Thread: Importance of stropping for beginners realised....by a beginner

A week or so back after 2 months of straight shaving (with varying results) my straight was a bit dull so I ran it over my newly acquired Norton 4K/8K, stropped it & shaved. It made a massive difference, but I thought it's still tugging a little bit so I gave it a few more runs on the 8K side, & stropped it before my next shave. My next shave was a bit disappointing. It actually felt duller than it had after I touched up the edge on the hone the first time. I did a thumb pad test & noticed that only the toe end of the razor seemed to stick, the rest just didn't feel like I've read the TPT should feel so naturally I thought I'd done something wrong while touching up the edge with the hone it & would have to do it again.

For a change I had an intelligent thought & went to the strop before the hone. 50 runs both ways, & I could immediately feel the difference on the whole blade just using the TPT. Had a shave with it not half an hour ago & it was the best shave yet. It also only took 15 minutes instead of the 45 it took a few weeks back. Less irritation & I was impressed with the 1st pass. I feel like I'm getting closer to that BBS shave every time I pick the razor up, but I'm not quite there yet, need to master the ATG/XTG which I'm well off doing. I can at least completely ignore the old mach 3...finally, which is a really nice feeling.

Today I realised how much stropping actually does affect the edge, & I'm starting to understand what to look for with the thumb pad test...a little bit.

Also, it was nice to get rid of 3 days worth of itchy beard.

It takes a bit but eventually all the little pieces start falling into place, congratulations.

Bob

Congratulations! Sounds like you are off to a great start.