In reply to your inquiry ..............

I got an email the other day from a reader. He had never heard of soaking his razor in Olive Oil and wanted more information.

The history on it, simple, my Dad always coated his straight razor with Olive Oil after he used it. He had a double razor strop. As I recall, one was of a canvas-like material and the other a soft leather. He used the canvas one first, and it was even stained from the oil. He would clean the razor on that one and then sharpen with the soft leather one.

The strop hung from a hook next to the sink in the bathroom, and I can still see him taking that razor out of a small case, carefully open it, and start stropping the razor on the first strop, then on the leather one, and then he would start shaving.

I tried his straight razor a few times, too many cuts. In those days I used the old Gillette double sided Blue Blade. I was in college then, and I had an old shaving mug that I kept the Olive Oil in, and after shaving I would loosen the blade a little and put it in the oil.

My roommate saw me get many uses out of the old Gillette Blue Blade and finally started soaking his in Olive Oil.

It makes sense. Metal rusts and is corrosive, keep it in Olive Oil, or any oil, for that matter, to protect it.

I am using the 4 blade Gillette razor now, the one with the switch that vibrates. The blade I used this morning I started using in early December and it is still going strong. I get about two to two and a half months out of each blade. That's about the only way I can afford to use them.

I thought many did the same thing ....

We had some friends in the other evening, and one of them, after a trip to the bathroom, asked, "Why is that razor in a cup of something?"

For many years, I don't know when it started, or who told me about it, but I keep my razor, in a cup with some olive oil in it. The blades stay sharp for a very long time.

The Gillette 4 blade in their now, I have probably used for a month, and it is still going strong.

I have the one of the razors that vibrates, and after shaving, I rinse it good, shake it dry, put it down in the cup of olive oil, and let the vibrator run for a short time, to get oil between the blades, and it is ready for my next shave. I rinse it under hot water prior to shaving.

I don't shave every day, so I don't know how many shaves I actually get, but at the cost of replacements now days, it extends the life quite a bit, and the blades stay sharper. My guess is that there is a coating of oil on each new blade that disappears after the first use. This puts it back on.

I remember my old Gillette "blue blade" gave me a couple of weeks of good shaves, rather than a blade a day.

I suppose any good machine oil will do, I have just always used Olive Oil.