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Do we really need to stretch blade life?

I think there are 2 groups:
1) people that shave to take hair off their faces...quick, comfortable , seeking a good experience and avoiding bad shaves. Will use blades a few times.
2) people shaving , trying out stuff, variety , hobby in shaving items, that are using blades to an extreme because they like the thrill!!! and for sure will have some good some bad shaves and will experiment with different razors along the journey.

I use blades 2-4 times....and if I get one that I don't like...i trash it in the first go... Life is too short to have bad experiences....and blades are cheap and available.
On the contrary when I travel and use Gillette carts: I use them for 10-25 shaves...and that is because they are expensive +-$4/ea.
 
I think there are 2 groups:
1) people that shave to take hair off their faces...quick, comfortable , seeking a good experience and avoiding bad shaves. Will use blades a few times.
2) people shaving , trying out stuff, variety , hobby in shaving items, that are using blades to an extreme because they like the thrill!!! and for sure will have some good some bad shaves and will experiment with different razors along the journey.

I use blades 2-4 times....and if I get one that I don't like...i trash it in the first go... Life is too short to have bad experiences....and blades are cheap and available.
On the contrary when I travel and use Gillette carts: I use them for 10-25 shaves...and that is because they are expensive +-$4/ea.

lol I think people might take issue with your generalizations. I don’t use a blade many times but I have ten or so different makes and models and I use them all. Why would that be? And no I’m not still looking for the one razor for me.
 
I think there are 2 groups:
1) people that shave to take hair off their faces...quick, comfortable , seeking a good experience and avoiding bad shaves. Will use blades a few times.
2) people shaving , trying out stuff, variety , hobby in shaving items, that are using blades to an extreme because they like the thrill!!! and for sure will have some good some bad shaves and will experiment with different razors along the journey.

I use blades 2-4 times....and if I get one that I don't like...i trash it in the first go... Life is too short to have bad experiences....and blades are cheap and available.
On the contrary when I travel and use Gillette carts: I use them for 10-25 shaves...and that is because they are expensive +-$4/ea.

I'd be more inclined to say the opposite is true. People who are just looking to shave hair off their faces will think of it as nothing more than a tool. You don't throw away a tool because you've used it 'x' amount of times. You use it until it stops functioning optimally (within reason).That may be 3 uses. It may be 10 uses. Maybe even 70+ uses.

Now someone who is trying out stuff, variety, hobby shaving items, will most likely NOT be using blades to their full 'potential' simply because as you said yourself, they want to try out new stuff, variety and will experiment with new razors along the journey.
 
I'd be more inclined to say the opposite is true. People who are just looking to shave hair off their faces will think of it as nothing more than a tool. You don't throw away a tool because you've used it 'x' amount of times. You use it until it stops functioning optimally (within reason).That may be 3 uses. It may be 10 uses. Maybe even 70+ uses.

Now someone who is trying out stuff, variety, hobby shaving items, will most likely NOT be using blades to their full 'potential' simply because as you said yourself, they want to try out new stuff, variety and will experiment with new razors along the journey.
You might be right, that is why we are "individuals".
 
I think everyone has a reason to try to do this or not. I personally was just curious originally about someone who would claim they got 100 shaves or more out of a blade. Until I had stumbled across @sugardaddy on youtube I had never though of using a blade for more than about 5-6 shaves. While I wasn't tossing arbitrarily, I was getting rid of a blade if I had even the slightest sign somethings was wrong. Now, I am trying to hypermile a little bit just to see if it does improve my technique. Right now the jury is kind of hung.

I have been getting to about 10 shaves without problem, but I have decided not to change too much of my routine. I have been mainly focusing on the angle of my shaves. Now, I am going to try using a different lather as well, but also alternate between a newer blade and a more hypermiling blade from now on. Mainly I do this because I am getting bored of hypermiling. I am getting better shaves, but today I had a horrible 13th shave. I still have heat and irritation on my face. Yesterday I had a less than perfect shave as well. So, onto modifying the techniques some more. Wetter lather here I come.

For me it is just to keep things interesting and to have something to film for my YouTube Channel. All of it is just for fun in the end.
 
I think everyone has a reason to try to do this or not. I personally was just curious originally about someone who would claim they got 100 shaves or more out of a blade. Until I had stumbled across @sugardaddy on youtube I had never though of using a blade for more than about 5-6 shaves. While I wasn't tossing arbitrarily, I was getting rid of a blade if I had even the slightest sign somethings was wrong. Now, I am trying to hypermile a little bit just to see if it does improve my technique. Right now the jury is kind of hung.

I have been getting to about 10 shaves without problem, but I have decided not to change too much of my routine. I have been mainly focusing on the angle of my shaves. Now, I am going to try using a different lather as well, but also alternate between a newer blade and a more hypermiling blade from now on. Mainly I do this because I am getting bored of hypermiling. I am getting better shaves, but today I had a horrible 13th shave. I still have heat and irritation on my face. Yesterday I had a less than perfect shave as well. So, onto modifying the techniques some more. Wetter lather here I come.

For me it is just to keep things interesting and to have something to film for my YouTube Channel. All of it is just for fun in the end.
There you go man! Keep it fun!

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I was taking blades to the limit, a carryover from a busy life with purely utilitarian shaves. Now I am enjoying shave quality (and buying better blades for less money), so I put them in the bank at the first sign of reduced closeness. I don’t wait for tugging or irritation. I can see taking the challenge of really hypermiling a blade, but not just now. And not as a regular practice.
 
Back when I was using modern blades, the norm was 3 to 5 shaves and then I noticed more weepers before I'd notice any tugging. I made the change to vintage because I noticed my shaves with them were quite a bit more comfortable and closer, the fact that they last way longer was icing on the cake and the fact that they put weepers on the endangered species list was the sugar sprinkles on top.
And consistently too. Gone were the days of a bad one in the lot.
 
I'd be more inclined to say the opposite is true. People who are just looking to shave hair off their faces will think of it as nothing more than a tool. You don't throw away a tool because you've used it 'x' amount of times. You use it until it stops functioning optimally (within reason).That may be 3 uses. It may be 10 uses. Maybe even 70+ uses.

Now someone who is trying out stuff, variety, hobby shaving items, will most likely NOT be using blades to their full 'potential' simply because as you said yourself, they want to try out new stuff, variety and will experiment with new razors along the journey.

I do like trying different blades and have quite a variety, but I typically will use it until it no longer shaves well. Sometimes this is 3 shaves, sometimes it's in the 30's. I used to keep track of the number of shaves, but now only do that for something new.
I have found that for some blades, the first few shaves are not the best, but really smooth out after that and then keep going for a long time, giving extremely nice shaves! :)
 
Yes 5 years is pretty good! I sometimes see threads from 2006 come up in other forums :). Think it has to do with that when you search for topics with google a lot of really old stuff turn up first if there is a topic that has had some traction.
 
I resurrected this thread because it influenced the formation of the Excalibur Club back in 2014. Many Excalibur pioneers posted here before they knew just how long a blade would last. Many of them are still around, but as 50, 80, 100... and more shaves/blade is common, it's not important. What is useful is learning the techniques to get great shaves. Blade life extension is a natural byproduct of the techniques.
 
I've been shaving since 1958, guess I never learned the proper technique, after 3 shaves the blade is gone.
Come to think about it, I like it that way.

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As long as a blade is giving me good shaves I’ll keep on using it.
Rapiras last me 2 weeks and Astras and Gillette’s I can get a month out of them if I push them to their limit. I’m an every other day shaver.... usually.
 

Toothpick

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Certainly we don’t NEED to. Do we NEED 50 soaps, 60 aftershaves, 90 razors, 345 different brands of blades? Of course not.

Sometimes it’s fun to try something new. “let me see how long I can use this blade for” might bring some excitement to someone. Have at it.
 
Certainly we don’t NEED to. Do we NEED 50 soaps, 60 aftershaves, 90 razors, 345 different brands of blades? Of course not.

Sometimes it’s fun to try something new. “let me see how long I can use this blade for” might bring some excitement to someone. Have at it.
I’ve never shaved for excitement. I don’t think I’ll start to either. I think it might be slightly more difficult to enjoy everything else if I began to focus on the dullness of a tiny thin piece of metal.
 
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