Blade In or Blade Out?

[soxfan]

Here's an interesting question. When your done with your shave, cleaned the razor, what do you do with the blade? Do you leave it in the razor until the next shave or do you take it out? I was taught to rinse out the razor, TTO, with the wings a little open, no pressure on the blade, and leave it till the next shave. I have no experience with a 3 or 4 piece but I guess you could the same. If you do take it out, what do you do with it? Leave till it drys and put it back in the razor? If not, how do you keep prying eyes and curious fingers safe? comments? Opinions?

[Stubblefield]

I rinse the razor with the blade in then leave it in. I only clean the razor in-between blades.

[MrGuy]

I leave the blades in. I keep a razor or two that I'm using loaded in the bathroom medicine cabinet. When I feel like changing razors, they get de-bladed and cleaned for display or storage. The ones I'm not using are kept in other areas of the house. No razor ever leaves the bathroom with a blade still in it. That way no one unknowingly grabs something that could slice a piece of finger off. If a guest goes into the cabinet and gets cut, they deserve it, snoopy jerks:wink:

[guru]

I think you have the right procedure for your DE. I leave the blade in, rinse it with the doors loosened, since you obviously have a TTO, and hang it to dry. With an SE, I have noticed some spot rusting on the blade when I leave the blade in.

[dpm802]

I rinse the razor with the blade in then leave it in. I only clean the razor in-between blades.

+1

I change out a blade after 2 uses ... if there is a blade in the razor when I start my shave, I know it has been used once, so it gets tossed when I'm done.

Rinse under hot running water, shake off the excess, set it down on its side. The blade stays tightened down. No problems.

[Bertilak]

I change out a blade after 2 uses ... if there is a blade in the razor when I start my shave, I know it has been used once, so it gets tossed when I'm done.

Clever procedure, but it only works if you want to swap blades after two uses. For you that's just fine. Can you think of a procedure for someone who wants to swap out blades after three uses? Four?

This is a serious question. I figure if you can come up with a simple fool-proof procedure for the two-shave case maybe you can do the same for three or four.

For me it is especially tricky as I only use my safety razor (Gem Junior Bar) occasionally, making it hard to remember how many shaves are on the blade. (I mostly shave with a straight but once in a while, if in a hurry, do an SE shave.) I know I can get five good shaves from my SE blades but prefer to swap at four just to be sure.

[thirdeye]

I rinse the razor with the blade in then leave it in. I only clean the razor in-between blades.

+2....I don't even bother loosening the doors. It hurts nothing.

[BEAR DEN]

The GEM blades that I can buy locally are not coated, I believe they have high carbon content. Those blades I take out, rinse and very gently dry before putting them back in the razor. The other blades I simply rinse them in the razor and leave them there with no negetive results yet.

[Sodapop]

i rinse the razor with the blade in then leave it in. I only clean the razor in-between blades.

+1

[Luc]

Your procedure is fine.

On my side I dissassemble my razor, clean it, clean the blade, I won't wipe it, just pat dry. Then, reassemble for tomorrow.

[strat1117]

I leave them in until I am done with them, although I will occasionally change razors but continue using the same blade. I usually clean them every week or two, sooner if they really look like they need it, using scrubbing bubbles and, if necessary, a toothbrush.

My boys are 17 and 20, so I no longer have to worry about prying eyes or curious fingers. In fact, quite to the contrary, I am in the midst of attempting to inculcate my sons to the ways of the Jedi.

:yoda:

[Synack]

i rinse the razor with the blade in then leave it in. I only clean the razor in-between blades.

+1

[tk6]

Clever procedure, but it only works if you want to swap blades after two uses. For you that's just fine. Can you think of a procedure for someone who wants to swap out blades after three uses? Four?

This is a serious question. I figure if you can come up with a simple fool-proof procedure for the two-shave case maybe you can do the same for three or four.

For me it is especially tricky as I only use my safety razor (Gem Junior Bar) occasionally, making it hard to remember how many shaves are on the blade. (I mostly shave with a straight but once in a while, if in a hurry, do an SE shave.) I know I can get five good shaves from my SE blades but prefer to swap at four just to be sure.

Can’t think of one for four but for three I’ve though of a method. (This assumes there are some production numbers or markings on the blade) Start with a new blade insert it with the 1/2 numbers up. Finish the shave clean razor, switch blade over to 3/4 side. Next shave check the blade, if you can’t remember, see it’s 3/4 then flip upon finishing the shave. Now on your third shave the numbers will be 1/2. So basically if you are using multiple razors whenever you go to one which has a blade in it, and the numbers are 1/2, you know this is your third and final shave!

Having written this it seems like an overly complicated system and as I only ever use one razor generally remember the number of shaves I’ve had with a blade but it’s a solution never the less!

[SRock]

+2....I don't even bother loosening the doors. It hurts nothing.

+3 If I know I'm going to be using it again soon. However, if I pull a razor out of the den for a one time shave and may not use it again for a while I take the blade out (to be used in whatever razor I use next).

[dpm802]

Clever procedure, but it only works if you want to swap blades after two uses. For you that's just fine. Can you think of a procedure for someone who wants to swap out blades after three uses? Four?

This is a serious question. I figure if you can come up with a simple fool-proof procedure for the two-shave case maybe you can do the same for three or four.

You could keep a small jar on the counter, toss a penny into the jar after each shave. When you reach the desired number, empty it out and start all over again.

This is how I've been counting the shaves I get from my Ogallala Bay Rum shave stick. When I get to five pennies, I replace them with a nickel. When I get to a nickel plus five pennies, I replace it with a dime ... etc.

Another option is to use a dry-erase marker or a crayon and make a mark on the bathroom mirror with each shave. Erase it and start all over when you get to four. You could even use this method to track different blades in different razors, by marking each razor in a separate corner of the mirror.

[instpasr]

I leave my blade loaded between shaves and so does my son. (He recently became one with the force) By some quirk of fate I can get about 6 or 7 shaves before the need of a blade change, this generally means I change blades on saturday morning.

[Smoothy]

After the shave and rinsing the razor, I take out the blade, dry the razor and the blade gently with a soft cloth. Then I reinsert the blade back into the razor and leave it until the next shave.

[thunderball]

I rinse the razor with the blade in then leave it in. I only clean the razor in-between blades.

Me three.

[featherman]

As I have not experienced any problem with leaving the blade in, and I dont want to handle razor blades more than necessary, I leave them in the razor.

/Alexander

[WhosYerBob]

When finished rinsing, I dry the blade then dunk the whole rig in a jar of 91% alcohol while I finish cleaning up. After that I remove the razor and blade from the bathroom, take the blade out and put both on a shelf in my office.

[StillShaving]

Can’t think of one for four but for three I’ve though of a method. (This assumes there are some production numbers or markings on the blade) Start with a new blade insert it with the 1/2 numbers up. Finish the shave clean razor, switch blade over to 3/4 side. Next shave check the blade, if you can’t remember, see it’s 3/4 then flip upon finishing the shave. Now on your third shave the numbers will be 1/2. So basically if you are using multiple razors whenever you go to one which has a blade in it, and the numbers are 1/2, you know this is your third and final shave!

Having written this it seems like an overly complicated system and as I only ever use one razor generally remember the number of shaves I’ve had with a blade but it’s a solution never the less!
Good idea. Though I might slightly modify the steps for a 3 day rotation to be more like:

Shave 1) Cycle starts with empty razor. For first shave insert new blade with #1/2 showing. After shaving don't adjust the blade since this was your first shave.
Shave 2) Find razor with loaded blade so shave normally. When finished open top to find blade shows #1/2 so flip blade over and leave razor loaded.
Shave 3) Find razor with loaded blade so shave normally. When finished open top to find blade shows #3/4 so toss blade and leave razor empty to repeat the cycle.


For a 4 day rotation, if one used a razor that indicated an obvious side on one edge like the Gillette Tech or Goodfella, or if one were willing to put some mark on the head or handle to create a "top side" on the razor then one could simply shave with the 1,2,3,4 blade numbers on the top side in successive days to create a four shave rotation. Either before or after each shave just rotate/flip the blade to advance to the next number and toss after reaching past edge #4.

Similarly for a 5 shave rotation could start with an empty razor and not flip/turn after shave 1 to then establish a 5 shave routine.

Folks that generally shave with the same DE blade for more than five days probably change on a weekly basis after 6/7 shaves anyway. So they would not care about flipping edges.

[sparkster123]

take my blade out. clean razor with old tooth brush. rince off blade with running water. dry both and replace blade for next shave.

randy

[KennD]

I leave the blade in when cleaning my razor, but I've got a simple two-piece Merkur HD. I've seen some photos showing some blade deterioration from getting wet and not being well-dried prior to storage, but in practice, I haven't really noticed any particular issue with shaving for five o six days with the same blade using just a daily rinse of the razor. When changing the blade, I give the razor a quick scrub with my fingers under water. Generally looks close to new again, after that.