RazorPit The Original Razor Blade Sharpener and Razor Case, Great for Travel, Sharpens and Cleans

About eight years ago, I gave up on Gillette razors. Expensive and didn't last more than three or four shaves. However for Christmas I was bought some shaving goodies including a Gillette Fusion ProGlide Power...

I have to admit at being a little sceptical at the thought of being able to sharpen cartridge blades, but I took a gamble thinking I could send it back if I wasn't happy. I am using Gillette fusion proglide blades which I have paid between £1.50 to £2 per blade depending on deals etc. The blade lasts me around a week of daily shaving against the growth whereupon they start to dull, a few shaves after this and they are dragging and needing to be replaced by the end of week 2. This is easy to use; a little splodge of shave gel and push the blade along the bed 4 times. The is no saying how much pressure you are supposed to put on the blade, but if you press too hard it doesn't swipe. Gentle pressure seems to be about right. I have used this quite a bit now and the blade life has exceeded what I normally would have gotten out of it. First time I used this I had a blade that was just starting to turn. I didn't notice much difference, but swiped it after every shave and the blade sat around the week old feel - still good, but not a fast or easy as a new blade. I wouldn't expect this to get a blade back to peak performance, but I am happy with the results. I don't use it on a new blades as I wasn't seeing any difference, I usually give it a few days and the start swiping it after every use. I am getting around 3 weeks and a few days out of each blade, so I am getting close to double the life span. So I think this will be paying for itself in less than a year. I am more than happy with that. I have found with using blades this long is that the lubricating strip breaks apart, but this is not a problem. In fact I am beginning to wonder if the lubricating strip is just a gimmick as I don't notice any difference with it intact or broken away! EDIT: As I get used to this device, the lifespan of the blade is increasing. I started a blade at the start of November, 5 weeks later I am still on the same blade. I think success depends on shave product used too. I found foams were a bit more clingy and left more of a soapy scum residue behind than gels. The blade needs a good rinse afterwards. Sometimes the blade needs a bit more than a few swipes if it is starting to drag. Finally, don't put too much foam/gel on the block else it may not make contact with the block. Just a little smear, you want the blade to make contact with the block and feel a little resistance as you push, not simply skim over it.

The Razorpit is a plastic cradle about 15cm long that looks very similar to the holders you get with many Gillette razors. With the exception of the bottom, the whole of the Razorpit is covered in a form of tough rubber, and it's the flat centre section of this cradle that you use to sharpen (or, more accurately, clean) your razor. To do this, you put some shaving cream on this section (I do this after I've had a shave, when I still have some lathered cream left over), press your razor head against it and push 4 times in the opposite direction you'd use to shave. I've also heard some people say that they turn the razor around and repeat the process in the opposite direction. The action of the blades rubbing against the rubber supposedly removes the minute pieces of dirt and dried water that accumulate on the blade(s) both during the shave and afterwards, when the razor is in storage. But you're not interested in how to use the thing, you're interested in how well it actually works, and the best answer to that is.... quite well, sometimes. The first time I tried it, on a used Gillette Sensor Excel cartridge, it brought the blades up beautifully, perhaps not quite as much as a fresh-from-the-box example but far better than I was expecting. Unfortunately that sharpness only lasted a couple of shaves before I was forced to use the Razorpit again, and this time it wasn't so successful. Even after a few runs through the device, the blades were no better and I had to use a new cartridge to get a painless shave. I then tried the Razorpit on another used Sensor Excel cartridge and found that it once again brought the blades up, to about 75% of new. This time, the blades remained sharper for a little longer, but even with the occasional run-through the Razorpit only kept them that way for a couple of weeks before the bluntness returned and, once again, it wasn't so successful at bringing them back up. I also noticed that the lubricating strip on the cartridge began to come off after about the third use, and of course the Razorpit can't reinstate it, so if you rely on this for a comfortable shave then it might be worth finding some other lubricant to use in its place. And I can say with some authority that having a jagged, half-eaten lube strip on your razor as opposed to a smooth one does little for the comfort factor. Having had my fill of the Excels, I then tried the Razorpit on some Mach 3 cartridges, with again quite mixed results. Just like the Excels, the first Mach 3 was brought up well but this only lasted a few shaves before the dullness came back and no amount of Razorpitting could get it back. The second sharpened much better and lasted for a couple of weeks, or an additional 10 or 12 shaves - nice, but nowhere even close to the 150 some people say they get from their cartridges. Before getting one I was quite unsure about the Razorpit (especially given the contrasting reviews that it's had), and the mixed results I got highlighted to me why some people rave about it and others don't. Maybe there's more to using it than just slapping on some shaving cream and pressing down; maybe it's the cream you use or the blades themselves that make the difference, or perhaps it's the hardness of the water in your area, but I'm not quite ready either to pronounce or denounce it. What I will say is that it works well enough, when it works.

People who have written negative reviews on this can't be using it properly (not pressing blade down hard enough), or are just plain dumb. This works a treat with all types of manual razor blades. I even dug out some old Gillette Mach 3 and Fusion blades from years ago, and it cleaned them up a treat. It won't 'feel' like a new blade of course as it won't have the lubrication strip with all it's aloe vera gooo production anymore (but I think all they do is make the razor slip all over your face and not actually cut hair any better anyway!). The result is a smooth shave (close as a 1st time new razor everytime). All i can keep thinking of though is if you know a deep sea diver mate with an old body suit, or a table tennis player throwing out an old bat i'm sure any old piece of Neoprene rubber would work just as effectively as this.... All it is actually doing is removing dirty deposits from the edge of the blades by friction...a simple cleaning device, but very effective. Wish this was around 20 years ago, as it may have saved me about £2000 in razor blades by now!! A good neat product (also holds/protects razor well too in gym bag) and voted by FHM readers as product of the year 2010!!

Razor system used: Wilkinson Sword Quattro Titanium. Usage: five facial shaves per week, plus selective body hair twice a week. I followed the manufacturer's instructions to the letter. Oh dear, I so wanted to believe that I would get LOTS of shaves from a Razorpit-cleaned blade, even if the claimed 'up to 150' could not be reached. That figure might be applicable to scraping off a teenager's first soft and fluffy growth, but I didn't expect to get anywhere near it really. Good job. However, I did expect more than 18 comfortable shaves from the same blade. The difference between a new blade and my 18-shave blade is marked, both in glide over skin and closeness of cut, so much so that I have called it a day on the first blade and am now using a new second. Now, I could have persevered with the first blade, to see if I could have got 25, or 30 or more shaves from it, but it was starting to feel dulled, so I have discarded it. The good news is that as I continue to use the Razorpit I will effectively half my blade usage, or if you prefer, save 50% on blade costs, so not all is lost. The item will still pay for itself in a couple of months. If I consider 15-18 shaves per blade as acceptable (and that is a lot more than I used to get) then the Razorpit is still worth the purchase.

I saw this advertised elsewhere but it was cheaper at Amazon. I was sceptical but it had good reviews. I wanted to use it for a while before writing a review so I've been using it for over 3 weeks. It looks like the plastic razor holder that comes with your razor, but coated in silicone rubber. I was still a sceptic. I hadn't shaved for a few days and I took an old Mach 3 razor that hardly cut. You put some shaving foam or gel (I've used both with it) on the flat base, press the blade against it and push the "wrong way" 4 times, pressing down reasonably hard then rinse off both the blade and razor pit. Packaging says that blades don't stop cutting because they go dull, its because they get clogged with hair and skin, the Razor-pit cleans the blades, not sharpens them. Wow, it was like a new blade, shaving close without any irritation. After each use repeat the process above which takes seconds. So 3 weeks later I am still using the same blade and its as sharp as new. With blades around £1.50 this is going to pay for itself in no-time. I also tried it with an old Wilkinson Sword Quattro blade and that came out sharp as new too. I recommend this to anyone who wet-shaves and either wants to save money or reduce waste.

I bought this thinking it was a bit of a gamble - I couldn't understand how it worked, but was impressed by the claims of how many shaves a razor could last. Unfortunately the gamble has not paid off. In fact, as I'm now paying more attention to the sharpness of my razors I'm actually throwing them away sooner than I would have done previously. There are no redeeming features as the rubber lump doesn't even look good and takes up more room on my small bathroom shelf than the razor standing on end. The lump (as it shall now be known) is supposed to work by cleaning bits off the razor at the end of the shave by running your razor along it. However, I can't even see how the blades make contact as they are recessed from the surrounding frame. You then clean both lump and razor under a tap - but guess what: I cleaned my razor under a tap anyway. This product has been a spectacular fail so far, in fact, I think modern parlance would class it as an Epic Fail. I've tried with Cornerstone and King of Shave razors so far, and will try it on others I have too, Sainsbury's own, Harry's, Gillette, I have them all apart from the Wilkinson Goo, and will keep trying to get one of them to work with it. If none do, I will update this review, but not before the lump is ejected to fend for itself in the local landfill, unless anyone can suggest another use or how to recycle...

I was not entirely believing the claims about life extension of the blades, but I bought one of these anyway 6 weeks ago. I was about halfway through the current razor head when the Razorpit arrived (I get through a Fusion blade in 3-4 weeks of shaving alternate days) and amazingly the same blade is shaving my face with the same quality! I'm not even going to begin to guess on how it works but it has already extended the remaining half-life of the blade by 4 weeks and shows no sign of going blunt yet. The only problem I have is with me, I always forget to soap up the Razorpit when soaping up my face, but that's just my poor memory rather than a product fault! If like me you use the Fusion blades, you won't be able to use the central area for blade cleaning, however what you do instead is soap up the thinner sides and clean the blades there as per the instructions. So I fully recommend buying one of these as it will likely pay itself off within 6 months and you'll be in credit within a year!! UPDATE 27/4/2013 - I'm having a bit of a memory issue here, because I'm not sure if I've changed the blade in the 7 months since I started using the Razorpit! I've definitely not changed it since before Christmas 2012, so that's at least 5 months from one razor head - which means that as I said above, the Razorpit pays for itself within 6 months of buying it! I've even bought one for my dad in Feb and he uses disposables, and he's still on the same one now! Cannot recommend enough!