300 shaves on one DE blade!?!!

[SterFry]

I was browsing a wetshaving community on another site when I encountered this thread:



I suggest reading the thread and comments, but to those who would rather not read it, I'll sum it up by saying that this group believes that DE blades shave better after 25 shaves or so shaves and can be comfortably used for hundreds of shaves. Mind you, they aren't trying to save money, they just claim that if you can push through shaves #5-25 (a brief period of initial dulling and tugging) that the blades "smooth out" and start performing better than when they were new for hundreds of shaves. Here are some of the statements...

"Many of us feel that DE blades shave much better after 20-30 shaves. They can be very smooth, comfortable, and efficient. It’s definitely nothing to do with cost. At this point, I’m sticking with this blade to reach a certain number of shaves, but I’d say that shaves 25-250 were 100% because I was getting amazing shaves"

Here's another...

"blades go through a few phases:

• New blade: easy to shave with, but a little temperamental
• Shaves ~15-25: tuggy and uncomfortable
• Shaves ~25-35: blade starts to really smooth out
• Shaves ~35-250+: incredibly comfortable and smooth"

and another...

"I've always found that Astra's get a bit tuggy from shaves ~15-25. After that, they seem to give incredibly smooth and comfortable shaves for a very long time. Maybe try "pushing through" for another couple of weeks and then see if you like how the blade feels?"

What do you thinks, boys? Have any of you actually tried this?

 

[hcoop112]

Uhh no thanks...ill stick with 2-12 shaves and throw ...my face doesnt want scrapes and gouges

 

[haggis]

Well I'm set on blades for the next 500 years.

 

[@ngel]

Shaves 1-6 are good all the time for me on my favorite blades(Polsilver SI)

So why go another 20 crappy shaves for the blade to smooth out again when I can just get perfectly smooth and comfortable shaves every time by changing the blade every 6 shaves?

I have read of some guys here testing and pushing blades well into the hundreds of shaves, but merely for fun and science, or some really can’t spare 50 cents for another blade I don't know, the point is...I wouldn't even attempt to try it.

 

[Wogus]

I don't see myself powering-through a dozen or so "tuggy and uncomfortable shaves" without some kind of significant monetary incentive.

And I mean brief-case-filled-to-the-brim-with-banded-stacks-of-$100-bills-like-you-see-in-the-movies sort of significant.

 

[loupegarrou]

I’m struggling to see the point beyond some bizarre machismo. As others have said, the most expensive blade still costs considerably less than a pound/dollar on average. If it’s a money issue, grow a beard. If you want a comfortable shave don’t “tough it out” for any length of time, put in a fresh blade!

Truly bizarre, or maybe I’m just too old and cranky to “get it”?!

 

[cwright]

Hope no bones are sticking out.

 

[SharpieB]

I get 2-3 great shaves from a blade. 4 TOPS. Why have crappy shaves with a dull blade? Blades DO dull regardless of hand or blue jean stropping or whatever.

I have used a GSB for 20 shaves for funzies and it was dull as hell when I binned it. No reason to shave with one $0.15 blade 300 times IMO except to collect some of those cool useless internet points.

My blades are $0.06-0.20 each. I have over 3000 of them and I am 51. If I don’t use a new blade every 2-3 days, I will just leave behind a bunch of razor blades my kids will throw out anyways. Ima use the damned things and always have an amazing shave with a sharp blade.

 

[Fred D]

My max is 3 or 4.

 

[kingfisher]

There is a club called Excalibur in the Clubs and Brotherhoods subforum; the gentlemen there also try to see how many shaves they can get from one blade. There are some interesting posts in there, to be sure.
Blade life is also dependent on razor used, type of lather you make, the angle you use, and other factors.

 

[SterFry]

Can anybody confirm or deny that has actually tried it?

As I understood it it isn't a financialy oriented thought process. They genuinely prefer the blades after a certain point. I don't even use DEs anymore, but I am intrigued by the idea of a blade "smoothing out" to, supposedly, shave smoother than it did when it was new...just not enough to grind through two dozen harsh shaves.

if that were true then theoretically they could just cork it to this magical point and not have to "push through".

 

[sarimento1]

Welcome to B&B, Sir Sterfry!
Thanks for this entertaining post!!

 

[Billski]

Maybe you, the Alaskan, are full of tall tales.

 

[SharpieB]

Maybe you, the Alaskan, are full of tall tales.

Nope. This is a pretty big thing on a couple of the wet shaving SubReddits. Rare to see 300 shaves but 100 happens fairly often. 20-30 shaves... all the time.

To each their own.

 

[gsurko]

I use my blades for 3 months (about 40-45 shaves) and they perform splendidly the whole time. I change at 3 months because changing on the 1/4 is easy to remember and heck “blades are cheap”.

 

[Smooth and Sharp]

Everytimes I try 4 times I regret it.

 

[SterFry]

Maybe you, the Alaskan, are full of tall tales.

Yeah

I made dozens of fake Reddit accounts(some of them 10+ years old), signed into each one individually to create a mock thread that is also years old, then waited for today just so I could pull one over on you guys.

You caught me

 

[Sinnbad11]

Using a blade for a clean up pass usually ends up last two weeks, which is 10 shaves for me. I don't much like the idea of pushing them 30x that.

 

[SterFry]

I use my blades for 3 months (about 40-45 shaves) and they perform splendidly the whole time. I change at 3 months because changing on the 1/4 is easy to remember and heck “blades are cheap”.

Do you strop or flip the blades?

 

[gsurko]

Do you strop or flip the blades?

No, nothing.