Hello all, This is just a simple question for Derby users. Back in November I picked up 250 Derby's on Amazon for $20 shipped. I figured it was a good deal, 8 cents a blade. I have never had a problem with Derby's and totally love them. I shave my face and head daily with these and have always put a new one in after the 3rd shave. I figure with the amount of shaving I do on the blade over a 3 day period, I get its 8 cents worth. Today I wanted to see what it would be like if I didn't change the blade, lo and behold, I got one of the smoothest most comfortable shaves since I started wet shaving in June. This totally surprised me. I have tried with other blades to go past 3 shaves and it was always an uncomfortable shave and would end up changing the blade mid-shave. Since I had found Derby's for so cheap, I never even gave it a thought before. The bad thing now is I am wondering how many wonderful shaves have I missed because of not going past 3 shaves with these blades. My question for those who use Derby's is how many shaves do you usually get out of a Derby blade?
I'm still trying to sort out why my blades dull when they do. I don't know if it's a difference in the blade or other variables, but sometimes the same blade/razor combo will vary by up to 3 days for me. I did notice an interesting aspect to this recently. When I started using Jack Black Beard Lube and TSD Pre-Shave Balm as a pre-shave, my blades started lasting several days longer. My new theory is that better preps prolong blade life. At 8 cents/blade it doesn't seem to matter much, but it's interesting.
Interestingly, the blades derby are among my favorites, I do not use often because I like to change brands, but 'are the best ....
You want to extend the life of your blades simply hand strop them after each shave. I get 14 from a yellow 7 o'clock and 7 from my SE and Injector blades. Beware though, YMMV a bit.
