Average use per blade

[Luc]

I've been compiling data for a little while now (Around 6 years of data). I'm a daily shaver and used a Merkur 38C for the majority (about 50%) of this list. What I have here is the average number of shaves that I get from a blade. Some are single edge, most are double edge. For some, I don't have much data because I didn't use that many blades. I've removed the blades that I used once and my straight razors (for the straights, I usually get 15-20 shaves between honings). For other, I used a little more(Like the 7 O'Clock green, Astra, etc) so I get a better idea on how many shaves I can get from a specific blade (the more data = the more precise my calculations are correct). Now, some will say that I can twice as much or half of what I have, and that's okay.

I would usually change blade when I don't feel that I can get a comfortable shave. Usually If it happens when I start the shave, I simply change it there. If it's mid-shave, I will finish the shave.

That's how it happened for me.

Blade	How many shaves	How many Blades	Average
7 O'Clock Green	443	35	12.65714286
Astra Super Stainless	138	15	9.2
Astra Superior Platinum	275	32	8.59375
Derby Premium	184	14	13.14285714
Feather SE	11	3	3.666666667
Feather SS	242	26	9.307692308
Gillette Silver Blue	133	12	11.08333333
Injector Personna Single	39	4	9.75
Injector Schick	109	6	18.16666667
Lord Super Stainless	128	15	8.533333333
Merkur	156	13	12
Personna Blue	12	2	6
Personna SE	125	14	8.928571429
Rapira SS	114	19	6
Rockwell	117	10	11.7
Shark SC	33	5	6.6
Shark SS	86	10	8.6
Voskhod Telfon Cloated	11	2	5.5
Total	2356	237	9.412778541

 

[chuckd]

Nice work on the analysis. It seems like you can eke out more shaves per blade than I can, with the exception of your results with Personna Blues and SEs: these last longer for me (7+ and 10+ shaves per blade, respectively).

 

[Shaveprentice]

Great data! It is interesting that with some of these blades that I also use frequently, Astra SP, Derby Premium, Feather SE, Rapira SS and Voskhod I get a similar number of shaves per blade that you are experiencing.

Astra SP = 10 - 12 average
Derby Premium = 10 - 14 average
Feather SE = 15 - 20 average
Rapira SS = 6 - 8 average
Voskhod = 4 - 6 average

 

[Luc]

I believe that looking at this data, it should give anyone a fair idea of how many shaves they should get, on average, when they buy 100 blades ( or 200/500/more).

but... you may get more or less! As they say YMMV

 

[JeffJ]

I believe that looking at this data, it should give anyone a fair idea of how many shaves they should get, on average, when they buy 100 blades ( or 200/500/more).

but... you may get more or less! As they say YMMV

thanks Luc! Great data collection.

 

[JohnPS]

I believe that looking at this data, it should give anyone a fair idea of how many shaves they should get, on average, when they buy 100 blades ( or 200/500/more).

but... you may get more or less! As they say YMMV

Great data.

Questions arise though... because I've used many of these blades myself... my mileage with blades varies considerably. Like the Merkur blade in a Muhle r89 is just terrible for me and so too the muhle blades for example. But I am always fascinated by people who say they use a blade for 30+ shaves. It's like WOW!

1) What kind of shaving do you do? Full face?
2) How coarse/fine is your hair? Ethnicity etc.
3) Is your hair sparse or dense? Is it denser in certain areas...
4) Growth pattern... does it grow far down your neck etc.?
5) How often do you shave?
6) How fast/slow is your regrowth?
7) Do you prepare to shave with cold, warm, hot water? Do you have any skin prep e.g. preshave, hot towel etc.
8) Do you use any particular products e.g. a standard cream or soap, mainly? (some people use just 1 product for example)
9) Do you treat your blades, leave them wet to dry, dry them, hand strop them etc? Use a blade "sharpener" etc.? Store them?

I have lots of other questions but these are the first ones that spring to mind.

 

[JohnPS]

10) How many passes do you do... what types of passes are they?
11) What is the result of your shaves? SA, CCS, DGS, BBS +/-

 

[ajkel64]

Thanks for the chart @Luc it certainly gives us an idea on blade longevity. I know that YMMV but it is a nice base to start with.

 

[Luc]

Great data.

Questions arise though... because I've used many of these blades myself... my mileage with blades varies considerably. Like the Merkur blade in a Muhle r89 is just terrible for me and so too the muhle blades for example. But I am always fascinated by people who say they use a blade for 30+ shaves. It's like WOW!

1) What kind of shaving do you do? Full face?
2) How coarse/fine is your hair? Ethnicity etc.
3) Is your hair sparse or dense? Is it denser in certain areas...
4) Growth pattern... does it grow far down your neck etc.?
5) How often do you shave?
6) How fast/slow is your regrowth?
7) Do you prepare to shave with cold, warm, hot water? Do you have any skin prep e.g. preshave, hot towel etc.
8) Do you use any particular products e.g. a standard cream or soap, mainly? (some people use just 1 product for example)
9) Do you treat your blades, leave them wet to dry, dry them, hand strop them etc? Use a blade "sharpener" etc.? Store them?

I have lots of other questions but these are the first ones that spring to mind.

10) How many passes do you do... what types of passes are they?
11) What is the result of your shaves? SA, CCS, DGS, BBS +/-

I will answer all questions

1) full face shave. I have sideburns since I’m 15. They vary in length. They aren’t wider than a DE blade. They might go as long as to the jawline sometimes but most of the time, they stop at my earlobe height.

2) I would say it’s fairly coarse. I get the 5 o’clock shadow quickly. As for ethnicity, Caucasian would be it.

3) after 24hrs its similar to a grit 80.

4) I have some kind of tornado pattern on the neck but it’s not an issue.

5) daily shaver.

6) I would say normal. I could go without shaving for a day but won’t look clean shaven. I can grow the Movember stache in a week it’s short. After week no 2 I have to restrain it from taking over. After week 3, I can start using The wax.

7) a hot shower before shaving. I use a regular bar of soap to prep the hair and rinse it last.

8) nope, nothing fancy

9) no hand stropping, I leave the blade in the razor

10) 3 pass shave, WTG-XTG-ATG

11) BBS. I normally don’t feel any hair but still see a shadow. It’s smooth, no more sandpaper!

 

[gstriftos]

I can't get more than 2 shaves from a Voskhod. 3rd one is very tuggy.

 

[BigJ]

Excellent data! Thanks for sharing!!

 

[JohnPS]

I will answer all questions

1) full face shave. I have sideburns since I’m 15. They vary in length. They aren’t wider than a DE blade. They might go as long as to the jawline sometimes but most of the time, they stop at my earlobe height.

2) I would say it’s fairly coarse. I get the 5 o’clock shadow quickly. As for ethnicity, Caucasian would be it.

3) after 24hrs its similar to a grit 80.

4) I have some kind of tornado pattern on the neck but it’s not an issue.

5) daily shaver.

6) I would say normal. I could go without shaving for a day but won’t look clean shaven. I can grow the Movember stache in a week it’s short. After week no 2 I have to restrain it from taking over. After week 3, I can start using The wax.

7) a hot shower before shaving. I use a regular bar of soap to prep the hair and rinse it last.

8) nope, nothing fancy

9) no hand stropping, I leave the blade in the razor

10) 3 pass shave, WTG-XTG-ATG

11) BBS. I normally don’t feel any hair but still see a shadow. It’s smooth, no more sandpaper!

Very grateful for your answer. Thank you, very informative and gives me much to consider as I really haven't had this level of information before and fills in some of the blanks for me. We have much in common.

For myself I know there are many variables and to really "hone" into these and how they are for others is very eye-opening. I was combing the movember mo at the end of 2 weeks and shaved it off in the 3rd. I couldn't make a month, it was too thick and itchy, I used wax and I didn't know what I was doing or it was bad wax or the wax didn't work, I tried 3 kinds. I had the mo hair fully past my bottom lip when combed downwards. Had a very unhappy wife with the facial hair, she like BBS and is 'okay' with me not shaving for a day, 2 is stretching it. At 3 days, I get called homeless, terrorist etc.

It is so amazing how different we all are. It's fantastic to read your post - blade, uses, razor with variable. Some blades in a Muhle r89 just don't work for me like immediate difficulty and it just gets worse when I've tried them over the course of 3 shaves. Though I have found if I put them in an aggressive razor they work like the raspira swedish supersteel for example.

Again thank you, your post and answers are super helpful.

 

[ackvil]

For me, there are certain blades that I don't get many shaves with no matter what razor I use. These include the following which I can get up to 3 shaves:

• Treet Platinum
• Wilkinson
• Dorco Plat st300
• Timor
• Treet Dura Sharp
• Dorco SS
• Astra SS or SP
• Voskhod

Other blades' longevity depends on the razor I am using. For example, with a Feather AS-D2 razor, I will get up to six or seven shaves with a Feather blade. With any mid-aggressive razor that goes down to two or three.

The only blades that give me 5+ shaves are: Personna Labs, Personna Med Preps, Personna Israeli Reds, Polysilver Super Iridium, and GSB.

 

[syljal]

Excellent long term compilation. I think people use too many razors to be able to master them. I only use the AS-D2 so I can see the difference between the blades more easily and manage to make them last over time.

 

[syljal]

Forgot to said for myself i change blade once a week and alternate between Feather and Shark SC.

 

[Luc]

I do recall buying a merkur slant 39c and selling it as I couldn’t get more than 2 shaves regardless of the blade. But that was a while back...

I was fairly green back then so I also think that technique helped. I bought another slant a few years ago (I got a good deal) and funny, my average with the slant is 9.47 (9 different blades, 161 shaves, 17 blades)

I have similar stats for soaps and aftershaves but you probably guessed that I haven’t used the same product over and over. I mainly had a single puck of an item and that was it. I couldn’t really make average as I have more “opened products” compared to “finished products”.

 

[aldomarino]

There is some small comfort in realizing that some people have gone even further down this rabbit hole than me.

 

[MrSpeedy]

Great work compiling this data. The only blade on your list that I have used with regularity is the Gillette Silver Blue and your average is what I would get.

 

[santamariasteve]

Predictably, the champion appears to be the Schick injector blade (which I'm currently shaving with). I have 12 three-pass shaves on it, and I will probably stop after shave #14.

 

[Kent Kimmons]

4
I put in blade.
I use it 4 times.
I throw it away.

Not interested in blade longevity, they are fairly cheap and I am after a comfortable have at minimal effort.