Thread: How many shaves on a straight razor before the edge needs a refresh?

Proper-stropping, indefinite, IMO

I have four razors in my current rotation. I use one razor per month. Shaving every other day means ~15 shaves. Because I enjoy using my hones I touch up the next month's razor at the end of the current month. The few times I've been too busy, the blade saw an additional 15 shaves with the standard linen/leather maintenance. Have always managed to get through the month just fine with standard maintenance. So 30+ is easily doable for me, but I choose to touch up for the grins.

I currently am rotating five razors daily shaving and have yet to feel any need honing. My first razor shaves like its first shave. Im still new but conservatively its seen 30-45 shaves for that one as it was my only requisite for a short bit.

100% agree with sharptonn... I dont even try to hone my own razors anymore so since I pay to have professionals so it I became a professional stropper of straight razors... When I stop I make sure all my attention is directed to each stroke, the sound, the feel, etc. I try not to waste any strokes just to get done... You will be amazed at how long a properly stopped edge will last..

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Rookies ask this question all the time. It's probably in the top 10 questions and in all the years I've been around these parts the answer hasn't changed.

The answer is there is no answer. Like others have said there are too many variables.

From my own experience I've had razors give hundreds of shaves before requiring a touch-up and some needing it after 15 shaves.

Do not bother counting the number of shaves on a blade; that number is meaningless. Let your face tell you when it is time to refresh the edge. If you have a light beard and good steel in your razor, you might be able to go for a very long time between refreshes. If you have a fast-growing, tough beard and sensitive skin, you won't go anywhere near that long. I have enough razors that I only use a blade about once a month. I will refresh the edges about every six months on average (that is, after about six shaves). Blades with good steel (like TI C135 Carbonsong steel) may go a little longer. However, the trade-off is that honing the C135 edgers takes a little longer due to the high carbon content. At the other end of the spectrum are my Gold Dollar razors that hone quite easily, but don't hold an edge quite as long.

Refreshing an edge is quick and easy if you have the right tools, so do not try to get a few extra shaves out of a blade just to meet some artificially imposed standard. If the razor starts to tug or feels rough on your face, take it out of service and refresh the edge to where it needs to be. You face with thank you for it.

Since I rather enjoy honing my own razors nearly as much as shaving with them, the question for me is sort of like the ol' Tootsie Pop commercial from the '70s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6rHeD5x2tI

I shaved with one straight razor from mid-December to mid-June, or a period of around 180 days. But I shave every third day, so that means more like 60 shaves. During that period, I touched up the edge on a finishing stone twice, once out of curiosity to try a new stone and the other because the edge started to feel a little bit different. So that's a touch-up around every 20 shaves, or maybe every 30 out of necessity for me. But like others here, I'm inclined to do a touch-up as I like the honing process itself.

[QUOTE=Speedster;1828924]

I love the commercial, they're just not the same anymore!

To my opinion the answer is very subjective due to different factors. First everybody’s face is different so as the whiskers, some are soft some are hard. Second each straight are different, an edge could last longer and some shorter. Third the stroping. The way you strop and the matériel been used. The # of pass needed to shave, exemple 2 pass, 3 pass, 4 pass etc... and of course the shaving technic itself like the angle of the blade and the lather quality. To my experience I can get about 50 shaves whit 1 straight, of course I don’t use cromox, I used a barber hone whit a chinesse 12k. Of course I only used my straight about 2 times a week so I don’t refresh that often and I also 10 straights that I rotate when I used them. What I found really important is when a straight start to pull just a bit it’s time to refresh the sooner you do it the easier and better results you will get.

Man I wish I could take accurate counts on my use. That's awesome. I'm a huge fan of collecting data and seeing if there is any correlation between things... alas, I suck at data collection. I bought dice to remind me of how many times I'd used a razor (particularly my DE's), but kept on forgetting to use em. Then there is the whole problem of large collections getting in the way of memory. So I became a, "When it feels like the right time to touch-up - it is the right time to touch-up." But I wish I could kind of get a better warning system. It'd of saved a shave or two.

I say if you are fastidious with your record keeping, keep it up. Take good notes. Tell us if you learn anything. Even if what you learned is there is nothing to learn lol. I doubt that though.