Thread: Stropping after shaving ... or not ? ... But why ?

Like a lot of shaving/stropping/honing preferences, our world of straight razor shaving is subjective. imho. My memory is getting so bad with my advancing age I always strop after shaving. With that I can be comfortable that my razor choice for any particular shave will be good to go.

I strop just a few rounds on cloth after shaving just to remove any traces of residue that might be there. Then sometime before shaving I'll do cloth and leather so it's ready to go.

^^ Same here; I do 5-6 passes on linen after wiping the blade with a paper towel. I strop normally before shaving, without counting these.

I keep all my razors stropped and ready to go. After a shave, I wipe everything with a tissue, and leave it to air dry. Then in the evening or another day later (when I've used a different razor), I will strop two or three of them and put them back into their little home with all of their friends. Each on in the case is ready to go....the mornings are rushed enough as it is, and I don't operate well until after the first cup of java.

Stropping when tired is directly proportional to the number of nicks you have in your strop.

I always strop on linen after a shave to remove any traces of residue that might still be there after cleaning.

Don't you just hand strop it on your palm? Cleans and oils it.

I strop 10/10 (linen/leather) after shaving. I never used to, but then I read about it here and decided to give it a whirl. As far as I could tell, the razor certainly looked cleaner after I did this. I always dry it (wipe it on a towel) of course before doing so. Then after stropping I always wipe it down with Eucalyptus oil. I guess, technically, there's a pay off between a clean and dry strop and a clean and dry razor. I'd go for the clean and dry razor; I can replace my strop pretty easily, but I'd find it hard to part with any of my razors, they each mean more to me than my strop...

I find stropping in the morning (30/70) gives time for my shave cream or soap to 'soak in' and I like having to force myself to fully concentrate on this task; it's a meditative thing...

Originally Posted by carlmaloschneider

I strop 10/10 (linen/leather) after shaving. I never used to, but then I read about it here and decided to give it a whirl. As far as I could tell, the razor certainly looked cleaner after I did this. I always dry it (wipe it on a towel) of course before doing so. Then after stropping I always wipe it down with Eucalyptus oil. I guess, technically, there's a pay off between a clean and dry strop and a clean and dry razor. I'd go for the clean and dry razor; I can replace my strop pretty easily, but I'd find it hard to part with any of my razors, they each mean more to me than my strop...

I find stropping in the morning (30/70) gives time for my shave cream or soap to 'soak in' and I like having to force myself to fully concentrate on this task; it's a meditative thing...

Well, Carl... I'm afraid of things I don't understand, so before my razor starts to grow on me I strop it down after my shave... I can hear it squeeking so I hit it a couple of times on my 8k norton.

Before I pick it up again - the next day - I smack it down on the felt for 20 strokes... then give it 30 on the leather... shave with it... then give it 30 on the felt before it grows.

We have to stay vigilant... before our blades grow out of our control...

Man... this is like too much work...

....

I strop prior to shaving. After I'm finished, and the blade is wiped down, It sits out, opened, on a paper towel to air dry. The next day I wipe it down with a silicone treated cloth and put it away, or back in rotation.

Can you strop after shaving, sure, why not. Is it necessary, no. It's your call. Personal preference.

I like stropping afterwards, 20 on linen and 108 on leather. Then oil and put away. This has kept my razors shiny and rust free, and ready to go out of the box.