Resting your blade between shaves - yes? no?

[Mouette]

I know this will be controversial but nothing wrong with a good punch up now and then!

I have heard that you should rest your blade between shaves, the reason being that the edge will "reset" or "restore" itself somewhat. Of course you still have to strop it before lathering up. Not sure how long the rest period is supposed to be, but I can see the sense in giving your blade a rest. I usually leave it a week and fortunately, I currently have 6 shave ready razors in my roll and I have the luxury of being able to do this. One of the downsides of course, is that you don't get a couple of days in a row to get familiar and comfortable with your blade. Although I have used the same blade a few days/shaves in a row to get more used to it.

I know full well that a lot of people will think that resting your blade is a old wives' tale and won't be afraid to tell me. That's OK, just as long as you can spin a good argument.

I should add that at the present I am currently up to shave number 68 (yes, sadly I document my shaves on a spreadsheet) so I have yet to reach that magical figure of 100, and to be totally honest, with my skill level, I can't really tell the difference between resting it a week or going a few days in a row - either on my face or on the strop, or treetopping. The blades just seem to take it in their stride.

When I get a bit more skill, I should do a comparison with a couple of good blades, ie Sheffield or Solingen and a Gold Dollar and put the theory to the test.

cheers

Andrew

 

[sexy beast]

I alternate between 9 razors because I don’t want to hone very often. By doing so, I go past a year or two without honing my blades. I may change my blades with a strop in between the time of honing. When I was younger I had one blade for 3 years but shaved 3 to 4 times a week. I had to hone every three months when I did that. I was able to keep the razor sharp with a Dovo paddle strop with a leather canvas/stone combo. No, it doesn’t make a difference in my experience other than having to hone more often.

 

[Tomo]

I rest my razor for at least 24 hours, the same as my face and brush. Works for me.

 

[rbscebu]

I trust Dovo to always be truthful. They recommend resting your SR's for at least 48 hours between use. Just to be certain, I rest each of my 42 SR's 1,008 hours between each use.

 

[Mouette]

Just to be certain, I rest each of my 42 SR's 1,008 hours between each use.

Ok 1008 divided 42 = 24. Therefore you rotate each of your 42 (the meaning of life?) razors each day. How do you manage not seeing your favourite razor for over a month? The edge would really have a nice long rest by that time.

cheers
Andrew

 

[Alum of Potash]

I give my face a rest, rather than the razor. Around 72 hrs. between shaves these days. I forget what the razor rest period was for old-time barbers who had to shave multiple clients back in the day.

 

[LJS]

Ridiculous theory letting razors rest.

You can just do a search and see this has been discussed many many times.

It is nonsense.

 

[ajkel64]

What about people that only have one razor?

 

[EclipseRedRing]

I suspect resting razors may be an idea formed in the boardrooms of straight razor manufacturers. It doesn't really matter if it works or not, if you want to rest a razor and you think it works, then do it.

 

[gigadeath]

I suspect resting razors may be an idea formed in the boardrooms of straight razor manufacturers. It doesn't really matter if it works or not, if you want to rest a razor and you think it works, then do it.

It's incredible how easy to pull off some marketing scams are.

 

[Sisyphos]

Of course you have to rest your clipping equipment. I rest my beard trimmer week or two.

 

[rbscebu]

Ok 1008 divided 42 = 24. Therefore you rotate each of your 42 (the meaning of life?) razors each day. How do you manage not seeing your favourite razor for over a month? The edge would really have a nice long rest by that time.

cheers
Andrew

Because my 42 SR's include four M7DS's and shaving with a M7DS is like shaving with just one SR for the whole week.

 

[musicman1951]

I don't use a straight razor, but I do a fair amount of woodworking with chisels (which I would think have a reasonable amount of carry over as to blade sharpness). So I hope you will forgive my intrusion into your forum, but this is the funniest post I've read in a while.

Now I'm going to spend the rest of the day imagining what the metal might be doing during this rest period.

 

[Eastcoast30]

This is an explanation from @Dzaw in 2018. I'm not buying it without trying it. But some here may want to try the paper clip experiment. Right or wrong, does it matter? Have fun!
-------------------------------------------------------------
When you shave, you deflect the edge a tiny bit out of straight. This deflection is why stropping helps restore a razor that is a bit "harsh" after shaving to good, smooth shaving condition.

That deflection, at an atomic level, is stress in the crystalline structure. It represents a plastic deformation due to the stretching of material on the outside radius of the curve. When you bend steel, you are not compressing the interior radius of the bend even a little, all of the bending comes from stretching the outside radius of the curve.

We view those plastic deformations as permanent bends. However, some small percentage of that bend does "walk back" towards original position over time. This happens as the stress caused in the stretching along the outside radius relaxes slightly, which causes some small bit of that stretch to return towards original alignment.

To more clearly illustrate this principal, take a paperclip, or a plastic pen cap. Bend it. Then let go. You will notice that it immediately springs back a bit, but not nearly all the way. However, if you watch closely, you will see that it doesn't quite -stop- immediately, it will VERY slowly continue a SMALL bit more movement towards where it started. That movement is already incredibly slow, and it continues to slow down even more. If you freshly bend a paperclip, then put it on a piece of white paper and put an ink dot at the end of the bend, then leave it undisturbed for 2-3 days, you should be able to notice a TINY amount of motion because the end of the paperclip will not be pointing EXACTLY at that dot anymore.

When we strop right after shaving, we haven't given those stretch stresses time to relax the edge as much closer towards straight as they are eventually going to. Instead, we mechanically push the edge closer to straight, which, in fact, does the opposite. Instead of relaxing those stresses, we are introducing equal, reciprocal stresses on the other side.

This difference is incredibly tiny. Given the fineness of a razor's edge, and the tiny amount of deflection originally, we're talking about fractions of a nanometer. A small percentage of an already tiny motion on an incredibly finely polished edge. In practice, you could have two identical razors, honed by the same person on the same hones, and both shaved with daily by the same shaver who switches which one shaves the left vs right sides of his face every other day, with the only difference being one is always stropped right after shaving, the other always right before (and thus rested 24 hours), and over that person's lifetime the difference doesn't add up to a noticeable margin.

It exists - it just doesn't matter for the use we're putting the metal.

 

[Leo K]

I trust Dovo to always be truthful. They recommend resting your SR's for at least 48 hours between use. Just to be certain, I rest each of my 42 SR's 1,008 hours between each use.

I love your posts man!

 

[steveclarkus]

I know this will be controversial but nothing wrong with a good punch up now and then!

I have heard that you should rest your blade between shaves, the reason being that the edge will "reset" or "restore" itself somewhat. Of course you still have to strop it before lathering up. Not sure how long the rest period is supposed to be, but I can see the sense in giving your blade a rest. I usually leave it a week and fortunately, I currently have 6 shave ready razors in my roll and I have the luxury of being able to do this. One of the downsides of course, is that you don't get a couple of days in a row to get familiar and comfortable with your blade. Although I have used the same blade a few days/shaves in a row to get more used to it.

I know full well that a lot of people will think that resting your blade is a old wives' tale and won't be afraid to tell me. That's OK, just as long as you can spin a good argument.

I should add that at the present I am currently up to shave number 68 (yes, sadly I document my shaves on a spreadsheet) so I have yet to reach that magical figure of 100, and to be totally honest, with my skill level, I can't really tell the difference between resting it a week or going a few days in a row - either on my face or on the strop, or treetopping. The blades just seem to take it in their stride.

When I get a bit more skill, I should do a comparison with a couple of good blades, ie Sheffield or Solingen and a Gold Dollar and put the theory to the test.

cheers

Andrew

I do not rest my blades. I will use the same razor daily sometimes for weeks with no ill effects.

 

[Scrubby]

I always thought of this as an excuse you could tell yourself to convince you NEED to but yet another straight. Same story as with the “drying time” required for badger brushes.

 

[RenoRichard]

My brother and I when boys went to a local Italian barber, Dominic, for haircuts in the late 1950s and into the early 1960s. After finishing our haircuts, Dom used some warm lather from a machine and a straight razor to shave the back of our necks and do the rest of the clean up. He used the same straight razor on each of us; he stropped it some before use. He did the same with the other customers as their haircuts were finished; I could see as we waited our turn. He had a few straights on the counter, but used the same one on most as I recall. So, in deference to Dom, a good 15 minute rest should do it. BTW a haircut for boys cost $1, then at some point it went up to $1.50. The tip was 25 cents and my Mom always made us give the tip to Dom directly, I guess it was a teaching moment.

When we went to visit our relatives in Philadelphia, we got our haircuts from our great-uncle Dave, my maternal grandmother's youngest brother, who had his own barbershop. Uncle Dave commanded respect in our family, as he was a business owner. His shop was small and had three chairs. Same basic haircut, but Uncle Dave always gave us lollipops and didn't charge my folks . I don't recall exactly when barbers went from using straight razors to using clippers for finish work, but I'm guessing it was sometimes in the early 1960s.

 

[gigadeath]

This is an explanation from @Dzaw in 2018. I'm not buying it without trying it. But some here may want to try the paper clip experiment. Right or wrong, does it matter? Have fun!
-------------------------------------------------------------
When you shave, you deflect the edge a tiny bit out of straight. This deflection is why stropping helps restore a razor that is a bit "harsh" after shaving to good, smooth shaving condition.

That deflection, at an atomic level, is stress in the crystalline structure. It represents a plastic deformation due to the stretching of material on the outside radius of the curve. When you bend steel, you are not compressing the interior radius of the bend even a little, all of the bending comes from stretching the outside radius of the curve.

We view those plastic deformations as permanent bends. However, some small percentage of that bend does "walk back" towards original position over time. This happens as the stress caused in the stretching along the outside radius relaxes slightly, which causes some small bit of that stretch to return towards original alignment.

To more clearly illustrate this principal, take a paperclip, or a plastic pen cap. Bend it. Then let go. You will notice that it immediately springs back a bit, but not nearly all the way. However, if you watch closely, you will see that it doesn't quite -stop- immediately, it will VERY slowly continue a SMALL bit more movement towards where it started. That movement is already incredibly slow, and it continues to slow down even more. If you freshly bend a paperclip, then put it on a piece of white paper and put an ink dot at the end of the bend, then leave it undisturbed for 2-3 days, you should be able to notice a TINY amount of motion because the end of the paperclip will not be pointing EXACTLY at that dot anymore.

When we strop right after shaving, we haven't given those stretch stresses time to relax the edge as much closer towards straight as they are eventually going to. Instead, we mechanically push the edge closer to straight, which, in fact, does the opposite. Instead of relaxing those stresses, we are introducing equal, reciprocal stresses on the other side.

This difference is incredibly tiny. Given the fineness of a razor's edge, and the tiny amount of deflection originally, we're talking about fractions of a nanometer. A small percentage of an already tiny motion on an incredibly finely polished edge. In practice, you could have two identical razors, honed by the same person on the same hones, and both shaved with daily by the same shaver who switches which one shaves the left vs right sides of his face every other day, with the only difference being one is always stropped right after shaving, the other always right before (and thus rested 24 hours), and over that person's lifetime the difference doesn't add up to a noticeable margin.

It exists - it just doesn't matter for the use we're putting the metal.

A+ for the creative effort. Still, someone did not do his physics homework back in the day

Really, it's just a marketing scam. Internalized in bona fide by some customers.

 

[MHBru]

i rest my face... alternate brushes and soaps ... but blades??? seems like nonsense for the kind of use we are talking about. It's not a concrete saw (which i would rest to limit heat buildup vs regaining it's cutting ability).... the amount of physical deformity a blade gets from shaving (especially in a higher end razor that keeps the blade in a near perfect position) has to be beyond imperceptible. "resting" it so it can somehow automagically regain it's shape/edge seems like something that even more imperceptible.. if at all. it would be nice if the knives in my kitchen knife rack mysteriously got sharper by simply not using them for a while ....