Thread: "Touching Up" Guidelines?

Touch ups are easy, whether you are wondering about when or how much. When to do a touch up is as soon as the razor is not performing as well as it used to. That's it. Don't wait until the shave is unbearable. Do it as soon as you notice a decline in the shave. As far as how many strokes, just start with a few strokes such as 3-5 on a barber hone or 10 on a coticule. Then shave and decide if you need to do more or not. In other words, when doing touch ups I prefer to sneak up on it. I have seven razors in my locker at a gym and I keep them in a leather roll. If the razor is fine, I put the razor in with the monkey tail up and if it needs to be honed I put it in with the tail down to remind me to touch it up. If I do the touch up and shave and it's still not right, I just put the tail down again and keep repeating till I'm happy with the edge again.

In my opinion, Lynn's adage of "less is more" is never more true than when applied to touch ups.

Edit: Yes, use the coticule with just water for touch ups. I've never used a Shapton but I'd assume (guess) it would be in the range of 5 to 10 strokes.