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A team of engineers at MIT led by C. Cem Tasan has discovered why steel razor blades go dull even when cutting hair that's 50 times softer than them. Using an electron microscopic, they found that under the right conditions a single hair can chip a blade edge.
[...] However, razor blades don't last and other steel blades, like knives and scalpels, also go dull even when used exclusively on softer materials. According to MIT, this is because there's more going on than a simple wearing down of metal, such as happens when a blade is rubbed against something harder, like a whetstone. Instead, what happens is that if a razor blade strikes a hair under the wrong conditions, it becomes stressed, cracks, and then chips due to a mechanism called stress intensification. This chipping leads to more cracks, leading to more chipping in a cascading cycle, ultimately resulting in a very dull razor and an unpleasant shave.
Journal Reference:
Gianluca Roscioli, Seyedeh Mohadeseh Taheri-Mousavi, Cemal Cem Tasan. How hair deforms steel [$], Science (DOI: 10.1126/science.aba9490)
Apparently it is not because the hairs have been affected by Brundlefly hybridization.
(Score: 2, Informative) by nostyle on Saturday August 08 2020, @06:52AM (4 children)
Good heavens, man! You must be doing it wrong. I go weeks with a single disposable razor, and months if I don't shave daily. And since, like Einstein, I use regular bar soap to lather up, I probably spend less than $10 a year on shaving.
Get the cheap twin blade kind. Rinse fully when finished - dislodging any debris with a small brush, if necessary. Strop it gently with your thumb to even out the edge, and shake completely dry. Re-use until it draws blood twice (the first nick might be a fluke). Then discard and start over. I never get less than a dozen uses from a disposable.
If you can afford it, get an electric razor to use on days when a close shave is not essential. These days I only use a blade razor for date nights.
$25/week on shaving? Puh-lease. I bet you throw out food after its best-by date too.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 08 2020, @07:32AM
Lather is the key. The first time I ever used a disposable I forgot that little detail and ruined it on the first shave. Maybe that is GP's problem?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 08 2020, @02:34PM
A straight razor is a one-time purchase (provided you don't completely ruin the blade), and actual shaving cream is ~$5/tube, which will last months-years depending on frequency and how much you use. I stay bearded and only line up my edges with the razor, so my expenses in time and money are extremely few, and I don't need batteries or extra cords in my bathroom. Straight razors take almost no effort to clean and maintain, are quicker than safeties and disposables, and get a better shave with more control. I can use a straight razor with just water and get a better shave than with a disposable or electric.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Saturday August 08 2020, @09:08PM (1 child)
I'd say, mind the direction when your thumb is over the blade. I agree disposable razors can last months, if you use it on shorter beard they are easier to clean. They are called Usa e getta (use, then throw away) around here which is a rather big mistake in advertising: in Italy you must use reverse psychology. "Use then throw away? they probably want me to spend more money. Let's try... see?". They should have called them something like "use as much as you like* (*)we won't be held liable for infections caused by dirt between use", then Italians would have used one for the right side of the face and one for the left. Amateurs advertisers LOL.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2020, @08:21PM
Most folks will only get the thumb direction wrong one time.