10 minutes with a 5 day old blade...

[DEmole]

...and I got one of my best shaves ever! I considered replacing the blade but figured I'd just go for it and see what happens. Proraso sensitive skin soap, mixed badger brush, Merkur HD, and a 5 day old Derby blade...two passes and a third touch up on my chin...10 minutes later I had one of the best shaves I've ever gotten. Not quite BBS but quick, irritation free, and smooth.

I'm not sure what to conclude from my results??

I like dull blades? (maybe years of shaving with 2-3 week old Mach III blades has honed my unique ability to shave with a dull blade?)

I'm finally getting more skilled? (things might finally be starting to 'click'?)

I should just not care about anything and shave as quickly and thoughtlessly as possible? (that's what I did this time and the results were great)

What do you all think?

[Snargle]

I think practice and learning new techniques is starting to pay off. Five days on a blade isn't that unusual...a lot depends on your beard. Some guys can easily go a week, others may want to switch after 1 or 2 days. That being said, I'd probably dump that blade now...it's got to be close to reaching the end, and there's no reason to play around with your face at this point. Blades are dirt cheap...don't be a penny pincher and see how far you can push them at this point. Maybe once you perfect your skills and are getting consistently fine shaves, then you can experiment, but for now, switch it out and focus on what you did right today.

[RJSquirell]

Ditto the lasy, I just got 9 days out of a Med grade personna.

[ROBBI52A]

Hi

seems to me that number of shaves per blade and resultant smoothness of shave is ultimately dependant upon technique. Most often I can get two to three shaves(3 passes per shave) out of a blade ...........Probably do to coarseness of beard.

[Eric V]

Good responses above! I'd concur, better prep and better technic give longer blade life.

[Raatt]

what I am hearing is that a less aggressive shave gave you a good result...the big thing I learned recently was that one the guys mentioned to me that I should try to achieve that point just before I can feel or hear the blade scrape. I should be more on the cap then the guard and the razor should slide, not scrape. My shaves have been improving since then...

[DEmole]

Good advice Raatt! I think that concentrating on the cap instead of the guard has helped me get a better angle on the problem areas of my face.

Being how I am...I just had to push it one more day and got another fine 6th shave. I changed the blade today because I don't want to push my luck TOO far.

If I could only figure out a way to get my chin BBS my shaves would be near-perfect!