Thread: Shave lather as Strop treatment

Hi everybody

Has anybody heard of rubbing some shaving lather into a strop
I read it online somewhere recently - forgot to save the link
Apparently it's an old barber shop treatment for strops

Any input appreciated

Rick

I"ve done it on a couple of strops that I thought were a bit 'TOO" Slick. By putting on a bit of shaving lather and letting most of it dry on the surface, it does increase the "Draw" IMHO.
After you let it dry of course a good rub down with a clean soft cloth helps a lot also.

tinkersd

Yes, applying shaving lather is part of my restoration regiment.

When I get vintage strops they tend to be deformed and dirty.
What I do is I start sanding the surface until it is clean.

I wipe the strop thoroughly and apply a very dry shaving lather. In fact, because it contains less water, I prefer lather out of a can.
I let it sit for an hour and wipe of the dry lather. Then I wipe the leather again.
Afterwards I apply leather conditioner (mostly oil) to the back of the strop.
yes, to the back. The oil soaks into the leather, making it subtle without greasing the stropping surface.
This gives me best results.

Usually I apply two coats of oil to the back.


Be warned about the shaving lather. It acts as a cleaner and soap residues on the strop will clog the fine texture of a leather.
It will affect the feel when stropping. Sometimes it makes too much draw!

I lather my strop up every month or so or whenever the draw seems diminished. I lather it up heavily at night, let it dry overnight and wipe it off the next day. I find it helps considerably with draw. I'll get build-up on the blade sometimes as I strop, but it is easy to wipe off (wet paper towel) and not much of a nuisance.

I had a cheap ebay strop that felt way too slick. I actually rubbed it with a puck of soap with no water until it had a nice coating and then rubbed the soap off with my hand trying to get it warm so the soap would melt down into the leather. It worked pretty well and increased the draw a lot.

I never do it but just consider soaps back in the day were different to the ones made now so the effect might be different. However if you review the posts on the subject you'll see many guys like to use lather. I would check the ingredients first though.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

I never do it but just consider soaps back in the day were different to the ones made now so the effect might be different. However if you review the posts on the subject you'll see many guys like to use lather. I would check the ingredients first though.

+1, I guess it depends on the strop you have. I woudn't rub soap on any high quality leather product, (SRD Strop, Tony Miller, or Kanayama to name a few) If you need more draw, buy a strop that has more draw. Most soaps have a "drying" effect. It may work in the short term, but I think continued use will dry out the leather. What about the cleaning agents in soap? Think how your skins feels out of the shower. (unless you have a water softner)

Some still rub soap or lather on their strops. I think strop conditioner would be a better choice.

YMMV

I know this is an old thread, but yes I actually do like to lather my strop. I've been doing this to my SRD Premium II because it is way too slick and I love a medium draw. I find that after lathering the strop I get a very smooth comfortable shave. After a few months of doing this, I haven't noticed any problems caused by it.

The instructions I read on this said to use shaving soap that contained tallow, such as Williams. IIRC, the procedure was create a thick lather, brush on heavily, rub with glass bottle (bear, olive, etc.) being careful to stay away from the rib/seam in the glass. Wipe off excess lather with damp cloth, dry with dry cloth and hang strop to dry for at least 24 hours. The soap cleans and conditions in one operation. Between cleanings the only other treatment I give my strop is hand rubbing before stropping razor before shaving. Its about 4 years old, been cleaned once and still looks good as new, except for a few nicks and cuts.

You can type in 'cleaning strop with lather' in the search box at top right of page for more info.