Making a blade last longer

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Puffafish

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108
Now, I know it's always a YMMV, but I find that my blades tend to die very quickly. For instance, I get one use out of a Derby, two or three out of an Astra, four (possibly five) out of a SE Feather Pro.

Does anyone have any tricks, tips or ideas as to how to get blades to last longer?
 
Blades are so cheap I use most DE blades twice and replace, you can rinse and dry a blade after use , that may help it last an extra shave but apart from looking after them in this way I don't think there is much you can do apart form bin them, preferably before they go blunt, that's why I only use twice. Old SE blades were made to be stropped but these new factory DE blades were not. No tricks that I've heard about anyway.....maybe someone else knows better! YMMV!!!!!!'
 
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YMMV.
The longevity of the blade will depend a lot on its quality and the environment (wet or not, the way you store it, etc). However, I use most of mine 4 to 6 times easily, I shave 3 times a week, so that a blade will usually last 2 weeks. I've been doing that for about 9 years now.
 
I read about someone stropping Feather AC blades and increasing their longevity (one blade lasted over a month). He used a pasted strop. And of course some people strop harsh blades (like the Feather DE and AC blades) to smooth out that first shave. Can get a couple more shaves from Treet Black Beauties (carbon steel blades) if you strop them.

Makes a bit more sense stropping the Feather AC blades because they're kinda expensive, and anyway it's fun to experiment even with stropping DE blades.
 
In my opinion, 3-4 shaves with Astra is ideal, I doubt you can get more from it. Try a good pre-shave routine like using proraso(or any other) pre-shave cream and/or a Hot towel compress and things like that.
 
I have found that the razor in which you use a blade has a bearing on how long it lasts.

For example, an Astra Superior Platinum blade on average lasts me the following in each razor:

Merkur 39C: 10x 3 pass shaves
Gillette Tech: 7x 3 pass shaves
Muhle R41: 7x 3 pass shaves
RazoRock Bazooka: 30x 3 pass shaves

Yes you read that right. 30x 3 pass shaves. I suppose the geometry of a razor helps a blade play to its strengths. I'm itching to try one in the Futur next.
 
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