What's new

Keeping Track of Blade Usage

If you're like me and have CRS syndrome, how do you keep track of the number of times you've used a blade.

I hate realizing half way through a shave I should have replaced the blade before I started.

With adjustables I put in a new blade, shave and set the adjustment on 1. When I use that razor again I know I've used the blade once. Then I shave and set it on 2, etc., etc.

With non-adjustables how do you keep track?

Ron
 
I've been tracking blades, razors, brushes, soap/cream, and post-shave items for as long as I've been wetshaving (about 1 1/2 years). I also usually log comments about the quality of lather and the quality of the shave - it's been a learning tool for me and the basis for really understanding my true shaving costs. (And yes, I'm something of a numbers nerd...). I use a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet with appropriate columns to capture each of the categories. I can use Excel's built in filters to answer particular usage questions and I have a summary page with a bunch of pivot tables where I can see totals and averages in all of those categories.

To track blade usage takes two columns: the first one is simply the name of the blade that I used, and the second one gets a "Y" whenever I start a new blade. For overall usage, I simply count the number of occurrences of a given blade name. For average usage, I divide that by the number of "Y's" that show up alongside the name. If you're like me and sometimes have the same kind of blade in multiple razors at the same time and you want to know the number of shaves on your current blade in that razor, you filter on the blade name and the razor name, and just count the number of rows since the last "Y" for that blade. (All of this would probably work better if you could see it. I can send you a copy of my spreadsheet if you like.)
 
If you're like me and have CRS syndrome, how do you keep track of the number of times you've used a blade.

I hate realizing half way through a shave I should have replaced the blade before I started.

With adjustables I put in a new blade, shave and set the adjustment on 1. When I use that razor again I know I've used the blade once. Then I shave and set it on 2, etc., etc.

With non-adjustables how do you keep track?

Ron


Can you actually sahve with an adjustable on 1? That's pretty much the same as not having a blade in it at all!


Personally, my trick is that I can count to 3. After 3 shaves, the blade goes :biggrin1:
 
It's an interesting question. I usually just try and remember - no problems with my memory so far. Most of the time I don't use a blade much more than 3 or 4 times anyway. Some blades I use once (Personna Red). I don't mind changing blades - it's a luxury I never had before, what with the sky-high prices they get for most carts - I was always trying to get one more bad shave out of a worn out cart. 'If in doubt, replace', is my new shaving motto. Or, I make a tear in the paper wrapper for each shave. That way, if I decide a very close professional-type shave with a brand new blade is needed, I can pull and replace the old blade with a new one and still use the older blade at some point, knowing how many shaves that blade has had.
 
Last edited:
A spreadsheet to keep track of how many times a blade is used?? Wow.......

How about just changing it out when it begins to feel less-than-great??

Unless of course you can figure shaving expense into an IRS write off somehow.
 
I've been tracking blades, razors, brushes, soap/cream, and post-shave items for as long as I've been wetshaving (about 1 1/2 years). I also usually log comments about the quality of lather and the quality of the shave - it's been a learning tool for me and the basis for really understanding my true shaving costs. (And yes, I'm something of a numbers nerd...). I use a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet with appropriate columns to capture each of the categories. I can use Excel's built in filters to answer particular usage questions and I have a summary page with a bunch of pivot tables where I can see totals and averages in all of those categories.

To track blade usage takes two columns: the first one is simply the name of the blade that I used, and the second one gets a "Y" whenever I start a new blade. For overall usage, I simply count the number of occurrences of a given blade name. For average usage, I divide that by the number of "Y's" that show up alongside the name. If you're like me and sometimes have the same kind of blade in multiple razors at the same time and you want to know the number of shaves on your current blade in that razor, you filter on the blade name and the razor name, and just count the number of rows since the last "Y" for that blade. (All of this would probably work better if you could see it. I can send you a copy of my spreadsheet if you like.)

You're scaring me. Are you by any chance with the IRS?
 
Can you actually sahve with an adjustable on 1? That's pretty much the same as not having a blade in it at all!

I'm pretty sure my Super Speed would shave better without a blade than with a sharp Feather on the 1 setting. :lol1:

Also, (I should maybe duck about now) if you had a blade with wax spots, couldn't you make a mark in the wax spots every time you use the blade?
 
I have little slips of paper that are cut from index card and just write tally marks, when the blade is done, I make a large separation line and start over.
 
+1. I actually keep a sharpie in the bathroom and mark on the mirror each time I use a blade.
LOL!!!!

Seriously...
While I use a straight on my face, I still use a Fusion on my head, and used an R41 for about a month before moving to the straights... but I treated the DE blades the same as my Fusion carts....
I don't care how many shaves I have on it. I generally get 5-7 shaves on a cart, so I normally pop on a fresh one Sunday night, but if for some reason my shave starts to turn to crap on Thursday, I'll dump that cart immediately and go to a new one.
I did the same with the DE blades... might get 2 comfy shaves, might get 4, don't care... I'll go until it pulls or irritates and bin it.
 
Yea, if I shaved every day, I would replace it every Monday and every Thursday. But I don't. Sometimes I go 3 or more days (I don't see clients every day; hell, sometimes I don't see anyone!!) So having another system, if you are so inclined, makes some sense. Blades are so cheap that I usually opt to just replace rather than think too hard about how old/how many. For instance, I have 2 shaves on the blade in the Merkur ATM - so, tomorrow is it.

As far as a spreadsheet goes, that's something that Monk would do (LOL). In the beginning, I would make comments in a notebook about each blade I was testing, until I narrowed down what worked and what didn't. Doing it for more than a year seems to me to be a little over the top. But, that's just me! Whatever floats your boat.
 
I only do 2 shaves per blade, so it's pretty easy to remember. If I'm rotating razors and I can't remember how many were on the blade in that particular razor, I just toss it. Blades are so cheap and I have so many; I'm really not all that concerned.
 
here is simple way..
keep a pen in your drawer... after you are done with shave, write the number on the blade wrapper and keep the blade wrapped in the same.
 
With adjustables I put in a new blade, shave and set the adjustment on 1. When I use that razor again I know I've used the blade once. Then I shave and set it on 2, etc., etc.

Are you shaving on those different settings, or just using it as a counter for inbetween. That kinda confused me. It sounds like you are increasing the aggressiveness of the shave as ther blade gets duller. Doesn't make sense to me.

Personally I don't ever keep track, my blades last me 7-10 days, it would be too much work to try to keep track. For me, I know that if midday hits and I'm feeling stubbly already, the next day is time to get a new blade.

However, the best system I ever heard of for keeping track of blade usage is this. If you have your razors on a rack, underneath each razor you put a 6 sided die. After every shave, just incriment the die. If you are using a pipe rack for a razor stand, then there's already a nifty little holder under each razor to put the dice in.
 
I have a Google Doc Spreadsheet where I keep my shaving log so I can remember what I used and how well it worked. For my blades, I just indicate for each shave: Feather 1. I'll use this blade until it stops working well, then the next blade change will show in my log as: Feather 2, and so on until I switch to a different brand blade.
 
I'm going through my razor sampler pack, and because I am OCD I created a spreadsheet in Excel to track the blades I have tried and whether I liked them or not. I even put a Comments section in! I change my blades out Sunday, but by the end of the week if my shave starts to feel rough I will change it. It usually comes out to three or four shaves per blade.
 
Top Bottom