Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler More blades do not mean better shave.

OK. Here is one of life's great questions. It's surprising how varied the answers can be.

Assuming you are using a razor and you shave every day, how many shaves do you get before you feel compelled to replace it with a new one? Of course you have to mention again what type you are using so we can compare.

Doesn't matter if I shave once a day, or once a week, I seem to replace the cartridge after about 6 to 8 shaves. I like a really sharp blade. I pushed this new Fusion Proglide to 9, but didn't like the last shave so much, but it did better than the previous Fusion model where I was usually getting about 5.1 out of it (really, I'd start into the 6th shave and dump the blade for a fresh one).

Uh... a couple of months? With a Mach 3.

I saw the title this morning and thought "But do more blades mean better virtualization?"

See this is where it gets interesting. Others have told me they replace their blades as far out as the beginning of every month and still notice very little degradation in sharpness.

I had a friend who married a fellow who worked at Gillette in Boston. I asked him what the average life of a razor (would have been the 2 bladers at that time) was supposed to be and he skirted well around the question and would not give any indication whatsoever.

Maybe I happen to have golden skin.

[quote=ClubNeon the previous Fusion model where I was usually getting about 5.1 out of it [/quote]

Running Audyssey in the bathroom must be a bear!

Rust dulls the blades much faster than regular use, actually. If you take care to clean and dry the cartridges after each shave, you'll find they last much longer. I can make a single cartridge last a really long time. I don't shave more than twice a week, though.

I don't dry mine with anything in particular, just shake off the water from the last rinse. The Fusions come with a holder for the handle with mounted cartridge, and a nice feature of a space to hold up to four spares underneath; it has a drain hole too. I place it there after use.

For drying, a dip in some isopropyl alcohol will aid in drying the blade and extend its life.

And there's the rub. I never got more than two shaves out of a blade. With my electric, its several years.