Quote Originally Posted by LowCountryBarber View Post
No worries about giving advice to a barber. I would never ask if i did not want it plus I don't have to take it right?

It seems to me the I just need to work on my stropping. When I shave in the shop or have been shaving myself i have been using a shavette and i never had problems.

Stropping is totally new to me, I have never done that before. It looks way easier than it is and when you say to use no pressure when stropping mentally that does not compute. It seems almost pointless and that it is not really doing anything.

In fact i now have a few nicks in my strop as well. Maybe I ruined my strop and it is not working. Could this be possible?
Well that helps a little if you could get a nice shave with the shavette (which most people say is even less forgiving) then it might be your razors edge is being dulled alittle by inproper stropping.

I am trying to remember "the race car" analogy that was used for stropping but can't remember word for word someone will remember and post it.

nicks are common when first learning to strop I am guessing that the majority on the ends were flip the razor over? these are mostly superficial and won't effect the strops use, if you happen to put a nice slice in it these can usually be repaired by gluing it down or sanding.

The nicks mean you are probably going too fast and also might be lifting the razor or turning the strop slightly. If you have access to a camera and are willing to post a stropping video the experts here could help you even more. Alot can be told of your technique just from the sound a strop makes when you strop. Is it high pitched at times? That indicates that part of razor isn't making contact and you need to adjust so the razor lays flat. You want a nice low rasping sound there are MP3 files on here of good and bad strop sounds I'll have to find them and make a link.

basically the advice stays the same slow down you don't need to go fast while stropping and listen closley to the sound to make sure you razor is fully contacting the strop through the whole stroke.

Lynn is of course right about not moving on to other parts of the face till you master the cheeks but it is so hard to contain the excitement that we all understand wanting to try the whole face