Today I did my 100th shave on my vintage Wilkinson Super Sword-Edge blade and I look forward to a lot more.
My Wilkie, two tucks of them - well stored and factory sealed
I have for two years now stretched the blades life as a means to achieve a consistent, effortless and comfortable shave. I have established a standard shaving cycle of 56 shaves (8 weeks of daily shaves) on Polsilver SI blades. My shaves are now clearly more enjoyable than when I changed the blade weekly.
This present longevity run started because I wanted to find out if there was any truth in the rumors that the blades from the past were better than the ones we use today. I managed to acquire two tucks of well stored and factory sealed blades from a private source in the UK. My intention was to do as many shaves as possible on the old blade and then to try to repeat that run on a contemporary blade. This idea seems overly optimistic now, but I will certainly try.
Please realize that while I have done a lot of shaves on this vintage blade there is no way of predicting how another member would fare in trying this. Besides the obvious question of technique there is also the question of how the blade has been stored and the consequences of the storage. There is also a great variety of these blades out there, especially the repackaged ones in the US. The repackaging was done to avoid customs fees when selling in the US.
About my shaving: My way of shaving consists of a shower, face wash to exfoliate, brush soaking in cold water during shower, cold water shaving with 2 passes (XTG + ATG), very shallow angle, cold water rinse and an AS. I pick up the soap from a puck or apply a stick directly to my face. I apply extra moisturizer once a week or daily during cold/dry season. I shave every day and all my shaves for the last six years have been BBS in the strictest meaning of the phrase. I have been DE shaving since 1980 and doing it full time for the last eight years. I use vintage Gillette razors (TTOs and 3 piece) and for me good soaps (Mystic Water, Pré de Provence, Martin de Candre and Tcheon Fung Sing).
Lessons learned from the first 100 shaves, besides control of angle and pressure:
1. Lather quality is the deal breaker. This includes the right amount of hydration of the skin and the right amount of protective glide. I don't rinse between passes, I merely wet my hand and work the remaining later into the stubble. My lather is very wet, much like straight razor lather.
2. 2 passes is almost always enough. I have in practice eliminated the earlier cleanup pass. I just wet the beard area and work in the remaining lather after the ATG pass to check for remaining stubble. The glide of the soap is enough to let me clean up anything left by using absolute zero pressure on the razor.
3. Prep is the key. I have taken to gather loose lather from the puck and smear it into my beard area after loading the brush. This guarantees a good exfoliation and control of the previous shave as well as maintaining the right hydration level.
During these 100 shaves I have had four weepers. The first one was due to a bump on the skin being hit by a fresh blade, the second was when one of our cats startled me during the shave and the two remaining were caused by me testing a subpar soap. As you can see the common denominator was, of course, user error.
I will continue using this Wilkinson blade until it doesn't cut any more as measured by the 24 h stubble or five o'clock shadow. I will not do excessive cleaning up after the two passes and all shaves are to be BBS, effortless and comfortable.
This might take a while...
I will continue to report on a weekly basis in the Excalibur Club thread ( http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/431416-Excalibur-Club-Blade-Longevity-DE-SE-and-Injector ).
Enjoy your shaves. I certainly do enjoy mine, more so now than before blade stretching!
My Wilkie, two tucks of them - well stored and factory sealed
I have for two years now stretched the blades life as a means to achieve a consistent, effortless and comfortable shave. I have established a standard shaving cycle of 56 shaves (8 weeks of daily shaves) on Polsilver SI blades. My shaves are now clearly more enjoyable than when I changed the blade weekly.
This present longevity run started because I wanted to find out if there was any truth in the rumors that the blades from the past were better than the ones we use today. I managed to acquire two tucks of well stored and factory sealed blades from a private source in the UK. My intention was to do as many shaves as possible on the old blade and then to try to repeat that run on a contemporary blade. This idea seems overly optimistic now, but I will certainly try.
Please realize that while I have done a lot of shaves on this vintage blade there is no way of predicting how another member would fare in trying this. Besides the obvious question of technique there is also the question of how the blade has been stored and the consequences of the storage. There is also a great variety of these blades out there, especially the repackaged ones in the US. The repackaging was done to avoid customs fees when selling in the US.
About my shaving: My way of shaving consists of a shower, face wash to exfoliate, brush soaking in cold water during shower, cold water shaving with 2 passes (XTG + ATG), very shallow angle, cold water rinse and an AS. I pick up the soap from a puck or apply a stick directly to my face. I apply extra moisturizer once a week or daily during cold/dry season. I shave every day and all my shaves for the last six years have been BBS in the strictest meaning of the phrase. I have been DE shaving since 1980 and doing it full time for the last eight years. I use vintage Gillette razors (TTOs and 3 piece) and for me good soaps (Mystic Water, Pré de Provence, Martin de Candre and Tcheon Fung Sing).
Lessons learned from the first 100 shaves, besides control of angle and pressure:
1. Lather quality is the deal breaker. This includes the right amount of hydration of the skin and the right amount of protective glide. I don't rinse between passes, I merely wet my hand and work the remaining later into the stubble. My lather is very wet, much like straight razor lather.
2. 2 passes is almost always enough. I have in practice eliminated the earlier cleanup pass. I just wet the beard area and work in the remaining lather after the ATG pass to check for remaining stubble. The glide of the soap is enough to let me clean up anything left by using absolute zero pressure on the razor.
3. Prep is the key. I have taken to gather loose lather from the puck and smear it into my beard area after loading the brush. This guarantees a good exfoliation and control of the previous shave as well as maintaining the right hydration level.
During these 100 shaves I have had four weepers. The first one was due to a bump on the skin being hit by a fresh blade, the second was when one of our cats startled me during the shave and the two remaining were caused by me testing a subpar soap. As you can see the common denominator was, of course, user error.
I will continue using this Wilkinson blade until it doesn't cut any more as measured by the 24 h stubble or five o'clock shadow. I will not do excessive cleaning up after the two passes and all shaves are to be BBS, effortless and comfortable.
This might take a while...
I will continue to report on a weekly basis in the Excalibur Club thread ( http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/431416-Excalibur-Club-Blade-Longevity-DE-SE-and-Injector ).
Enjoy your shaves. I certainly do enjoy mine, more so now than before blade stretching!
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But, thanks to bosseb and other guys from Excalibur, I learn there exists something even harder than a human stubble 
