Should you leave your blade in your razor?

I have a routine of using the same blade, razor, and soap for three shaves. I typically shave every 36-48 hours. After each shave, I rise the razor head, give it a shake, stick out my belly and “strop” each side of the razor head against my T-shirt a few times, and put it in the stand where it rests until next shave. I never take the blade out of the  razor during the life of the blade. Ive done this routine for the last approx 10 years and have never, not once, had any issue with rust. I figure that’s the nice thing about stainless razors.

After shaving, I’ll loosen the razor head and rinse it thoroughly with water. Then a quick 2–3 second dip into a glass of alcohol. Leave the blade in and let the razor dry on its own.

I’ve gone up to almost 20 shaves with a single blade, without taking the blade out. Zero issues.

The horror! I would never, ever leave a clean, used, or new blade in a razor. I separate, pat dry, and leave apart to finish drying. It get reassembled the next time it gets used. There is no way, short of computer duster...which I also use, to get the threads completely dry.

*LOOT add some more names to "Do not loan gear to" list.*

Shocking this thread is!

The horror! I would never, ever leave a clean, used, or new blade in a razor. I separate, pat dry, and leave apart to finish drying. It get reassembled the next time it gets used. There is no way, short of computer duster...which I also use,  to get the threads completely dry.

*LOOT add some more names to "Do not loan gear to" list.*

Shocking this thread is!

Is your real name Felix Ungar?  

The horror! I would never, ever leave a clean, used, or new blade in a razor. I separate, pat dry, and leave apart to finish drying. It get reassembled the next time it gets used. There is no way, short of computer duster...which I also use,  to get the threads completely dry.

*LOOT add some more names to "Do not loan gear to" list.*

Shocking this thread is!

Is your real name Felix Ungar?  

Paleeeez...Tony Randall is the real Felix!  Don't bring that new age hipster Felix to the party!



Thanks for the laugh.  I'd not heard that name in years.  Took me back to my childhood.

I remove the blade and rinse both it and the razor, disassembling the razor if it has multiple parts. I give the razor a quick wipe down with a soft, moist cloth, and depending on the format, I grip the blade in a forceps and lightly strop it a few times on a folded paper towel. (It’s quicker to do the stropping than it is to write about it, and it seems to work for me.)

Paleeeez...Tony Randall is the real Felix!  Don't bring that new age hipster Felix to the party!



Thanks for the laugh.  I'd not heard that name in years.  Took me back to my childhood.

  As far as Tony Randall goes, I agree completely, but I couldn’t find a picture that looked as à propos to me.  (After all, we do want everything to be “just so”.  )

Lol, I’m surprised and impressed at how through you all are. I did recently introduce a scrubbing bubbles clean per rotation to my routine. That’s to combat soap scum; which my water forms at a crazy rate. There’s certainly nothing wrong with some extra precaution.

I by no means wish to curtail the excellent discussion on this thread, however, for those of you interested, here is a poll that was conducted on the issue a few years back

https://damnfineshave.com/thread-blades-...very-shave

For the record I'm with Felix aka, LOOT on this issue.  Take it apart, rinse it, dry it, lay it out.  I don't dry the blade beyond hot rinse flick it dry-ish and lay it out.  I live in a dry climate so stuff dries quickly.  And for the record anal retentive does not have a hyphen.

My routine when using a DE after a shave is to take everything apart, clean, rinse, dry with micro-cloth and re-assemble everything without a blade. At the same time I mark my blade with black marker so I can always tell how many shaves I’ve had with that particular blade.

I like the black marker idea Max, I'm stealing it unless you give it to me ...