Turning Blades.

[Garry357]

A question, I come from the old school of "change when you need to".

I don’t count the razor blade use.

At home I change my blade as soon as I feel any tug or anything uncomfortable. Usually in the second week of use. I’m using the Astra Green Platinum.

I also don’t turn the blade over. After each shave (daily) I clean the razor and blade with a microfibre cloth then put back in the razor with the (1) or print upside.

I don’t like the glue spots; I use a little eucalyptus oil to remove the spots on the blade. I change the blade if I am travelling and take a couple of spares in the kit bag.

I always bowl lather; I found my lather was always a little dry with face lathering.

I like a wet soft lather.


What’s your routine?

 

[alfredus]

One shave per blade...saves all the trouble above

 

[CarbonEdge]

Straight razor - strop and good to go

 

[SpeedyPC]

One shave per blade...saves all the trouble above

Are you saying, you always change the blade every time you needed a shave.

 

[Ferret619]

Hot water and done.

 

[rbscebu]

@Garry357, the best answer is given by @CarbonEdge.

A new shave-ready SR PIF is being started today.

 

[Holiday]

A question, I come from the old school of "change when you need to".

Hi @Garry357, I come from the same school of only changing when I need to but have been known to change just because I know the blade is more than 5 shaves in and I am ready for a change of razor. So I will bin it rather than putting a dulled blade in a fresh razor.
When comparing blades or just rotating through as much hardware as possible I will shave 1 or 2 times and then swap razors with the same blade. On these occasions I will flip or hand strop but do not in my usual routine.
Glue spots annoy me only when the paper sticks and Astra's are worse I have experienced but I am glad the blade has been held in place and not rubbed against the paper

I tend to bowl lather synthetics and face lather naturals

 

[alfredus]

Are you saying, you always change the blade every time you needed a shave.

Take out razor you want to shave with, take out new blade you want to shave with, shave, when disassembling razor for cleanup, dispose of blade - simple and never a bad shave due to dull blade or having to change blade mid-shave

 

[Gargravarr]

My SE blades tend to conveniently last for easily 7 or 8 shaves (head & face, 3 passes) which I think is a pretty good acreage for any blade. (The max I've ever got with DE blades is 4.) Since I'm currently running with just 3 razors, I just have an alarm set to change blades in all three once every three weeks. Simple. Of course the routine sometimes varies if I'm capriciously using one to the exclusion of others for a while, but you get the idea.

The only DE blades I'd chuck after one shave would be Voskhod or cheap Chinese shit. Though Feathers come close, I won't use them more than twice. Overpriced rubbish, even if they are the sharpest when new.

Since I'm scraping so much skin, there's always a bit of gunk that accumulates, so I have to rinse off the blade anyway. And since I have the razor apart, I always flip the blade at the same time. As a scientist, I probably could/should experiment to see if that makes any difference to subsequent shaves, but so far I have never bothered. One day I may do so, in which case I'll post my findings in the appropriate scientific journal, or failing that, I'll post them here.

 

[TomG]

My regime is a blade change after about 4 shaves with a modern blade, and about 10 shaves with a vintage blade from the Golden Era. The latter can sometimes extend to 20 shaves or more.
I typically change these blades for variety, rather than them starting to tug.

 

[Nanook]

4 shaves per blade then it gets changed out whether it still feels good or not. When 100 blades can cost as little as $20, why use them any more than 5 shaves.