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 Runaway1956 on Saturday August 08 2020, @04:45AM (21 children)
With a straight edge razor, you don't continue using the blade until it is dull. Strop that thing before you start, and it's probably good for the entire shave. YMMV of course, depending on how coarse and hard your hair is, also depending on how skillful you are sharpening your razor. Finish shaving, wipe the blade clean and dry, and sharpen it up again before putting it away.
Haven't shaved in decades, but when I did shave, I got past those disposable razors pretty quickly. A guy can easily spend $25/week on the worthless things. A good straight edge will last a lifetime. Extra advantage? You don't have to worry about disposing of a non-disposable razor!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Arik on Saturday August 08 2020, @05:32AM (12 children)
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by fadrian on Saturday August 08 2020, @06:09AM (3 children)
I've lived in this world with beard and without. Here's the reality: Without a beard, shaving's a pain, and you'd rather not do it, because you, like everyone else, are a lazy bastard, but if you don't you end up growing a beard by default; with a beard, grooming's a pain, and you'd rather not do it because you, like everyone else, are a lazy bastard, but if you don't, you end up looking like a refugee from a ZZ Top tribute band. The moral of the story? You can't fucking win.
That is all.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 08 2020, @07:24AM (2 children)
How was this modded Troll? It is the honest truth.
(Score: 2) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Saturday August 08 2020, @09:29AM (1 child)
There's a middle ground: I wear a beard explicitely because I'm too fucking lazy to shave every day, but I don't keep it trimmed to perfection - just enough to look acceptable.
I give it a clean trim every monday morning and that's it. Come Friday afternoon, it starts looking really quite unkempt. But then it matches my TGIF outfit, and the weekend is coming up anyway.
(Score: 2) by shortscreen on Saturday August 08 2020, @11:29AM
Even if you go for two trims per week and just a comb on the other days it's still less hassle than shaving.
Now that we're expected to wear a face mask in public though, it doesn't matter what you do because nobody is going to see it anyway ;)
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 08 2020, @06:31AM (5 children)
I agree. Same goes for haircuts. That's why I haven't cut my hair or shaved in 20 years, ever since I moved into my mother's basement. I don't leave the basement much either, don't want to be confused for a Sasquatch. Out here in fly over country some per-pubescent looking male might try to shoot me and hang my head on their wall. I also like my women hairy. Leg hair, arm pit hair, all of it. The more the better. I'm referring to pictures of women, real life women seem to run away from me. Not sure why. Maybe I should brush my teeth.
More seriously. I'm with Runaway1956 on this one. Learn to use a straight razor. It's way better than anything else. No cuts or scrapes or feeling like you just rubbed your face on asphalt. There's a learning curve but it's worth it. You'll enjoy shaving. Best of all it's dirt cheap in the long term, as a single razor will last you a lifetime. But yeah if you use plastic disposable junk for shaving it's very much like self-flagellation.
(Score: 2) by Arik on Saturday August 08 2020, @06:44AM (4 children)
"I'm referring to pictures of women, real life women seem to run away from me. Not sure why. Maybe I should brush my teeth."
That might be a start.
"It's way better than anything else."
Except for not mutilating oneself. An option you've just excluded. Because hairy women make you feel inadequate, perhaps?
"You'll enjoy shaving."
No, no, I definitely will not.
"But yeah if you use plastic disposable junk for shaving it's very much like self-flagellation."
"Disposable junk" is decent as long as you don't keep trying to use it too long. Just throw it in the trash and pick up a new one. Often.
Still doesn't do a damn thing for the underlying problem though. Why are you afraid of hair? Why do you want to appear pre-pubescent?
Why are you in denial?
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 08 2020, @07:12AM (3 children)
Not one for humor huh? It was meant to be sarcasm. The point was better put by the above poster. Grooming takes effort. One can debate what the minimal acceptable amount of effort is. But if you don't put in any effort you end up a hairy smelly Sasquatch. And that applies for both genders.
(Score: 2) by Arik on Saturday August 08 2020, @07:24AM (2 children)
/Au contraire/, I love humor.
"It was meant to be sarcasm."
I got that. It just didn't work, as sarcasm.
"The point was better put by the above poster."
Well, thank you. It's always nice to get a little credit.
"Grooming takes effort. One can debate what the minimal acceptable amount of effort is."
And the fallacy in the above is the assumption that more effort = better grooming.
A certain amount of effort may be necessary, but additional effort over and above that does not necessarily represent any improvement.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 08 2020, @07:32AM (1 child)
So what you're saying is that the amount of effort you put in IS the minimal hence according to you the optimal amount. I'd sure hate for you to be wrong on this one.
(Score: 2) by Arik on Saturday August 08 2020, @07:35AM
Nope. Not at all.
My own amount might, in fact, be slightly more than minimal, and yet be misspent in such a way that my own appearance is yet slightly less than minimal.
Among many other possible scenarios.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Saturday August 08 2020, @02:12PM (1 child)
Well, actually it's because in a fight a beard is a good thing to grab. Different groups had different attitudes towards that, though. And there's a bit a a consideration about cold weather, too. IIUC the huns, or perhaps it was the tartars, used to sear their faces with a hot iron to keep a beard from growing...but they did wear a long queue on the top of their head, so it wasn't exactly a reasonable choice. Alexander of Macedonia was one of the early military leaders requiring the troops to shave.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 08 2020, @06:52PM
But beards are bad when fighting against humans...
That said, _detachable_ fake beards might help you win in a fight or avoid getting literally dragged into a fight. ;)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 08 2020, @05:39AM
...jerked out his razor, but he wasn't shavin'...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eezZRq_0C0Y [youtube.com]
(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.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 08 2020, @07:02PM (1 child)
Yeah it shows. I use this newfangled thing called an electric washable shaver and it's good for the entire shave. Finish shaving, open it, shake out the cut hairs and I'm done. Maybe wash it once in a while.
You need to make an extra effort to have a shaving accident with it...
Especially if you don't shave for decades.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday August 08 2020, @07:19PM
I've also refrained from cutting AC throats.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 08 2020, @04:46AM (5 children)
I had wondered a while ago why ceramic wasn't used:
"It's simply not possible to sharpen ceramic with the angle that is necessary for shaving. I sharpen my straight razor at an angle less than 15 degrees.
If you look at the blade, it is thin like a sheet of paper. Ceramic would shatter long before you can get it that thin.
There are alternatives to high quality carbon steel (it can be done with obsidian for example) but ceramic is not suitable for razors."
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 08 2020, @05:52AM (2 children)
Why not better steel?
I wonder if disposable razor companies really use the best steel for the job? There are hundreds of different alloys, many with very high strength and/or good fatigue properties. Because the alloying elements are usually used in small quantities the additional cost is usually not much. Some of the advanced steels used in car bodies these days are several times stronger than the old standard alloys, yet do not increase the car price by any large amount.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 08 2020, @06:23AM (1 child)
Really? Insightful?
The cheapest disposable razors may not use the best quality steel?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 08 2020, @02:37PM
With an end user price of 1-10c per blade, does it even matter if it's the shortest possible steel? Use it once and toss it.
(Score: 2) by RamiK on Saturday August 08 2020, @07:40AM
What's the angle on this [youtube.com]?
compiling...
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Saturday August 08 2020, @02:38PM
Why not glass, if you're going to use disposable blades anyway?
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 08 2020, @06:00AM
When I rub something hard against something softer - somthing much softer - then after a whilie it undergoes a stress intensificaoin and loses its hardness. I'm good to go again a few days later.
(Score: 2) by kazzie on Saturday August 08 2020, @06:51AM
Oh, the things we have to do in the life scientific!
(Score: 3, Funny) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Saturday August 08 2020, @09:38AM
One research of Italian descent, one of Persian descent, and one of Turkish descent. Of course their hair is gonna damage steel...
Also, the second one is a woman. I suspect the kind of hair she experimented on isn't facial.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 08 2020, @03:58PM
Use a blowtorch to singe the hair off.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 08 2020, @07:23PM (1 child)
Longer lasting razors? Nooooooooooooooo
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 08 2020, @07:26PM
Still waiting for a working laser razor.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Saturday August 08 2020, @08:45PM
couple of millennia old news:
GVTTA CAVAT LAPIDEM
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by sonamchauhan on Tuesday August 11 2020, @02:11AM
Recycling E-Waste Into a Coating for Steel [soylentnews.org]
"The scientists found the micron-thick hybrid layer increased the surface hardness of the steel by about 125%. In addition, microscope images revealed that when this hybrid layer was struck with a nano-sized indenter, it remained firmly bonded to the steel without cracking or chipping."