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Save a Blade
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Vendor Commercial
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ASOTVI Review
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July 11, 2008
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| | | ASOTVI RATING:
CONDITIONALLY WORKS |
What is it? A razor blade sharpener.
The most important piece of information you need to understand about the effectiveness of this particular product is that it is not intended to restore dull and corroded razor blades; rather, it is meant to help brand new razor blades last longer than they normally would. That’s all. Think “preservation” not “restoration.”
This product was deemed to “Conditionally Work as Advertised” by virtue of all the conditions specified and disclosed by the product’s own instruction sheet. However, to understand all of these conditions in context, it is first necessary to understand the basics of what makes a new razor blade go bad and what can be done about it.
You see, there are two forces that cause razor blades to go bad: 1) physical damage to the razor’s edge, and 2) corrosion.
The physical damage is, for the most part, microscopic, resulting from the very fine edge of a razor blade impacting the hard bristle of whiskers and hair down by the root. This results in nicks, notches, and bends in the metal, as opposed to its original even edge. Is it these physical variations in a razor’s edge that can catch on areas of skin and result in nicks and cuts. This product is designed to help restore the physical damage to a razor’s edge, much akin to a barber using a leather strap to hone the edge of a straight razor.
Irrespective of the physical damage a razor’s edge suffers from use, the metal itself is also subject to the normal deterioration process of corrosion, hastened by being wet. This product has no effect whatsoever on preventing corrosion, and therefore corrosion will eventually dictate a razorblade’s lifespan, regardless of keeping its edge sharp. That is, when the metal begins to deteriorate, all the honing in the world won’t eliminate pits, erosion and eventually rust.
Straight razors can fight both corrosion and physical damage due to the fact that the user has full access to the entire blade. The edge can be honed, and the entire blade can be oiled and polished or have anything else applied necessary to fight corrosion. Not so with disposable blades, where very little of the actual blade is exposed and therefore accessible by the user.
Furthermore, the very nature of “disposable” blades puts forth the notion of no maintenance. When it goes bad, you throw it away and snap on a fresh one. However, the old cliché in sales of a “razor and blades” proposition is applicable here. That is, razor blade companies don’t make all their money off selling the razors, but rather the blades. They want you to buy lots and lots of blades, and therefore it isn’t in their best interest to make blades that last forever. And razor blades, especially the ones for the multi-blade razors can be quite expensive. Therefore, even if all blades will eventually succumb to corrosion at some point, if keeping a sharp edge on them can make them last a little bit longer, there is real money to be saved in doing so. That’s what this product is designed to help you do.
In evaluating the product, our first observation was that it comes out of the package ready to use. Its battery is already installed. On the other hand, the battery isn’t easily accessible, requiring the removal of three screws on the base of the product to get to it. The product uses one AA battery that can be replaced when it wears out.
Now the main functional element of the product is its rotating pad that does the work of honing your razor’s edge(s). This strip rotates at 60 revolutions per second, and is what generates the friction, and therefore heat, that softens the razor’s edge and smoothes it back out. If this part ever wears out, the entire unit would have to be replaced.
Proper use of the product is to apply it immediately each time you finish shaving, after your razor has been properly rinsed and while it is still wet. You place your razor’s head in the unit, under the spring clamp and press its “On” button for approximately five seconds. That’s it.
The product’s packaging claims that the product will work on all razor “types,” but that doesn’t mean it will work on all razors. Specifically, the product’s instructions advise that it won’t work on a Schick Quattro blade without first physically modifying the blade. That is, the Schick Quattro blade is designed with eight wires that run perpendicular to the blades to keep them aligned (see illustration in our video). These wires prevent the honing pad of the product from making proper contact with the Quattro’s blades. The instructions actually recommend cutting these wires off and removing them with tweezers. But who in the world is going to waste their time doing that? Practically speaking, this product isn’t applicable to that particular razor blade.
In addition, large safety razors (the old fashioned kind that hold the two-sided single blades) may have difficulty being inserted into the product. And technically speaking, a straight razor is a type of razor, but is not applicable to this product.
So if you do have a razor that fits into the product, and it isn’t too big or a straight razor or a Schick Quattro, and you understand that all you’re doing is extending the physical life of your razor blades and not preventing corrosion, then this product can have significant benefit. But all these conditions must be met, and why we deem it “Conditionally Works as Advertised.”
Incidentally, there are products out there involving oils and other lubricants that are intended to fight razor blade corrosion. So it is conceivable that the combined use of this product and one of those could very well extend razor blade life even further – not indefinitely, of course, but perhaps in a way as to make them even more cost effective.
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Product: Save a Blade
Available From: Exceptional Products, Inc.
Summary:
- Made of sturdy materials
- Only works on certain types of blades
- Functions to extend the life of new blades, not prevent or repair corrosion
$19.99 + S&H (after mail-in rebate)
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