Thread: razor cleaning ?

New user .. so please excuse my naive questions ! But must you clean a razor especially the blade with some form of liquid soap after every shave. And does it need to be oiled after every shave. Or just dried and stored away. I ask this because just drying doesn't seem to get rid of the shaving foam gunk for me. There still seems to be a light coat of it hanging around the blades even after a wash and drying on dry towel or blotting out moisture with some TP.

I am pretty nervous when I am soaping around the edges of the blade every time after a shave. Seems like a dangerous activity is making itself too frequent, since I want to store it away clean, am I putting myself in needless danger or cleaning once a week etc will do ?

Unfortunately, cleaning the blade can cause you some chills, but must be done, and soon you will be used to do it without ringing a nerve. You can, after a shave, strop the blade lightly, a few times, on a moist sponge, but then you need to dry it with a piece of toilet paper or tissue. After that, do not forget to strop the razor 5-10 times on the leather just to assure your edge is completely dry. You'll be used to.

this is what I was afraid of. lol.

I rinse my blade off after use purely with water, dry on a towel and then strop between 20 - 30 times.

I too rinse and wipe in a towel, very easy and not at all risky to do.

I do as the previous posters do but also leave my razor open to air dry before closing and putting it away. Also you can dry between the scales too with toilet paper to make sure there is no water hiding there.

You mention "shaving foam gunk" not rinsing off with water. Do you use shaving foam from a can or do you use a brush and soap to lather with? If you use a brush and soap to make lather with, it should easily rinse off the blade under running water with no residue left on the blade prior to drying the blade.

Bob

I use gillette shaving cream and gillette synthetic brush. It's nothing top of the line, but this works. I see a small film of shaving cream still on the blade even after washing it under tap and thus apply some liquid soap to clean the blade, I do it as matter of habit now. but I am afraid that someday I will cut a finger because I may be too tired to be as careful everytime. I also use a bath oil to oil the blade after shaving it, it seems to keep the shine on the blade. I don't know what kind of bath oil it is, it is a generic one bought a long while back from pharma plus.

Since I am still in starting stage, I am babying my razors a lot more. I don't know if I will be able to sustain this for ever. There is one particular razor which had the most elusive edge and I learnt sharpening on that one and thus after I managed to get a mirror polish edge, I tended to baby it a bit. What I was thinking is, can it do with a little less care as I do now.

I think I know about you are talking, Almond. Some soaps leave a whitish film of talc or something on the blade. Water only is not enough to wash it out. My black mug also needs a good cleaning after a shave. A moist paper or towel do the job, just remember to dry the blade completely, and to give it a couple of strop passes before put it to air dry. Don't forget to dry the inside the scales, and do not let the blade touch the scales when drying. Lots of razors have longitudinal scars at the toe, below the spine, where the blade touches the scales, because were closed still moist. Don't need to keep the razor with the edge exposed, just opened enough to keep scales not touching the blade.

I have always wanted to ask this:

Doesn't rubbing around the edge with towels, TP etc blunt the edge a bit. I see even honemeisters making youtube videos do the same thing. You can clean an edge to perfection with a towel, but won't it either cut the towel or dull the edge ?

Originally Posted by almond

I have always wanted to ask this:

Doesn't rubbing around the edge with towels, TP etc blunt the edge a bit. I see even honemeisters making youtube videos do the same thing. You can clean an edge to perfection with a towel, but won't it either cut the towel or dull the edge ?

Use a stropping motion to clean and dry a blade. Spine leading run it across your towel or whatever you use to dry just like stropping on leather.

Bob