Threshold for changing blades.

[Blade_Runner37C]

Ok would like to get some people's thoughts on this subject. Yes I understand that some people will change blades no matter what at 1,2,3,4 shaves and then blade is done, but for those that don't have a fixed life of a blade what do you look for before changing a blade?

I thought about this when today was my 8th shave (i'm a freak and do WTG,ATG and XTG every shave with a ton of touch ups to where there is zero chance of a single hair that can be felt. I am really picky in what i call BBS. I mean nothing nowhere. usually after multiple passes on those "impossible spots" I usually get a weeper here and there, but can cut my face today and it will be shave ready tomorrow morning. No trace of a cut or weeper.

Today I got 3 weepers, even though very small, still weepers. but realized this is the 8th or 9th day I have used the Game Changer .84p on the same blade but got a perfect BBS. So is this a sign that I should change the blade even though it's still giving me a BBS?

What's your threshold?

 

[sm29]

Razor blades are cheap when you buy 100 at a time. I shave daily (3 pass) and use a blade for 4 shaves and bin the blade. Some blades can and have gone longer but won’t necessarily last longer and still provide the shave I desire. It is not worth getting an uncomfortable or bad shave to save a few pennies. At 67 years old and assuming I live to 100, $300 to $400 will keep me in fresh blades for the rest of my life. Given my current stash of blades, it will actually be about half of that.

One exception is Feather blades. They are only good for three shaves except in my 1957 C1 Tech where they are good for 4 shaves.

 

[driftwood]

Blade gets binned under four scenarios.

1) it stops being able to shave to a satisfactory degree (pulling, tugging, skipping, stops cutting etc)
2) it starts causing irritation. Not necessarily weepers, but razor burn.
3) it's in some way defective or suffers a catastrophic failure.
4) I get distracted by something shiny and want to move on.

 

[Merchant Seaman Z]

For me, Typically around 2-3 shaves. And When it starts to pull, multiple shave over the same area, Missed hairs, irritation and weepers. Or when it’s uncomfortable.

 

[Blade_Runner37C]

4) I get distracted by something shiny and want to move on.

Bwhahahahahhahahahahaha

after reading a few posts and have experienced this myself, not always does a new blade perform the best on the 1st shave. So let's assume your best shave is day 2, and then you use 1 or 2 more days. Seems like prematurely retiring a blade, although when I get a sample pack I know what you mean. i figure if I can get a full week out of a certain brand, i'm good. But tomorrow might be my 10th day on a blade and like I stated still got a wonderful BBS with a few weepers.

 

[cakaguna]

Depends on the razor and the blade …. Some, the blade just doesn’t cut as well, it’ll become inconsistent per pass. Still an ok shave, but not as even. GSB, Nacet, and Personna seem to do that. I may go back to tossing them out when they start doing that - the GSB I can get a good 5 days. Day 6 and 7 aren’t as great, but acceptable. Personna can go beyond the 7 days mark. Nacets don’t seem to last as long as the GSB, but I can stretch them out to a week without it being too annoying.

the Astras and Derbys would start to tug a little more, I’d swap those out.

anymore I just use a new blade each week, unless the current blade is really annoying before then - dud, not as sharp, whatever.

 

[helicopter]

I normally use them until I notice some loss of performance, or until I have too many blades in progress to keep track of.

 

[NorthernSoul]

You might want to check out the Excalibur Club. People on that thread are interested in getting as many good shaves as possible from each blade. You might be surprised.

I'm with the people that say when the blade stops shaving comfortably or closely, it's time for a new one. I usually go four to six shaves, sometimes more. I've got enough blades in stock, I don't worry too much about it.

 

[srgjazz]

One and done. Nothing beats a fresh blade.

 

[nemo]

Today I got 3 weepers, even though very small, still weepers. but realized this is the 8th or 9th day I have used the Game Changer .84p on the same blade but got a perfect BBS.

A perfect BBS is one with no weepers.

 

[Blade_Runner37C]

I guess I consider a BBS shave is where not a scuffle of hair is anywhere on your face. No matter what direction you feel, nothing. My weepers have already disappeared. I heal really fast. I guess my idea and maybe everyone else's is different.

 

[abies]

Ok would like to get some people's thoughts on this subject. Yes I understand that some people will change blades no matter what at 1,2,3,4 shaves and then blade is done, but for those that don't have a fixed life of a blade what do you look for before changing a blade?

I thought about this when today was my 8th shave (i'm a freak and do WTG,ATG and XTG every shave with a ton of touch ups to where there is zero chance of a single hair that can be felt. I am really picky in what i call BBS. I mean nothing nowhere. usually after multiple passes on those "impossible spots" I usually get a weeper here and there, but can cut my face today and it will be shave ready tomorrow morning. No trace of a cut or weeper.

Today I got 3 weepers, even though very small, still weepers. but realized this is the 8th or 9th day I have used the Game Changer .84p on the same blade but got a perfect BBS. So is this a sign that I should change the blade even though it's still giving me a BBS?

What's your threshold?

It depends on my mood and curiosity really.

In general I stop if it's starting to tug too much or irritating me too much. What's "too much" depends on a lot of things, like how I am feeling, the blade brand, whether I want to see how much I can get out of it or not, and so forth. Sometimes I have a low threshold for stopping use of a blade, sometimes it's higher.

I generally don't toss a blade after one use unless I was really unhappy with it, because there are a couple of brands that I've used that have improved after the first use or even second use.

I don't know that my decision has anything to do with my ability to get a close shave in the end, or injury per se. It might take more passes to get the same closeness but mostly it's a tugging or other sensation.

If I think about it too much it seems weird to me to be tossing blades, even though they'll go to a metal recycler. Subconsciously I feel a pull toward straights or DE blade sharpeners or something.

 

[Cher]

It depends if you have coarse or thin hair
It depends if you have enough time to remove the blade after you shave, clean it and store it for next use
It depends if you come to DE shave to save money and you want maximize your saving by using the same blade
It depends if you care about hygiene or you don't bother keep using the same blade God knows what it had collected
It depends if you always wants a smooth shave, irritation free or you don't care about your skin.

 

[musicman1951]

I guess I consider a BBS shave is where not a scuffle of hair is anywhere on your face. No matter what direction you feel, nothing. My weepers have already disappeared. I heal really fast. I guess my idea and maybe everyone else's is different.

I do as well, but if you've done 3 passes and still missed some hair there is probably room for improving your technique. I used to do the same as you - three passes and then what turned into just about a 4th pass. My face didn't like 4 passes, so I outlawed the touch-up pass. For more months than I like to admit I had small areas that were not your perfect BBS - and I had to live with them until the next morning. But I discovered that the usual suspects were almost always in the usual places on my face and worked on better technique during the 3 passes. Eventually I got to the point where the perfect BBS only required 3 passes.

 

[musicman1951]

Today I got 3 weepers, even though very small, still weepers. but realized this is the 8th or 9th day I have used the Game Changer .84p on the same blade but got a perfect BBS. So is this a sign that I should change the blade even though it's still giving me a BBS?

What's your threshold?

It depends on the blade. I don't enjoy pulling and don't ever want to feel that, so I keep track of each blade/brand and know when the tugging/no longer sharp enough period starts. I change the blade just before it gets to that stage.

I also hate weepers. I still get 3-5 a year. I hate them mostly because they are a clear indication that my brain took a vacation for a moment when I had a very sharp object sliding across my face - very stupid concept. I keep track of shaves per blade and found that my pile of PolSilver weepers were all on pass 15, so I change the blade after 4 days. I could go two more passes, but changing in the middle of a shave doesn't appeal to me.

Feather - 2 shaves.
Med Prep - 6 (although I haven't used one in years and they are renamed now).
Most other blades go 4-5 shaves.

 

[never_ready]

It depends if you have coarse or thin hair
It depends if you have enough time to remove the blade after you shave, clean it and store it for next use
It depends if you come to DE shave to save money and you want maximize your saving by using the same blade
It depends if you care about hygiene or you don't bother keep using the same blade God knows what it had collected
It depends if you always wants a smooth shave, irritation free or you don't care about your skin.

Cleaning the blade gets into another layer of opinion/religious devotion. Are you wiping off PTFE that could give you more shaves? Are you risking dinging the edge and ruining the blade? I do it anyway, although I've recently had to toss a blade that only had one shave on it after I dropped it on the tile floor.

 

[DesertIguana]

In time people feel & hear a Blade reaching end of life.

There is NO Golden Rule to change, I can hear & feel Blade become Dull.

Can’t enjoy a Steak with dull knife.

Shaving with Dull Blade can be bloody expierence.

IMHO

 

[Edgelord]

Usually 2-4 shaves or a bad shave. Any irritation or weepers and I bin the blade.

 

[Hawkweber]

Based on my results of the past year and a half, I have determined that 3 shaves per blade is the limit. For the several times that I thought a blade could do 4 I ended up disappointed. There are some that are only good for 2 shaves, and I have one brand in my stash that is strictly One-and-Done.

 

[Frito Ray]

With sharp blades, the edge falls apart, and I start getting weepers and a stiffer aftershave sting.

With mild blades, the cutting just slows down to a point where you have to give an extra pass.

With daily shaving I just change the blade every Sunday.