Thread: Can I wait over a week to strop for the first time

Hello ,

I am going to buy a starter kit tomorrow and have been advised to buy a certain strop which would take 10 days to arrive.

Can I shave on a brand new professionally honed Dovo straight blade everyday for 10 days without stroping?
Thanks for your answers,
July10newbie

chances are you aren't going to just start shaving everyday.. some people suggest starting with just the cheeks or going all the way.. but every other day.. i'm willing to bet you could get a couple "shaves" done before you really need that strop.. and chances are.. it'll be there by then..

also.. i forgot to say.. welcome to srp!

Welcome to the straight shaving game!

From advice I've seen in another thread somewhere, if it's professionally honed you'll be able to shave with it right of the box, but after that first shave you'll need to strop it. As I understand it, the blade will need a good stropping before each shave but especially with newbie technique being harsher on the blade than refined technique.

My guess is it would be possible to shave that long without stropping, but it would be terrible for your face and razor. My advice: wait for the strop, your blade and face will thank you.

Thank you , Victor.
I think you must be right that I will just shave a small portion of my face during the first week or more and won't need to strop during that time.
How long have you been a straight blade guy?

Hi Levi,
Thanks for your input. I am going to the classic shaving store-about an hour from my house- tomorrow. I will also ask the sales rep who shaves with a straight blade.

Good idea.

And good luck!

I was just away from home for about 4 days and took with me just a razor but not strop with the idea to see how well would that work.
Before the second shave I stropped on a towel and on my palm, it was better than unstropped razor, but nowhere as good as after proper stropping. I decided I don't need to suffer a 3rd shave.

Your results will probably be very different from mine.

Originally Posted by July10newbie

Thank you , Victor.
I think you must be right that I will just shave a small portion of my face during the first week or more and won't need to strop during that time.
How long have you been a straight blade guy?

i've been shaving with a feather artist club razor since february.. so i'm fairly new to the game as well.. the artist club uses replaceable blades.. so i'm just going off of what i've read and what i've heard people say.. assuming a person strops their razor and then does 3 full passes on their face before having to strop again. you'd be okay with some minor shaving before you need your strop..

but as i said.. i'm just going off of what i've read and heard.

I would say you'll notice the deterioration in the edge pretty quickly! I've tried seeing how long an edge will last without stropping, and I ended up about the same as Gugi; Two or three shaves and I could really tell it needed a stropping.

TBH, I'd say wait until you have your strop and then start using the razor. Theres no sense in letting your edge dull over that week and then having to have the razor honed because you werent stropping it.

JMHO of course, but thats what I reckon.

Good luck and keep us posted!

Hello and welcome to SRP . Your gonna love it here.Listen to Stubear, and also while your waiting,check out the wiki. It's your key for here. Just break down and get a disposable razor to use till you can give your face the true love that it deserves . Oh yes...word of caution. This stuff gets addictive real quick,so let yer conscience be your guide ha ha . WELCOME !