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They say to use your hands (literally) to rub on a strop to get a good result with your straight razor well my hands are dry so i basically rubbed my 2" thick leather strop on my forehead and on my hair and because of the oils produced naturally by my head my strop is the best it has ever been. (You may think this is disgusting but it works)
We all hand rub.it works.The oil on your face contains Staph Aurious,perfectally Normal,But I do not want to make a petrie dish out of my strop.
Wellcome to SRP :)
I think as long as you limit it to those parts of your body, you'll probably be fine.
I have a stone pipe that I shine up by swiping my hand across my forehead to pick up the oils and then hand shine it so I could see how this would work for a strop too. As for me, my forehead is MUCH cleaner than my hands so no worries about a petri dish here. Lol.
Deal ..........:deal:Quote:
Originally Posted by ace
I know I am only a rookie to the forum but I have been straight razor for over five months now. Hence the rubbing of my strop on my head which really does produce the desired effect.
The day my wife and/or kids catch me rubbing my strop against my head will probably be the day I get told to put the sharp things down and follow the men in the nice white suits...oh...and give this nice jacket with buckles on a try, it looks like it will fit.....:gaah:
Or a Petra dish even.Quote:
Originally Posted by pixelfixed
I feel the need to wash now........oily !!
Hey there are MANY people here that have done things 'non-traditional' and found that it works for them. If it works keep doing it. Thanks for sharing I will try it out. Why not? What do I have to lose besides my dignity? Hopefully no one sees me doing this.Quote:
Originally Posted by petra
Update.....I have a very greasy forehead. It was so much oil that I ruined the draw on my strop:shrug: I wanted to try other parts of my body too but I made a deal with Ace. Pretty good if you need some extra oil but if your strop is already good to go then this could be an over kill
:overkill:
I prefer to use leather balsam instead of my own secretions, seems a bit more hygienic :P
Agreed - kind of takes the "gentleman" part out of straight shaving and substitutes, well....insert your own adjective(s)!Quote:
Originally Posted by Ludvig
Actually, many straight shaving 'gentlemen' have been using their own secretions from their hands to rub on the strop to keep it supple for years now. Not much fuss about that. Just saying.
I guess for me, using the palm of my hand to condition the strop is one thing, rubbing it on my head just goes way to far into the Twilight Zone...for me at least...but hey, if that's what floats your boat, no problem....as they say, YMMV.Quote:
Originally Posted by Steel
:D
A good strop doesn't need oil unless it is in air con or the desert for a period of time.
You can also use the inside of your wrist to rub a strop.
I rub the joint of my fishing rod at the corner of my nose before assembly.
Before I go to bed I rub the joint of my fishing rod on ........oops wrong forum! :popcorn:Quote:
Originally Posted by 32t
Actually, Staphylococcus aureus isn't limited to the face, it's typically present on skin, regardless of the body region (especially inside of our noses), including our hands. Hand washing reduces the level of colonization, especially when antibacterial soap is used, but that also strips some of the oils you're trying to transfer to the strop.Quote:
Originally Posted by pixelfixed
I wouldn't worry too much about contaminating the strop unless you know that you're colonized by a methicillin resistant Staph aureus (MRSA); precautions are necessary if that's case. But it's extremely important that the face is clean for shaving. All shaving causes some degree of exfoliation, so infection is possible even without visible injury.
Is there a reason not to use neatsfoot oil on your strop to restore the natural oils in the leather(leather crafter for years but new to straight razors)
I think many people here use neatsfoot oil. What I do is place 3-4 drops in the palm of my hand and rub together and then rub palms on strop.
Has anyone ever tried the turtle wax lens clarifying compound on a strop I would assume and we all no what that means is that if its fine enough to polish glass in would theoretically polish a blade?
Hence the need for a good old fashioned alcohol based aftershave :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Dzanda
I've been palm rubbing my strop for years. And yes, I've tried using the oils from my hand, forehead and hair and not only have I never had an infection but I'm still alive to pass on my tale to you good folks at SRP ;)
Polish as in make shiny or as in stropping an edge ?Quote:
Originally Posted by kuhnelc
I've used the micromesh one for polishing horn & I know it's 1micron paricles in suspension but don't know what it's made of.
Wouldn't bother with it for stropping . Plain leather works fine for me.
Substitute Bogan for Gentleman .... hard callQuote:
Originally Posted by Phrank
Well I don't know about this forehead rubbing carry on, or neatsfoot oil, or lens clarifying compound, but let me tell ya, a little ear wax goes a long way. Best strop conditioner by far and always close at hand...
Interesting. I'll give a try just for curiosity. I bought a bottle of neatsfoot oil one month ago to use on my strop (it gave a new life to the strop).
Interesting also the information about the bacterias on the skin.
Thanks for sharing.
I am going to try the spray neatsfoot oil on the back of my strop and let it work itself in. That way the stropping side would not get oily.
All this talk of Hygiene when NeatsFoot oil comes from the shins of cattle. Interesting ideas of what we all consider hygienic, if it comes in a bottle it's okay, if it comes from our own body it's not, lol
I like your ideas
experimenting is key to success in life
I don't think is weird at all I have been doing this as well before I've purchases neatsfoot oil. Another thing I do sometimes is even more disgusting but I don wash my hair for day maybe and rub horn scales in my hair it gives them fantastic shines :)