I've moved to 1 razor only and try to get about a week from each blade. I'm going to try the shaving buddy app and see what its all about. I have a google docs spreadsheet with all kinds of tabs about brushes and soaps and other nerdy approaches to the simple daily task of shaving.
Basically I do the same. SE blade hops between GEM OCMM and Star 1912 Vintage DE blade hops between Gillette Old Style OC and brandless Ugly Duckling and gets rehoned and restropped in Allegro honer 2 Valets each have their own blade (one has a NOS Valet blade that gets restropped before and after each use; the other has a Feather blade) Aristocrat Junior has its own DE blade I only recently have a Gillette Ball end Tech which isn't incorporated in the rotation yet. When any blade feels dull I toss it and load a new blade. This way there's no need for rocket science know if a blade gets to live another shave or not.
Just one blade at a time for me and it's usually in the same razor so easy enough, but if I do get a wild hair up nose and fancy another razor then I just shift the blade over. I never used to keep track of the number of shaves but since joining the online forums it's just so easy to do with all the SOTD posts and whatnot. But I still only ever use one at a time, however many shaves it might be. It's easy enough to feel when it's getting a lil' tired, and then it's in the bin. One 'til it's done - that's me! (sort of my own Keep It Simple Stupid )
I post my shave in the shave of the day forum and keep track there. I've usually got three to five different blades in rotation so I can just search for the last time I used a particular blade. I also keep a shave journal but that doesn't get updated every day. In the past I used little scraps of paper with numbers on them but pretty much anymore I just look at the forum.
Sunday is usually new blade day for me, otherwise I don't sweat it over starting a new blade if I switch razors. We're not that destitute that I need to get as much mileage as possible out of a razor blade (my dad is rolling in his grave as I type this). I suppose it might be another story if I bought them individually, but I bought 100 of them last time. It probably won't be long before I get distracted by a different blade and buy 100 more. I understand frugality, I really do (after all I am my father's son), but in the grand scheme of things... When I was keeping track of the number of shaves on a blade, I kept a die on the shelf with the number of the shaves facing out. Back when I used a multiblade disposable in the shower, I would palm strop, which allowed me to get a ridiculous amount of shaves out of a razor. - Along the order of months. When it began to tug and I got tired of it (and I remembered before getting in the shower), I would start a new razor. It was like a breath of fresh air and I almost always wondered why I hadn't done it sooner.
Not shaving every day and having more than one razor in use at a time, blades tend to last me a month or so.... I don't worry about tracking it. When I have a shave of reduced quality (be it blade feel or just not lasting long enough), then I will pop in a new blade for the next shave. If it is bad enough during the shave, I just grab another of the currently active razors to finish the shave.
For me, the is a no-brainer. Given the amount of real estate I've got, I can get no more than 2 good shaves out of any blade. So, if there is no blade in the razor, it's shave #1. If there is one, it's shave # 2 and then remove it when I'm done.
I shave every day. I shave both the head and face. So I would count that as 2 shaves per blade. So I bin the blade after one shave session. No problem. tp
now that i shave almost daily it's 3 and binned unless i am testing a spoiler or other vintage blade..
So long as the Vintage blades aren't Rusty they're pretty safe to use. But I always give mine a little alcohol bath just in case. You may also want to strop the blade before using it.
sealed gillette spoilers or wilkinsons for the most part.sealed shick as well,all stainless,no blue blades.not tried personna 74 due to price..just for fun.good blades.
Blades made in the 1950s are at 70 years old. Vintage for sure. I recently used a NOS GEM SE blade made in the 1950s. It was the closest,. smoothest shave I've ever experienced.
Not to argue the point, but shouldn't the determining factor be the quality of shave? I've be experimenting with a new razor recently so haven't stuck with a blade for any great length of time for whatever reason. Three shaves in and I've noticed a decided deterioration in the quality of shave, so I'll change next time around regardless. To be fair usually do stick it out to a week, for better or worse.
