Blade Sharpness

I have to admit, these days I shave so seldom that a blade lasts me weeks, perhaps well over a month. I used to push the Mach 3 blades I used as far as I could, way into dullness, just because they were so stinkin' expensive - pushing $4 per cartridge.

However, a down side to this practice is my belief that a blade starts deteriorating after the first shave, due to water and residual whiskers and cream on the blade after that first shave, even with vigorous rinsing and shaking. I think this is time-based, not just due to the number of shaves on the blade. If you buy the theory, a six week old blade with six shaves on it would be in much worse shape than a two week old blade with six shaves behind it.

I think there's something to this, because once upon a time I shaved nearly every day. Only when I began to stretch the time between shaves did I notice that time seemed to be part of the equation when it came to a dulling blade. Of course, part of the problem could well be the fact that a blade used once a week is cutting a longer, heavier whisker than a blade used every day or two.

My DE Wilkinson blade now has four shaves on it over the course of about three weeks, and I think I can tell that it's not as sharp as it was. However, it's still doing pretty well, and that pack of five blades cost me a little over $2. So I'm going to get possibly 100 shaves (two packs, 10 blades, 10 shaves per blade) for roughly the cost of ONE Mach 3 cartridge, which might give me ten or twelve shaves if I push it, the last four or five being quite miserable.