Blades I know there are many different brands and they all have different characteristics, as does our facial hair. If you had to make an educated guess - how many shaves do you think 1 blade should give (on average). Let us assume 1-2 day growth with 2-3 passes per shave. Mirrors What do you do to prevent them steaming over?
I normally get four good shaves out of the Lords and Derbys and it seems in all of my razors. As I don't shower before hand, the only time steaming over that is really a problem for me is when I don't get four good shaves out of the Lords and Derbys YMMV...
Mirrors - Go buy yourself a can, yes a can, of Barbasol and spray a small amount on a rag and thoroughly wipe the mirror until the mirror is completely clear again. The layer of canned shaving cream will provide a barrier to the moisture that would try to cling to the mirror due to temperature differences with the surrounding air. As to razor blades. I quit making guesses some time ago. I tested them myself and logged my results. Now, every face and beard varies and razors make a difference, but this was a test with the same razor, lather and brush and only the blades were only the variant. There is a lot of reading. Now understand that just because a blade works well for one person does not mean it transfers to others. This just gives you an idea of how much difference there can be just between blades. Remember YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary). https://sites.google.com/site/gdcarrington1/home/de-blade-challenge-ii
blades: how many shaves should a blade give? My standard is at least three shaves. If a blade doesn't last that long then it gets added to my don't buy list. In my experience, most blades can give more than three shaves. Considering the low price of blades, I just don't see the point in pushing it. Unless we're talking about Personna lab blades or med prep blades. I am disappointed if those don't last for 5 shaves. Mirrors: steaming prevention? I turn on the exhaust fan, which clears my mirror very quickly.
Astra SPs (and Gillette 7 o'clock yellows) give me 7 shaves of 3 passes each. But, 3-5 shaves per blade seem to be the norm for many with other brands.
Mirrors or windows... Just a dab of your shaving lather in the center of the pane and wiped over the surface with a tissue or a towel will stop the fogging. Blade selection is not only based on your skin and your razor type but also your pocketbook . Buy a sampler pack and see what you like the best.
Cheers guys. I know the blades thing is entirely subjective, but I was trying to do some math I can get around 1-2 weeks out of my Azor carts - depending on whether I shave every 2 or every 3 days (I can't shave every day with one, hopefully this will change with DE) so I suppose we are talking about 3-5 shaves per cart (some people can get more and one guy over on B&B got about 25 and reckoned it would last the month!). A 4-pack of the Azor 5 carts costs £7.19 GBP from Boots the Chemist, which in theory could last me as long as 2 months. Over 2 months that works out at ~£0.12 per day (so if with erred on the side of caution we are down to £0.24 per day for 1 month or £0.48 per day for a fortnight). From the same bricks & mortar high street chain I can buy their own brand DE blades @ £2.55 or some Wilkinson Sword Classic blades @ £3.99. Working on an average of 3 shaves a blade, I should be able to get 1 month from a 10 pack if I shave daily. If I still can't shave daily then I should be able to eek 2 months out of a pack. For Boots own brand that works out at £0.09/£0.04 per day for 1/2 months and for the Wilkinson Sword Classics £0.13/£0.07 per day for 1/2 months. If I used them for 1 shave only however, I would need 3 packs per month which brings the daily price up to £0.26 and £0.40 for the own brand and the Wilko respectively. Bearing in mind that I never get less than at least 2 shaves out of a cart and often at least twice that, the actual pocket cost per shave doesn't seem that drastically different with my Azor 5 blades. Of course, ProGlides are more expensive and based on a cart usage of 3 shaves per cart with a shave every 2-3 days work out at £0.58 per day for 1 month. The Mach 3's are only mildly more expensive than the Azor 5's. However there is the question of the blade quality being reduced as their new items hit the market at ever increasing prices and the cost of the old system carts going up as well to push you to the newer stuff. Obviously going to the more expensive blades closes the gap - but there is one cost I haven't touched on yet, and I suppose this is the most important one - the cost to your skin. If I can now shave daily - even if it is with the most expensive DE blades, then it will be worth it even if the cost is similar to ProGlides. Sorry for the ramblings, I do know that the number of shaves from a blade does depend on skin type, toughness of beard growth, number of passes, frequency of shaves and quality and sharpness of the blade. I suppose I am trying to justify the change to myself, especially if I hit the costlier blades (obviously deals are to be had and this brings the price down dramatically)
Keep in mind, higher cost does not always equate to higher quality, be it blades, razors, soap, really anything. Feathers are on the high end of the cost scale. For me they don't have the "quality" I'm looking for in a blade.
True. Feathers are sharp, but... The 4 things I look for in a blade are in this order: Smoothness, Closeness, Sharpness and Longevity. Note you can have a sharp long lasting blade and it can not be smooth and it will do bad things to your face. Smoothness leads to closeness. Those conditions are based on the hone and stropping of the blade, the metal characteristics, coatings or lack thereof, but most importantly your beard and skin type. As Steve said cost does not mean quality. You will find that more experience DE shavers don't concern themselves with blade cost because it is a relatively lowest cost item in the chain. Soaps, cream, and other items can take up more of the cost day to day depending on the product used. Still if you are truly looking not have this be a hobby, it is far cheaper than high priced multi-blade cartridge shaving. Good fortune in find the blade that suits you.
I totally agree with all that, I was just pricing things out for my own benefit more than anything else. I too would rate the smoothness and closeness of the shave as more important than its longevity. I am a firm believer that there are thing in where the old adage "you get what you pay for" rings true - but even in those circles there are rogue expensive lumps of crap and rogue cheap rough diamonds. I fully intend to get a sampler pack to whats is what, but I am unsure if I will be able to reliably tell the wheat from the chaff - it might be blatantly obvious, but then the blades might be so close together it makes little or no difference. Only time will tell.
Buying blades locally is great for convenience, but so far I've been finding that the best deals in blades are really on line and what Mr. Swarden said is largely true about blades. Razor blades are funny.. a high price doesn't necessarily mean their of the best quality and better than low priced blades.You can get some really excellent well manufactured blades cheap like borscht. Here's some of that borscht: http://www.italianbarber.com/lord?osCsid=1be39892544567d29c93e88a1ef7560e http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0013RZ2ZM/?tag=thshde-20 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003BRQ36O/?tag=thshde-20
psst... just for the record, it's Mr. Warden. The "S" is for Steve. The "43" was my high school football jersey number. But please, call me Steve.
Astra Superior Platinum 100 blades for £9.90 or £6.90 for 50. Free UK delivery. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Superior-Pl...898O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335730663&sr=8-1 I get about 5-6 shaves at least if I shave every day. (usually 2-3 passes) There are a lot of people who maintain it's the best shave you can get and it's certainly the most economical option.
I agree with Issac about Astra SP. Astra SP works great for me, as well as any Personna or Wilkinson Sword and also SuperMax. All cheap. I'm surprised you only get 3 or so shaves with Proglide. When I used them I got about 14 or more days of daily shaving out of them.
But I couldn't use them daily - so the ended up clogging really quickly. Plus I have a tough beard growth.
Yes, those Proglides do clog. I used to do all sorts of things to get the gel lather out of the spaces between the blades without dulling the blades. I think I had to rinse it every second or so to halfway keep it clean.
