Thanks! Three schools of thought on hand stropping: A - It doesn't do a thing. Don't bother. 2 - Even if it does work, blades are so cheap, why bother? Third - It works. It smooths the blade for a couple more comfortable shaves. I'm in camp Third. I believe it works; if stropping is good enough for str8s (even the stainless ones!), it's good enough for my DE and SE blades. Besides, figure can't hurt, might help.
Yep, I have a few of Gygax's tombs still too. A couple first editions, those must be collectors items by now.
DEcember was DE Gillette month for me. I used a different razor each day, but I used the same razor blade. I made it through the whole month with the same razor blade. Then when the new year arrived my first shave was with my new Acevivi dual-comb razor. I continued to use the same razor blade. I now have 32 shaves on that blade. Normally, I just use the blade 7 days and change it unless there is an issue with the blade. I have had one blade that only made one shave. Back during Obama's Government shutdown, I used a Shark for the duration of the shutdown, 19 days. That is the most I have used one blade until this current run with a Personna Super. I have decided I want to see how many shaves I can get out of it. I am palm stropping the blade after each shave. We shall see.
I tend to Use de blades til I loose confidence in them.(3-4, sometimes 5) If i use an se, I'll line up se razors til that blade is used up. I haven't found se blades to be as long lasting as others seem to. I dry se blades after use, put it in a tupperware box for storage. I mostly have a few straight razors in mind to use. I keep the on deck straights in a spot on my chest of drawers. Ive got so few injectors to worry much about.
I use the same blade and razor until the blade either tugs or stops cutting well - between 4 and 10 shaves generally. I've stopped rotating razors at a whim and try to stick with the same razor for at least 1 week.
I go 3 and out. I load a blade into one of my razor and shave 3 times. After that I switch to a different combo.
I've recently completed a trial of nine different razors and seven different blades. I made an Access database to keep tabs on everything. I use the database to record details and photo's of all my razors, blades and accessories.
when new shaving stuff arrives or I bring home a razor and she complains, I just ask if she would prefer i became interested in vintage cars instead of razors. end of conversation
so far i have been using a blade 2-3 times and the it gets uncomfortable or draggy,but i use a different razor every time.although a dull feeling blade in one may feel sharper in another,will have to experiment more; one razor one blade till it dies.
Okay, I have to shave every day for work. Shave Sunday(two day growth) to Friday. Fresh blade goes in Sunday, out on Friday. Four razor rotation: EJ DE89-Shark, SA-109-Voskhod, NEW SC-GSB, Parker99r-TBD, Focus starting Sunday. No muss, no fuss.
After cleaning my razors one day, I ended up with a pile of about fifteen blades, most of which I had no idea how many shaves I had used them for. Since that time, I keep no more than two DE blades in use at any given time, and swap blades between razors as needed.
I don't. I exchange a blade when it's no good anymore. How many shaves that is depends on several factors.