Thread: The no strop shave

It's 4:50 am this morning. I'm in my bathroom with a nice lather on my face. I pick up the Dovo and bring it into position on my right hand. The shaving grip is so different than the stropping grip..........uh oh. Forgot to strop! So I'm doomed right? Well the shave was.....okay! It was actually one of my smoothest ones yet. But I don't plan on making this a habit.

------Michael

Glad it worked out for you! Next step, see how many strop-less shaves you can enjoy before you notice a problem.

you could have palm stropped

More of a question for clarification: I was under the impression, stropping before shaving is just something you need to do if you don't strop after the shave. While some insist on doing both, it seems more likely a benefit afterwards, than beforehand IMHO. Opinions?

I strop before and after, but I like stropping and can't seem to get enough. Seems to make sense to me that the blade is better off if I get it back into good shaving shape as soon as possible after the shave, and then put it back in the drawer, ready to go. Of course, I have to strop just before the next shave as well, just in case I didn't strop enough after the last shave. Could be I have a problem, but I'll leave that up to the professionals to decide. I personally wouldn't try shaving without stropping, but it would be an interesting experiment to see how long you could go without while still maintaining a nice edge.

the main reason I do a quick strop post-shave is to make sure the edge is clean & free of any water residue that could corrode & compromise the edge.

30/70 before, 10/10 after. During the 30/70 the lather is already on my face 'soaking in'... I actually LIKE stropping, it's a meditative thing...

I agree with Carl...It is very meditative. I do it the opposite way though with most of the stropping done post shave and just a little pre-shave stropping. I don't bother to count as I tend to just get absorbed with the process.


Mick

That's funny; lately I've also got absorbed and found myself counting way over the number I'm 'supposed' to do... :-)

If you strop before your shave, you are temporally stropping after the last one.
If you strop after the shave, you are temporally stropping before the next one.

Just puttin' that out there.