On May 29th, I started out to see how long I could make a Gillette Mach 3 blade last simply by cleaning the blade by moving my thumb backward over it (a bit of stropping action and putting some of my skin's oil on the blade) and then trying to get the blade very dry between uses through a combination of shaking it dry, patting it on a towel, and then putting it in a plastic baggie.
I grew fond of that blade as it had gone with us to our trip to Italy. Through the stresses of air flight there and and back, the part of the blade connecting it to the stick broke. After that time, I merely held the blade between my thumb and index finger to shave. I did so for months.
But all good things must come to an end. . .
The flat part that contains the blade popped out one day in the middle of a shave. I tried to shave with just the flat part, but couldn't get a grip on it. So, thoughtlessly, I gave up and loaded a new blade onto the shaving stick, the first in six months. I left my old blade a shaving-cream covered mess and went on with my day.
It was only later that I realized I could maybe fix the told blade with superglue. When I went to look examine it, I came to realize I could have just popped the thing together, no glue needed. I felt guilty about having started a new blade.
I cleaned off my old blade and shaved with it two more times over the next few days, but each time I felt quite uncomfortable razor burn. I am pretty sure this is because I had left the blade sitting in shaving cream for nearly a whole day. And so that's how I ended my time with that blade.
I'm still pretty happy with six months out a blade, and we'll see how long I can make the next one last, especially now that I know to keep my cool, clean and dry the blade and see what kind of repairs I can make. The blade experiment is dead . . . long live the [new] blade experiment!
