Thread: does anyone else strop during a shave?

When I first got my TM latigo I did find myself wanting to use it quite often. Now I'll strop in between passes if I'm doing an across-the-grain.

Imho there should be no need of stropping between passes if the edge is ok. Unless you like stropping of course

Next thing you know you will have the strop hanging from your belt and start stropping as you walk down the street.


I never strop during the shave

I have one razor that seems to need a midshave strop. My others don't.

I like to do a HHT before and after each shave, just out of curiosity. There is a tiny difference, which clears up after the postshave strop.

If I do a three pass shave I do not strop during the shave.

If I do a single pass shave I will strop before my next shave.

I see an inconsistency here…

Semper circa,
LG Roy

Strop away...
the most difficult (for me) thing to learn was how to tell when a blade
has lost its fine edge and need a visit to the strop, canvas
or hone.

My solution has been to select two razors and swap razors
for the last pass.

Two things happen if you strop in the middle of a shave.
The most important is the lather and whiskers get more time together.
The next is stropping does improve an edge and when
needed is be important.

Back in the 50's my barber would shave the back of the
neck of us kids and later our fuzzy sideburns. It was
not uncommon for him to touch a razor to the back of
our neck only to wipe the razor clean and strop it a second
time. His mini shave test told him to continue or not continue.
Sometimes he would swap razors.

I strop whenever I feel the need to.

I have never done that. Would a stouter blade width negate the necessity for that?

Originally Posted by rostfrei

I have never done that. Would a stouter blade width negate the necessity for that?

A stouter blade ... perhaps but not likely.

A lot depends on the whiskers and the way the razor is
being used and the razor itself. At the cutting edge all razors are thin
enough that the cutting edge is fragile. If the angle is high
and the whiskers tough then the edge will roll a bit but
can be unrolled (realigned) by the strop. More than a bit
and the razor might need canvas, pasted strop or a hone
to recover.

A number of folk are fans of wedges and other stout blades,
for a variety of reasons... If your face and whisker
set responds better to a wedge than it does to a full hollow then
switching blades would negate the need for stropping in
the middle of a shave.

Given the variety of razors and faces I doubt there is
an absolute answer.

Try it....

I usually do a 2 pass shave, wtg w/ lather, xtg w/ water. I strop before and after these shaves.

Occasionally I will go for the all out BBS with the ATG. With these, I've found stropping between teh xtg and atg gives a smoother shave.