Thread: Diamond after every shave?

I'm about 9 months into it. Really getting a good feel for shaving, confidence with the blade, stretching skin etc. It's enjoyable now. Got a set of Naniwas, watched Lynn's Naniwa video a thousand times until I memorized it, and even was successful my first honing.

I like to try various tests before and after shaving just to get a feel for things. I've noticed that the HHT for me though it passes consistently in various places on the edge before a shave, seems to fail after the shave (even after stropping 50x on smooth leather after a shave). I have to do 10x stroke or so on .5u diamond, then back to the strop again for the HHT to come back.

Does this sound normal? I was under the impression that most of you simply took to the leather after a shave to refresh the edge. Perhaps my technique is still wanting or my beard is course. Does it seem wrong to need diamond stropping between each shave?

Thanks,
Dave

Try stropping on linen before leather for one thing. The other thing is try skipping the HHT and shaving with the razor the next time you need to shave and see if it is up to the same level of performance as the first shave was.

Diamond spray is a fast cutter, you definitely do not want to use it before every shave. If you feel the need for a daily blade refresh something is wrong with your normal stropping or shaving technique.

Please stop using the HHT as an indicator of anything. Learn to use the TPT or, more importantly, the shave test. Your face is the best indicator of what an edge needs.

Most of us strop on material and leather before shaving. As well, many (but not all) find diamond spray to be harsh. Regular material/leather stropping should be more than enough to keep your edges going for many many shaves before going to pastes or hones.

Originally Posted by Ryan82

Most of us strop on material and leather before shaving.

My strop system is the SRD modular. It came with a smooth leather, a rough leather, and two felt inserts. I have always thought (maybe incorrectly) that using the rough leather was somewhat functionally equivalent to using material (like linen). I do strokes on the rough leather before moving to smooth leather. Do you think I should incorporate real linen or similar fabric into the stropping routine?

Thanks,
Dave

Just increase your amount of laps on the strop. Your using a paddle which is roughly half the size of most guys hanging strop. So when someone says I do 40 laps linen and 60 leather. You need to think 80 laps linen or in your case rough leather and 120 leather.

+1 to Castel33, the modular paddle from SRD is a nice system, but definitely don't use diamond spray after every shave! In fact, I believe SRD recommends starting on the scrub leather for the first round, then finishing on the Premium 1 leather (60-80). If you eventually acquire a hanging strop, you'll a bit more length to work with and could reduce your number of passes.