an extra day (I read once that longer hair was easier to cut). But the blade was indeed much sharper than it was before, and I know that once I REALLY hone my stropping technique it can only get better.

Finally.

I hate to question the ideas of other, but honing on newspaper is a dumb idea. Newspaper is partially made from recycled paper. Who knows what small particles are in the news paper. You could have small particles of quartz or metal. Seems like a quick way to screw up a razor.