Ever Ready SE and the need to clean the blade

When using a new blade with my Ever Ready 1912, the first shave would be very good but the second would be pretty bad and the third would make me give up and use one of my DE razors instead. I use the coated stainless GEM blades.

Recently, I put in a new blade and shaved with it while I was in the bath and, on a whim, removed the blade to clean it. I could see that the blade had gathered quite a lot of soap. On the second shave, the blade was working as well as the first and, after cleaning it once more, I got an acceptable third shave from it.

Does anyone else find that SE blades need to be thoroughly cleaned after use? I don't have this problem with DE blades. I just rinse the razor with the tap turned on full blast and they're fine.

I do notice a fair amount of crud accumulates under the blade, inside the head. This could lead to reduced effectiveness if it wasn't cleaned out after a full shave.

I always clean the razor and blade thoroughly after shaving though, even with a DE, so I guess I've never had any problems from it.

I have notice the same thing , and i clean my blade after each shave. I also do a little stropping on the palm of my hand just before the shave. i find it helpful