I shave with a double-edged safety razor and noticed that a new brand of blades I have has an arrow pointing to one side. The razor itself seems to be asymmetrical: sometimes when the blade is replaced it won’t tighten all the way unless I flip the head around the other way. Certainly of the two edges you shave with, one is more aggressive than the other. Other blades I’ve used had a “I” on one end and a “II” on the other, but I could never figure out what that was supposed to mean. With the new blade, I mounted the blade with the arrow pointing towards the side of the razor that has, itself, a little arrow stamped on.
Did I miss the memo on blade orientation? How is this supposed to work?
I’ve seen those little arrows mostly on blades that come in the dispenser/vault that you usually get with drugstore blades. You slide the blade out the end, in whichever direction the arrow is pointing.
Curiously, I think the Israeli “crystal” blades that I’ve used lately (well, until I started growing a beard) have the arrows on them, but are individually wrapped in wax paper. I expect that the manufacturer sells the same blades in dispensers as well to different outlets, and doesn’t want to have separate insignia on the otherwise fairly “generic” blades.
That’s all just speculation, though–I don’t work in the razor blade industry or anything.
Actually the arrowed blades I referred to were in fact the Israeli Crystals. Interesting about the dispensing, but that doesn’t explain the I and II on my other blades…
WAG: They just mean “1” and “2”. If you always put in a new blade using edge 1, when your edge gets dull, you can jut look at what edge you’re using to decide if you can rotate the blade, or if you need a new one.
ETA: To clarify, I don’t think there’s any real difference, it’s just so you can tell them apart.
I seem to recall a thread on this over on a shaving site, like badger and blade, but I’m not sure. At any rate, I don’t think there’s any difference either. When I’m shaving I generally use one side until it’s all covered in lather and little hairs, then flip it over and repeat before rinsing. Never have been able to tell a difference between the two sides.
