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dull blade

How fast does it take for a blade to go dull?

I was doing a shave today with my Parker butterfly, and I decided to do a fouth pass on my neck just under my chin (the bit that is sort of a double chin on some of us). I got a bit of blade skipping and it felt like the blade was digging into the skin just a little bit. No nicks but it feels like a little razor burn, nothing serious. I ended up just doing a slightly angled cross grain pass and calling it quits- the area feels smooth, just was very hard to shave... any thoughts? Dull blade, not stretching the skin? This is about the 4th time I've used this blade (Walgreens). It is very comfortable to use but doesn't seem as sharp as a Merkur. I think in time I'll like a sharper blade. I can see a sampler pack in my future.

What I notice with the double edge razor is it's more likely to cause major razor burn when you get too close or your angle is off. But overall my skin feels better. OTOH with a double or triple-blade cartridge, my whole face and neck had a little razor burn, but I thought that was a normal part of shaving. So it's a tradeoff.
 
Guys here will get 2 to 6 shaves per blade, all depending on personal factors to them. The average is probably 3 ~ 4 shaves or so.

Factors are the brand of blade itself, lubrication, sensitivity of their skin, toughness and density of their beard/whiskers, type of razor, personal technique, and so on. Again, only you can determine when swapping in a fresh blade is needed.

At some point, the blade will become 'dull' in that it will not reliably 'shave' the whiskers. 'Dull' is relative, because a 'dull' blade is still very, very sharp and can easily cut you. But it will only 'cut', not 'shave' whiskers and you will be aware it takes somewhat more effort; that it is leaving some stubble/uncut whiskers behind after a pass; that there is a little 'tugging' or 'pulling' not present the day before.

This can lead to additional strokes and overshaving an area and leave you with razor burn and irritation (and a shave that isn't very close, and certainly not comfortable). 'Listen' to what your face and your whiskers are 'telling' you and change blades accordingly. The routine I've fallen into, is 3 to 4 shaves per blade --that's two blades per week. I don't try to extend this.

You should pay attention to the blade and always shave with a blade in its' prime.

edit: I just cut/pasted the above from one of my earlier posts. HTH.



-- John Gehman
 
Also in an area such as you describe stretching the skin is helpful in my experience. For sure get the blade sampler.
 
I agree: the blade samplers are vital:

In the US: here and here.
In the UK: here.

As you try the brands, you will find some will work for you and some won't, and of those that work for you, some will last for more shaves than others. It's all very much YMMV where blades are concerned.
 
I tend to make a blade last a week and change every Saturday morning. Going 7 days isn't a problem. It's also a kinda habit thing too! :redface:

I haven't used a wide variety of blades however, but once I tried the Derby I said "Wow, now that will do for me!" That was the end of the blade search, I felt I didn't need to look any further. (Might try the Feather one day, one day!)

By Friday my blade isn't bad, honestly, not great, but when I'm using the Fatboy I simply crack it open a bit and jump from a 5-6 setting to a 7,8 or 9.

Does the job in a flash and works for me.
 
I dispose of the blade after three shaves. Sometimes I can get a shave or two more, but why risk it? The blades are cheap, so it's not worth possibly damaging my face just to try to milk the blade for all it's worth.
 
The blade probably isn't as sharp as it could be but it's not dull yet, still cuts close with only 2 passes. It's not as "wow" sharp as the Merkur, though, but never was. I'll try for a week, maybe I'll be OK. I'm only cutting about 3/4 what the average shaver probably does because I've got a beard. Still it's nice to get feedback on what you think is a dull blade.

I usually got a week or more out of a Sensor Excel and about 3-5 days out of a Mach 3. One reason I just threw in the towel and started seeking out better razors. It's pretty bad to have to fork over that much money on razor blades, then have them last no longer than the previous generation and take just as many strokes to get rid of stubble. I was probably hard on razor blades though, having to cut semi-dry whiskers can't be fun for them.
 
The nice thing about DE shaving for me is that if I wanted to, I could put in a fresh blade every morning for an entire year and it would still be cheaper than what I would spend on the Mach III over the course of six months or so. I could only get about two shaves out of the M3 before having to ditch the blade. Then again, I absolutely despised that razor.
 
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