How long without a strop?

So I've been bitten with the straight bug. I do not have a strop yet. I know I need one, and one will be in my near future. How many shaves are possible without the razor touching a strop?

 

Very few, maybe 4-5. You can use folded up newspaper until you can get a real strop. It works pretty well but not as good as leather.

 

Well for me is before each shave, so a strop is really essential in my shaving routine!

 

As many as your face will tolerate.
I'm with Gnomechompski - I strop before every shave.

 

I've never tried to get along with out a strop. I don't know if I would be willing to be without one but would guess you probably could for a shave or so. For me, it's part of the daily ritual of straight shaving.

 

I strop before and after every shave as well. I was just taking a guess at a number and assume it'd be somewhat similar to what a DE blade life is. I forgot to add this to my original post.

 

But keep in mind some folks get only two shaves out of a blade while others will get 4-5 times that many out of the same brand.

 

+1 for the newspaper vote. It works good enough until you can grab a quality strop. The amount of shaves depend way too much on your beard and skin type to really estimate. Personally I wouldn't even attempt more than 3 shaves without giving it a go on (at least) an improvised strop.

 

The newspaper strop really works!

 

I was more surprised to find out how many people use a newspaper on a consistent basis.

 

Thanks guys! I grabbed some newspaper and went at it. I'm glad my first time was paper and not leather. I sliced the paper so many times.

 

Some very old info about stropping

http://blog.modernmechanix.com/wond...spected-facts-about-razor-blades-and-shaving/

 

Slow way down and just concentrate on keeping the spine on paper/leather at all times. It doesn't matter how fast you are as the results will be the same. I'm a slow stropper and it takes me 3 minutes to do 50 laps on my strop, and I'm happy to report that over a year's worth of straight shaving and my first and only strop is still nick free.

 

BTW this is a Vid I did for the Stroptober event just some Tips and Tricks about stropping




This is a vid from my friend Alan that is one of the best I have seen watch the "Flip" he really shows that very well and it is the "Trick" to stropping

 

TSD more so than any other shaving forum is the home of the bargain. Tell a TSD guy you can get him a $40 Fat Boy and he'll say "NO , I KNOW I can get one for $10".

I suspect its not that people don't want a strop , its just that they want a nice strop for the least money. The TSD shaver is dabbling in straights not that fully committed straight fiend at SRP.

I wonder if we could ever find a consensus for the best starter strop, one that functions and looks nice.

Some contenders might be:

Ruprazor Filly Strop $22

Tony Miller English Bridle $32

Star Shaving Supplies , ebay seller- Big Daddy strop $38

I have not used any of these but there low cost and eye appeal and the idea that each maker is someone with a good wetshaving rep makes me think they could be candidates for the inexpensive stropthats easy to start with.

 

I recommend Illinois Co, they're a couple of dollars more but will last decades. They can be had for well under $50 though and most places have them on perpetual sale - seems as though they rarely sell out because people still equate More $$ = Higher quality.

 

Just a point here about "Low Priced" strops, see the second strop in my video ??? That is an Illinois #827,,, it or the smooth leather version #127 can be had for less then $40 shipped near any day by searching Google...

It is obviously a dual component strop and has a very nice Linen component... That particular strop is about 2 years old and has had probably 5000 razors across it


IMHO.. take it for what it is worth, A "Strop" like piece of leather, is just that, a piece of leather, I would no ,more consider it a strop then I would consider one of those Sweeney Todd razor shaped objects on E-bay a "Straight Razor" Sorry...

If you slow down and take your time, your strop will last for years to come, I actually still have my first strop from 1981 it is an Illinois #835 and although it has some small nicks it is still in perfectly serviceable shape..

 

If money is an issue with the OP then I'll recommend the strop I use which is the black latigo table strop. I bought it at Star Shaving for $13.00 and change. It's served me very well.