Thread: Barber's Hold

Originally Posted by alex1921

I hold my strops in a similar way like Gasman described, between the thumb and the index finger. It's the most comfortable for me. I haven't used anything else besides my old Japanese strops for the last 8 months. Love them.

I bend the strop over the top of my finger so that the end is pointing down. This keeps it flat. If you just pinch it with the thumb on top is where you start to get the cupping from my understanding.

And thanks TC. I had no proof of my statement so to say. It was from my understanding of strops. And i dont remember any barber shops that had handles on there strops. From pics of looking at old strops. I mean sure, there might have been a handle on some of the olds ones, but i dont think it was as much of a standard as it has been in the last 30 years or so.

Plus, this statement was to encourage a guy to give the handle-less strops a good try and not to just buy ones with handles.

Originally Posted by Gasman

I bend the strop over the top of my finger so that the end is pointing down. This keeps it flat. If you just pinch it with the thumb on top is where you start to get the cupping from my understanding.

Yes sir, I do a similar thing. Once I grab/pinch the strop, which is hanging in the closet at eye level, I pull it towards me which makes it bend over my index finger.

Given what Gasman and tc have said I'm beginning to think there might be something in Grazor's idea about regional differences. Certainly, all the old Australian made strops I've seen had handles. I'm going to keep my eye out for more examples. I'm old enough to remember barbers shaving customers with SRs but I can't remember what their strops looked like.