Thread: Newbie, need some help here

Jantje,

Welcome to SRP! (are you in Belgium?)

Your strop is called a loom strop, which is a kind of pasted paddle strop. It has it's place in sharpening and maintaining a razor's edge, but for daily stropping it is not really suitable. For now, you can get by with stropping on the clean leather side only, but I really recommend that you'd buy a hanging strop with a linen side and a leather side.

For the time being, adjust your loom strop to be taut, but not overly tight, and strop on the clean side. Make sure to store it in its box with the same side up every time, so that you don't contaminate the clean leather with the green paste that tends to get on the inside of the box as well. If the green stuff is Dovo's green paste, then it is a rather coarse compound that leaves a coarse edge, harsh to the face. Dovo's red paste is a bit finer. You could get a small tube of that one and put it on the clean side of the loom strop, once you get a dedicated hanging strop for your daily stropping. The loom strop with green side and red side can be used to produce a shaving edge on your razor. It is not the most comfortable edge, but it 'll do. The paste has to be applied thin on the leather. It should be translucent a bit. You can remove the excess with a rag. Simply rub the surface and often change to a clean part of the rag, till the leather starts to come through.

Here's a link to a decent explanation, and some good video's about stropping.
Razor stropping - Straight Razor Place Wiki

To prevent rust, I thoroughly dry my razors after use and then apply a light coat of sewing machine oil. It's better to store them in a dry place and not in the humid conditions of a bathroom.

Hope this helps,
Best regards,
Bart.