Using Mild Razors to Break in New Blades

Hey everyone,

I ran across threads saying for Personna GEM PTFE-coated Stainless Steel blades, it is good to use a mild razor to for the first 3-4 shaves to take away the harshness/sharpness of a new blade before you use that blade in a more efficient razor.

I have also read that it takes 3-4 shaves with the Schick Proline P30 (Artist Club - style) blades for those blades to settle down.

Are there other blades (regardless of blade format) that you find you need to use a mild razor for the first few shaves to get the blades to settle down before switching to more efficient razors? Which razor do you start with?

Strangely, or not, I have found that the best cure for a harshly sharp blade is a lower blade angle. It may not be the expected answer, but I used to use the AC blades in my Feather Kamisori for a few shaves before switching them to a safety razor. I rarely remember anymore and sort of go into cruise control with the Feather and just use milder or guarded blade in the safety razor. It always seemed strange to do, but the guarded blades do take the teeth out of AC blades.

Gem blades are usually used at a very low angle, same with injectors, so I don’t worry as much about harshness and focus more on what my face is telling me several hours later.

I admit that I have a real distain for moving blades from one razor to another and will search for another solution first.

If you are talking specifically about single edge blades, then your suggestion might work. However, the way single edge razors are designed, I did not realize that there was a big difference in efficiency/aggressiveness of razor designs since most are designed to shave at a very shallow angle. I have an Above the Tie SE1 razor that uses Feather AC blades and I have a Schick Type L injector in which I use Chinese Schick blades. I rarely use the ATT SE1.

If you are talking about double edge blades and razors, there is such a wide variety of blades available, that I just use different blades in different razors.