Save on Razor Blades
This photo shows the towel rack beside my sink.
On the left is a standard hand towel. In the middle is a strip of fabric I cut out of an old pair of blue jeans. It is stapled at the bottom. On the right is an archaic shaving tool called a strop.
This strop is a reminder of a long-gone world. My father's father shaved with a straight edge razor. Whenever he would shave, he would prepare the blade by sharpening it on the leather strop. Four or five swipes back and forth did this. That would make his straight edge razor razor sharp. I used to watch him shave when I was 4 or 5.
My father never used a straight edge razor. He used a standard Gillette safety razor. That's what I used.
With the coming of the Wilkinson Sword stainless steel blades in 1962, the life expectancy of a blade extended considerably: one week. Then came the two-blade Gillette Trac II razor blade in 1971. That was a major breakthrough. That made shaving a lot easier. Every few years, they add another blade. I think it's up to five blades on one razor blade refill. I use a three-blade device. It works just fine.
After each shave, I sharpen the blade by swiping it down across the fabric of the blue jean fabric seven or eight times. Then I run water over it. Then I dry it by pushing it against the hand towel. This simple procedure has extended the life of a typical Gillette razor blade refill to about six months. The blades remain sharp. The unit doesn't cut me. And because I throw them out so rarely, the refill is really cheap per shave.
Try this. See if it works for you.