I used a 4 day old blade today...Uh oh!

I couldn't believe it. I'm speechless. My angle was good. (I listened.) I used a 4 day old Gillette Swede. (It's not like I hadn't before.) Actually, now that you mention it, I used a Swede for 6 days, 11/21/08 to 11/26/08 . That's why you need an Excel spreadsheet. I even studied the patterns of my hair growth on my neck last week. (I took photographs in 06.)

I don't know what happened today. Here's the funny thing, I seriously thought about changing the blade out for a new one, lest I'd want to suffer the consequences.

According to to the Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) I did, today I saved a whopping .03. So instead of .20 per blade, after 4 uses, it's now .17 after 5 uses; and not worth it, because at the end of the shave, my neck was on FIRE! It's not that bad now, but the discoloration remains. Usually, after the shave the skins settles down and it's no big deal. Not this time.

WOW I thought I was the only doing that with an Excel Spread Sheet. Except of course, I not only have the cost per shave per blade, but overall for the year...

Ok, I just didn't type that.

I had a 2nd-shave Feather bite me today. It was probably a combination of several things (rough shave the day before, switching razors). However, this has happened to me several times with Feathers; 1st shave, awesome.....2nd shave, painful.

Anyone else experience this??

sphiny said:

I had a 2nd-shave Feather bite me today. It was probably a combination of several things (rough shave the day before, switching razors). However, this has happened to me several times with Feathers; 1st shave, awesome.....2nd shave, painful.

Anyone else experience this??

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You're not the first.
This is why I'm not that into feathers... great first shave, and then the blade's no good... for the price they charge, feathers aren't worth it for me.

Duggo said:

... That's why you need an Excel spreadsheet.

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DunEdinRanger said:

WOW I thought I was the only doing that with an Excel Spread Sheet. Except of course, I not only have the cost per shave per blade, but overall for the year...

Ok, I just didn't type that.

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Excel spreadsheet? You guys have a sickness that only people around here understand

I have bought time on an IBM Roadrunner to calculate every possible shaving parameter known to mankind to give my optimal path foward.

The results were not surprising, they suggested I stop micro managing my shaves and just do what feels right.

I was using Excel for awhile, but then I started posting my SOTD's here, and I stopped using it.

Robxcarlson said:

You're not the first.
This is why I'm not that into feathers... great first shave, and then the blade's no good... for the price they charge, feathers aren't worth it for me.

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Glad to know I'm not the only one. It's hugely disappointing, to go from such a great shave to a painful experience. I guess everything comes at a cost, right?? I think I'm personally going to stick with Astras, which have been working great for me, and are much less expensive, while still being almost as sharp.

I don't get it. If I am shaving and I feel any discomfort or pulling I change the blade, whether it was just put in at the beginning of the shave or sitting in the razor for a week (yes, sometimes I go a whole week. It depends on which blade, which razor, and which soap or cream I have been using).
Blades are cheap. I could use a new one every time if I wanted but sometimes, as many of you know, a blade can be better on it's second or third shave.
It's not rocket science and I just don't get the need for tracking my blades in a spreadsheet. I believe there is a name for that conditon, OCD, and that there are several effective medications available these days!

I say, enjoy the shave and screw everything else!

I must have very soft facial hair because I am still on the blade I put in 12 days ago. (to be fair I only shave every other day.) It still cuts like new.

hmm... I never really thought of that. The more frequent i shave the longer my blades last. Blades take more of a beating on thicker whiskers. But i guess it's kind of logical thinking. Learned something new for the day.... now i don't have to learn anything else

I get 5 or 6 shaves out of a feather on average.

arghblech said:

I get 5 or 6 shaves out of a feather on average.

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Like I said, my bad experience could be attributable to any number of things (I changed a lot of variables), but it has happened to me several times when no variables were changed. Who knows...

FWIW, I never managed to get more than 4 good shaves from a Swede. But the only blades which do better for me are the Chinese Gillette blues (5 days) and the Merkurs (7 days) which most people here hate, so YMMV

waterbear said:

...

It's not rocket science and I just don't get the need for tracking my blades in a spreadsheet. I believe there is a name for that conditon, OCD, and that there are several effective medications available these days!

I say, enjoy the shave and screw everything else!

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It's not rocket science, but it is science! This is research investigating the length of time each blade lasts in each razor. Yeah, that's the rationale...

DunEdinRanger said:

It's not rocket science, but it is science! This is research investigating the length of time each blade lasts in each razor. Yeah, that's the rationale...

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Yeah, I see what you mean. Gotta excuse me now....gotta go arrange the toothpicks neatly in the box and pick lint off the dog!

You should have handstropped the blade then you would have been fine.

StGeorge said:

You should have handstropped the blade then you would have been fine.

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Me thinks I would have bled to death. (sorry, couldn't resist.)

The worst part of all of this, is I've been shaving with an electric razor. It does an adequate job on the face, but the neck...it's like why bother. But I guess that's the point. I'm not shaving as close, which allows my neck to heal. I'm also slathering on Aloe Vera Gelly. I know, I know, but that's how they spell it. It's by Lilly of the Desert and it's good.

I use my Personna blades from Walmart four times only and then on to the next one. My blood is more valuable than an extra day on a $.17 razor blade.

My blades are never used more than three times before they are changed, but today, I went into uncharted territory - four shaves on one blade. It's a Swede that I've hand stropped after each shave. We'll see how long this lasts.

Even if hand stropping significantly extends the life of this blade, the risk involved with handling a loose blade every day won't be outweighed by the extra blade life. It is an interesting experiment for now, though.