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General razor cleaning questions

If it works for you, then by all means keep doing it.

I have only used SE's and Injectors for the last year or so and don't have to deal with wax spots. I put the blade in the razor and don't touch it again until I take it out. I rinse the head of the razor after every shave and probably give my razors a good cleaning at least once a year.
 
For the wax dots, before loading the blade for the first time, I pour some tea kettle boiled water over the dots and they just disappear. After the blade drys I load it in the razor.

I believe the shaving soap used has a large effect on whether the razor needs to be cleaned more often. Because MdC is my daily soap at home and it rinses so cleanly, all I need to do is loosen the handle, rinse and dry with a soft towel. The towel is fine for my machine finished Ti Blackbird. If I had a mirror polished razor, I would (and did) substitute a microfiber cloth to avoid fine scratches.

Completely unnecessary but with each blade change, I clean the razor with water and rub my thumb over it to remove any rare residue and then for some unknown reason, the razor gets a four minute bath in Barbicide. Four minutes gives me time to rinse my lather bowl, floss and brush my teeth. Then air dry the razor and finish with a soft towel or microfiber cloth. And yes I know that there is no need to sterilize a razor that only I use.
 
I don't touch the razor's "wax" spots.

I remove the blades after every shave, and wipe them clean. I've heard that this prolongs the blade by preventing corrosion, but I remove them to prevent rust spots I've seen form on some blades that I've left in a razor for days.
 

Ratso

Mr. Obvious
The wax spots don’t bother me unless some of the paper from the wrapper is stuck to it.
I take the blade out of the razor after every shave. I rinse the blade and razor under a stream of hot tap water and dry them with a towel.
My Gillette adjustables get an as needed cleaning in a sink full of hot water and Dawn. I’ll swish the opened razor in the detergent water and open and close the doors repeatedly. I do this when the 1/4 turn is not as smooth as it should be. I follow up with a couple drops of sewing machine oil and store vertically so the oil works its way down.
 
Keeping the edge of the blade clean and dry can also prolong the life of a blade. It's not just for good hygiene.

I know some blades have "Do not wipe" printed on them, but I think that's similar those packets of silica gel that say "Do not eat" (which makes no sense, BTW, because the only people that might try eating silica gel are too young to know how to read).
 
Though if you’re worried about the wax spots you could try to find blades that come like this:
CFBB43DD-3E50-48D6-8CFF-8EDC65BD7756.jpeg
They don’t have any wax spots on them
 

Phoenixkh

I shaved a fortune
I plan to time how long it takes me to break down a 3 piece razor, clean and dry it and reassemble it.... so I can record how much time I'm "wasting" keeping my tools clean. <eg> :devil:
 
I'm a bit more anal when it comes to razor cleaning. I'm guessing a minority of us disassemble our razor, clean it, flip the blade and reassemble it after every shave, but that's what I do. It takes me about a minute or so.. maybe two. I'm retired so that extra time doesn't affect me much.

I clean off those wax spot by holding the blade with half a sheet of paper towel and wipe them off with another half sheet. I'm sure it doesn't get all the residue completely off but the blades are clean enough for me. I don't see any wax accumulation on the razors themselves so it much work well enough.
The only razor I use is my 1924 ever ready shovel head with either a CS or SS blade.

This is what I do after each shave to clean:

Blade
1. Rinse it off with water
2. Spray it with alcohol
3. Wipe it dry and let it sit
4. I return it to the metal razor holder

Razor
1. Clean it with hand sanitizer
2. Spray it with alcohol
3. Wipe it dry and let it sit
4. I return it to it’s metal case

Weekly
1. I keep it shiny by rubbing it with Kleenex
2. I use a q-tip to clean the nooks and crannies
3. I screw the w-tip in hole where the handle goes to clean it out
 
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