Thread: Stropping is King - Part II

I was talking to a fellow the other day who I've been helping out a bit with straight razors. He was telling me how his shaves off the razors I honed for him felt like they were pulling. Now I guess everyone here has no doubt learned by now that there are many reasons why beginner's shaves may not feel the greatest - angle, stretching, prep, stropping to name but a few. There are many moving parts to a "good" straight razor shave and it can be hard to pin poor shaves down to just a single issue, particularly without seeing the shave first-hand.

So we arranged to meet up so he could show me his shave. Happily he works at a Barber shop, so shaving facilities were at our fingertips.

In any event, to cut a long story short (too late!), it turned out that his stropping was a bit off in a couple of ways, which were easily corrected and should yield him good shaves with some patience, practice and persistence.

So I guess the moral of the story is that stropping, beyond many of the other issues that may befall the beginning straight razor shaver, is undoubtedly in my mind the biggest hurdle beginners face. And it is the most important tool at your disposal, apart from the straight itself, when it comes to imparting a good shave.

Spend time learning how to strop correctly. Practice diligently. You will never regret it - quite the opposite in fact. And good luck!

James.