Thread: Martin103 enables an old dog to learn a new trick. Circa 1841 !

Call me stupid,I am not understanding this,so your not stropping pre shave,Only post shave,put the blade away till next use.
Haul it out and shave (no stropping)but the reality is it was stropped pre shave after you used it last.
Whats the purported advantage to doing this?? Just curious.

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

Call me stupid,I am not understanding this,so your not stropping pre shave,Only post shave,put the blade away till next use.
Haul it out and shave (no stropping)but the reality is it was stropped pre shave after you used it last.
Whats the purported advantage to doing this?? Just curious.

Gives a bunch of old guys something to talk about !

Kidding aside Bill, you make a relevant point and I didn't see that until you said it. Well, in effect I guess it is of a piece. I mean that if you strop after the shave, you are stropping before the next shave. The difference in my particular case is about 30 to 50 linen/leather additional immediately before the shaves.

I'm not going to bother looking it up right now but, IIRC , most all barber manuals recommend stropping right before the shave. I cannot explain why only stropping after the shave is advantageous, I only know it is working just spiffy for me.

Well you know darn well I will try it,just seems so unatural

Holy Mackerel Andy. Only the older guys will know what that means....................

There must have been about 20,000,000 barbers since the dawn of man and until today, each and every one of them have recommended washing the beard with hot water and soap followed by 2 or 3 applications of moist hot towels on the beard. 20,000,000 barbers can't be wrong. I have been shaving straight for more than 45 years and the very best shaves I have ever gotten have been HOT as mentioned above.


I salvage industrial wastewater for a living and I know what hot water is capable of doing. It is one of the most efficient softening agents on the planet. A cold water shave is not scientifically viable. 6 billion people on the planet bath in hot water. Hello boys and girls. Dish washers clean by softening food particles with hot water. We steam clean our engine compartments. We steam clean the sidewalks in front of WalMarts and Supermarkets etc. We heat plastic and rubber so it is more pliable. Heat is better. Heat softens PERIOD>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

You don't cook your food with cold. You cook it with heat to soften it.

I didn't write this post for myself. I wrote it for Pixelfixed so he won't feel so unnatural. Thanks..........

Jerry

Originally Posted by mrsell63

Holy Mackerel Andy. Only the older guys will know what that means....................

There must have been about 20,000,000 barbers since the dawn of man and until today, each and every one of them have recommended washing the beard with hot water and soap followed by 2 or 3 applications of moist hot towels on the beard. 20,000,000 barbers can't be wrong. I have been shaving straight for more than 45 years and the very best shaves I have ever gotten have been HOT as mentioned above.


I salvage industrial wastewater for a living and I know what hot water is capable of doing. It is one of the most efficient softening agents on the planet. A cold water shave is not scientifically viable. 6 billion people on the planet bath in hot water. Hello boys and girls. Dish washers clean by softening food particles with hot water. We steam clean our engine compartments. We steam clean the sidewalks in front of WalMarts and Supermarkets etc. We heat plastic and rubber so it is more pliable. Heat is better. Heat softens PERIOD>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

You don't cook your food with cold. You cook it with heat to soften it.

I didn't write this post for myself. I wrote it for Pixelfixed so he won't feel so unnatural. Thanks..........

Jerry

You're assuming that softer stubble shaves off better than unsoftened stubble. I don't know, but isn't it possible that harder stubble is easier to cut because it stands up to the razor, and hot water is just used because it feels nice? Just a thought.

Originally Posted by Matt69

You're assuming that softer stubble shaves off better than unsoftened stubble. I don't know, but isn't it possible that harder stubble is easier to cut because it stands up to the razor, and hot water is just used because it feels nice? Just a thought.

How old are you, Matt?

Originally Posted by mrsell63

How old are you, Matt?

Forty-three, why?

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

Call me stupid,I am not understanding this,so your not stropping pre shave,Only post shave,put the blade away till next use.
Haul it out and shave (no stropping)but the reality is it was stropped pre shave after you used it last.
Whats the purported advantage to doing this?? Just curious.

There may be two effects going on here.

I agree it seems counterintuitive when you put it like that, but you could be work hardening the edge with the strop as it is brought back into shape and then something called 'age hardening' where the metal's structure becomes stronger over time. This can occur even at room temperatures (but is more normally performed at a higher temperature in non ferrous alloys). This would mean that if you delay your shave after stropping the age hardening process will have time to affect the metal and give you a better edge. There is probably a sweet spot though. Leave it too long and edge damage might occur through normal corrosion, no matter how slight. And these things have an improvement curve that gets shallower so after x hours you wouldn't feel any noticeable improvement.

You've inspired me to strop now and shave later as a trial.

Might also be interesting to see if there are any metallurgists out there who can tell us more? Especially differences between carbon and stainless. I know some stainless steels are age hardened so that could make a difference and explain the favoured regimes by different users.

Could also explain the legends of razors being sharpened by moonlight. No need to rush into the garden, just leave it in the draw for a few hours!

Who Knows,I don't strop right after a shave,I have an aversion to stropping a just used warm blade.I do strop maybe a couple hrs later,oil and put the blade away.
In Jims local,maybe a cold shave just feels better,In my town they are calling for Sats temp to be 111,a cold water shave may be the best one yet

As I recall, when I did the stropping experiment years ago stropping after shaving only, gave inferior results. I also don't recall ever seeing a barber strop after a shave.