The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

A while back, I saw this video on Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ADaRIqy0Dc

Basically, the video says to rub the razor in the non-cutting direction about a dozen times on your forearm to re-sharpen it, like one would with a straight razor and a leather strap.

I've been doing this every couple of weeks (or so), and I've been using the same cartridge on my Gilette Fusion for over a year.

That's interesting ... I'll have to check it out. With my old man skin I use new razors all the time and they are expensive. I use the Gillette Power Fusion

I tried it tonight, and it seemed to work well.  So far.

I tried it and it did the same thing.  Any particular part of your forearm?

Has anyone had any long-term success with this?

Basic physics suggest this will extend the life of your razor but that it will eventually wear out.  But if you can triple or more the life of the razor it is more than worth it.

I think I replaced my razor blades once since posting this thread...?  Definitely not more than once.  (I use a Gillette Fusion Power for my face and a Headblade for my head.)  It's so infrequent it's hard to keep track.

Do straight razors ever "wear out"?

Everything wears out.  The old fashion razors barbers use my take tens of thousands of saves or more to wear out, but each shave and each sharpening they lose some steel, but they start with a lot of steel.  Your small razor will wear out at some point.

I shaved with the same straight razor 3-4 times a week for close to 20 years, and my father had owned it for at least 5-10 years before he gave it to me. I gave it three swipes on the strop before each shave, and once every couple of months, I gave it a pass on the hone (fine grit sharpening stone). I went full-on Mr. Clean for about 5 years, and pretty much shaved everything from the neck to the crown of my bean with that blade.

I feel like I'm too groggy and/or sloppy in the morning to be comfortable shaving my head with a straight razor.

With your standard commercial razor cartridges, I've occasionally gotten a nick... I got a decently bad cut (with flowing blood) exactly once.  But I could give myself a serious scar with a straight razor.

Yes. Since I saw that video last year I have gone through precisely two blades, and that's because the plastic casing on the first one broke when I was "re-sharpening" it on my arm (I have heard from someone else that isn't actually what's happening, the process realigns the molecules in the steel which has the effect of keeping the edge intact).