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First time stropping went well.... What am I doing wrong ?

Be afraid, be VERY afraid. If already started, get out of SR shaving now!

There was reason why the world's population was much less when SR shaving was the norm.
When I started with straights around 9 years ago I don't remember the shaves, just the cuts to my nose and lips 😊 I have started again recently and reading about the cut ear has hit my confidence, though I have a beard now so its just my neck I am practicing on, so no worries eh 😂
 
When I started with straights around 9 years ago I don't remember the shaves, just the cuts to my nose and lips 😊 I have started again recently and reading about the cut ear has hit my confidence, though I have a beard now so its just my neck I am practicing on, so no worries eh 😂

Ladies like scars. Get to work! :c9:
 
I haven't heard anything from @discomike in a long time. Just checking in on your progress Mike.
Hey titleist...

I've been away for a couple of months as I've had a number of things going on which require my attention away from the forum.

Work, vacation, and a couple of home projects I have to work on.
It's summer here in new York so I've regulated my shaving duties to double edge safety razors during these summer months. I will be going back to straight razor shaving in the fall as the weather tempers down.

However, everyone will be happy to know that I have yet to cut myself with the handful of straight razor shaving , and my strop has yet to be nicked.

That is where I am at now. But I am enjoying my shaving creams as I exhausted my first tobs sample jeymen street.

Hopefully everyone is doing well here.

DM
 
Hey titleist...

I've been away for a couple of months as I've had a number of things going on which require my attention away from the forum.

Work, vacation, and a couple of home projects I have to work on.
It's summer here in new York so I've regulated my shaving duties to double edge safety razors during these summer months. I will be going back to straight razor shaving in the fall as the weather tempers down.

However, everyone will be happy to know that I have yet to cut myself with the handful of straight razor shaving , and my strop has yet to be nicked.

That is where I am at now. But I am enjoying my shaving creams as I exhausted my first tobs sample jeymen street.

Hopefully everyone is doing well here.

DM

Good to hear from you Mike. Having a busy life and enjoying the Summertime is a blessing in my opinion. I just didn't want you to fall through the cracks! Looking forward to your return here when things settle down. Ahem ..... actually in life do things really ever settle down? lol!
 

rbscebu

Girls call me Makaluod
Good to hear from you Mike and I look forward to the return of your regular posts.

Stay safe and enjoy your life.
 
My progress has been incremental and it often takes me repeated learnings of the same lesson for the truths to sink into my brain.

It took me a long time to gain confidence in stropping. For me, the light bulb moment came while watching a video in which @Doc226 makes a comment about keeping the spine on the leather. After spending a little time practicing keeping the spine on the leather without letting the edge touch the leather things began to improve.

This technique allows you to gently lay the edge on the leather, controlling the amount of pressure. Just think about the terms spine leading and edge trailing. Makes sense, right?
 

Slash McCoy

I freehand dog rockets
OK, so I am new to SE Shaving. I just acquired a few straight razors along with a couple of Tony Miller Strops thanks to everyone here making me spend my money. No more money left. I hate all of you !!!

I performed my first SE shave last night which was less than stellar. You can read about it in the General Straight Razor Talk forum. After the shave, I dried off the razor and left it alone for the night due to the long experience of my first SR shave.

I now performed my first stropping of the razor I used last night on my Tony Miller Strop. From what I read from everyone here in the past was that you will butcher your first strop, so purchase the economical one, and then when you get your technique down, go for Tonys premium strop. Tony offers both, so I purchased it from him based on the wisdom of the shaving people here on B&B. The strop I used today was the economical one.

I first shaved on the linen 25 passes back and forth - North to South motion. Or is it south to north motion ? You get it. Must have taken me 5 minutes or so to complete. I then turned it over to the leather side. 50 passes back and forth. My arm started to get tired on the 20th pass. With a little break, I completed the whole 50 passes. It went well. No butchering of the leather. No cuts. No nicks. So now I ask all of you - what am I doing wrong ?

My first SR shave - although laborious and not the results I had wanted, I did not cut myself with the razor. And with todays first ever stropping - no nicks or cuts on the leather or linen. So as a new-be rookie to SR shaving - what am I doing wrong ? Isnt the right of passage to becoming an artisian SR shaver to have a few nicks and cuts along the way ???? On the face and on the strop ?
<sinister evil laughter> The shave gods, the evil ones anyway, love it when you are overconfident. They will play you like a jukebox and then BAM!!!
 
It’s hard to tell what you did wrong without a video but my guess would be that you didn’t charge the nemesis like a hero from the Wild West who knows how to strop his blade with maximum speed making a rapid “swish-swosh” sound while all the ladies swoon at the sight of his raw masculinity. At least that’s how I shred my first strop to confetti.
 
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