If you’re sharpening a straight razor, eyebrow razor, or safety razor, flip your razor over when you’re done and repeat the process on the other side of the blade. Multipurpose lubricants like Ballistol, baby oil, vegetable oil, almond oil and mineral oil work in a pinch, but the best quality is pure Camellia oil .

Shaking it over the sink should also do the trick, but you should follow that step by blow-drying or using a towel to fully dry the razor.

Leather – both suede and smooth - is the fabric most traditionally used and the most preferred and achieves the best results. Consisting of regular glass with various amounts of uranium added, it was – and is – mostly harmless. Your arm is very similar to an old fashioned leather strop, which is a piece of leather used for sharpening blades.

To evenly and completely strop your blades, you'll want perform the same motion in the opposite direction (on the same section of denim) as well. Even if you’re a “no pain no gain” kind of guy, there’s really nothing to be gained from sweeping a blunt and jagged razor down the skin of your face unless you like walking around with nicks and cuts, no thanks to the rust build-up from the razors. Your skin has natural oils that protect it from the environment, but these oils can also harm the quality of your blade over time. Since you are running your razor with the blades and not against, your safety razor shouldn't cut the hair on your forearm.You’ll know it’s time to sharpen your razor blades when you notice you’re not getting a smooth shave. pro tip : Most safety razor packages have a little slot on the bottom of them, those are for safety disposing of your razor blades. In actual fact, the real problem is not the blade losing its edge, the real problem is skin cells and shaving lather from gels, foams, creams and soaps getting trapped between the blades and sticking to the edge of the blades causing them to become thicker and thereby dull. On a microscopic level, dragging the razor up the material realigns the craggy blade so it once again forms a clean, straight edge.