How long is a blade usable?

Recently I've been changing approximately every 5 shaves (3 passes). Been using Feather blades which seem to last better than my Wilkinson Sword or Astra blades have previously.
 
Minimum 3 shaves (1 or 2 passes, depending on if I'm in a hurry) maximum 5 shaves, (Wilkinson Sword blades, most are 3) I also shave the back of my neck on the final use of the blade.
 
So i found myself in Disneyland Paris for 3 days recently, upon arrival i realised I had brought everything except spare blades. In my razor i had a Derby blade used once ( not my usual, that's Astra). Given that i was tied up from dawn until dusk i had little choice but to use this blade for the duration. Usually i always toss a blade after 2 days as i have moderately heavy growth assuming that its done however to my surprise I managed 4 days close shave (4 passes) without irritation or noticeable degradation of shave quality. So this got me thinking, how long does a blade usually last? Does the mildness/aggressiveness or brand affect this? I appreciate this might be subjective but I'm thinking if anyone has tested this its likely here.
Take comfort in using the Derby for an extended period of time; you really had no choice. Even had you found a shop with shaving supplies after three days at Disneyland you wouldn't have been able to afford a single blade anymore. Lol! :)
 
So i found myself in Disneyland Paris for 3 days recently, upon arrival i realised I had brought everything except spare blades. In my razor i had a Derby blade used once ( not my usual, that's Astra). Given that i was tied up from dawn until dusk i had little choice but to use this blade for the duration. Usually i always toss a blade after 2 days as i have moderately heavy growth assuming that its done however to my surprise I managed 4 days close shave (4 passes) without irritation or noticeable degradation of shave quality. So this got me thinking, how long does a blade usually last? Does the mildness/aggressiveness or brand affect this? I appreciate this might be subjective but I'm thinking if anyone has tested this its likely here.

I change every week and I usually shave 2 times a week, just the habit I think... and yeah as other said it also depends on the blade brand indeed...!
 
2.5 and then it gets really rough. Reading people going 6+ uses made me doubt myself, so a couple of times I swapped blades midst 2nd pass on 3rd use and the improvement in sharpness and smoothness was immense.

Sometimes I endure 3 full shaves (4 passes each), and sometimes I dump a blade after 2 uses. I shave neutral/shallow.
 
I could perhaps get some blades to give me around 5 days worth. However, I alternate with SE razors (Gem, AC and injector blades), and, to keep it simple, I count off 3 days use of DE blades and dump them regardless.
 
Am loving can of worms questions [emoji2958]

Imho it depends on the combination of blade model Vs razor model Vs facial hair growth Vs prep.

Too many variables but usually for me if it's made in Russia or Israel it usually last longer.

Currently my Sputnik blades (Gillette St Petersburg?) are running into 10 shaves on G.Slim Twist with Palmolive stick prep.

Sent from my Mi A2 Lite using Tapatalk
 
Just once seems a little excessive but I only tend to use a blade for 3-4 shaves max. My favorite blades are Rapira Platinum and I suspect they could last longer than 4 shaves but honestly they're so inexpensive I don't bother.
 
I use any DE blade for three days only.

A lot of blades aren't too good on the first use, and I've tried corking and palm-stropping to prepare them. However, many are better second time out.

In the past I used the same blade for five working days; mainly because pro rata to my salary, they were expensive. Unlike many things now, they are relatively cheaper today than 50 years ago.
 
Back
Top Bottom