Thread: How do you prolong the life of a safety razor blade?

Not really with any intent to prolong the life of the razor, but when it feels harsh, I cork the blade.

The older DE blades were simply put manufactured with more care and were just better. When Wilkenson came out with the Stainless DE as I recall in the 1960s or so they advertised you could get a minimum of 10 shaves from each blade and I recall my dad raving about them. Most folks got way more than that and they had no coatings and you could strop them. Try that with any DE blade now. Sure some modern blades are better than others but how many shaves can you get from even the best? On average maybe 3 or so. The real reason for the coatings is they are cheaper to apply and produce than to manufacture a higher quality blade.