General razor blade question

[bobbycheetah]

Hi. Sometimes I take a long break between shaves, like many weeks. If I shaved with a new blade, and then let many weeks go by, should I start with a new blade when I come back? Normally, when i finish a shave, i rinse off, and pat dry, and keep it loosely in the razor head.
BTW, when I do come back after many weeks, i use an electric trimmer first, to get my beard down to a close stubble before shaving.

 

[Ron R]

Hi. Sometimes I take a long break between shaves, like many weeks. If I shaved with a new blade, and then let many weeks go by, should I start with a new blade when I come back? Normally, when i finish a shave, i rinse off, and pat dry, and keep it loosely in the razor head.
BTW, when I do come back after many weeks, i use an electric trimmer first, to get my beard down to a close stubble before shaving.

2nd shave on a blade is the best for sharpness most of the time depending on individuals beard type, but if the blade has been laying dormant for months I would just slip in a new blade if the old blade is tugging a lot when trying to use it. A blade cost about $.10- .20 cents brand new. But I do like to be not wasteful if products are still good to use.

 

[Multum in parvo]

I have put a little magnet up and park my blades there. No issues even after months.

 

[brucered]

You can let it sit a year between shaves, it won't matter.

 

[WVShaver]

I also have magnet strips on the wall to mount blades too with numbers next to them to count the shaves and have found some coated blades get brownish discoloration on the part that touches the magnet.

No idea if this impacts the blade at all since I usually don’t use them if the edge looks discolored. This is usually with Platinum blades and some of my regular stainless blades never have this happen so I imagine it’s remaining moisture trapped and discolors the coating somehow.

Other then that I see no reason not to reuse the same blade months later. Just lightly pat it dry with tissue and stick it back in the wrapper it came with. I’ve been sticking mine back in the wrapper before putting them on my magnet and it seems to alleviate the discoloration I was getting.

 

[BigJ]

You can let it sit a year between shaves, it won't matter.

+1! This^ (With the proviso that you dry everything well after you finish shaving.)

 

[DrStrange]

Hi. Sometimes I take a long break between shaves, like many weeks. If I shaved with a new blade, and then let many weeks go by, should I start with a new blade when I come back? Normally, when i finish a shave, i rinse off, and pat dry, and keep it loosely in the razor head.
BTW, when I do come back after many weeks, i use an electric trimmer first, to get my beard down to a close stubble before shaving.

Back in the days when I didn't like shaving so much,
after many weeks, I used scissors.

 

[Invicta]

If I shaved with a new blade, and then let many weeks go by, should I start with a new blade when I come back? Normally, when i finish a shave, i rinse off, and pat dry, and keep it loosely in the razor head.

No, the blade will still be okay to use.

 

[musicman1951]

You pat it dry - something I would never consider doing with my blades - and it owes you an excellent shave no matter how long you wait to experience it.

 

[HazMat Shaver]

This was a great question.
I too find I can wait weeks or months and still use the blade. But after a few months, I just replace it. I have plenty! I have a magnet I use to store the blades. I don't re-wrap it though. That's not a bad idea too. I recently ordered a blade holder that holds a Die to keep track of the shave count, but I haven't gotten it yet. I need to check on that as it's been a couple of weeks. It holds 4 blades.

 

[Knuckleballer]

When trying out various blades I’ve never used before, after 4-5 uses I often put the blade back in the wrapper and set it off to the side. Then I’ll re-visit it a month or so later to see how many more shaves I can push out of it.