How many blades

I've always wondered how many blades are really necessary to shave. You can still buy razors with only one blade (more on that later) but most have at least 2 and 3, 4 and even 5 are now common. Gillet fusion actually has 6 (5 on the front and 1 on the back for precise trimming when you want a single blade.)

I never was much of one to go in for these fancy things figuring 2 blades were probably enough. But lo and behold here I am a convert to that ridiculous fusion mostly because of excellent marketing.

You see, I bought a reusable gillet sensor razor my first year back from my mission hoping that if I kept a closer shave my girlfriend would want to kiss me more often. (That soooooooo was not the problem.) I kept it for well over a decade (still have it in fact) and I would probably still be using it except for that excellent marketing.

You see I never bought the fusion razor. They sent me that for free in the mail. That is no small gift to get for free in the mail as they retail for nearly $10 (I'm sure wholesale is much less.) So now I could try it, FOR FREE. And I'll be darned if 5 blades aren't more comfortable than 3. So now while I will still use cheap disposables if that is what someone has or someone buys for me, I really like the gillete fusion. (And they do stick it to you on cartridges).

So the real question is, at what point does more blades become counterproductive. SNL (I think though it could have been MadTV) did a skit on a 15 bladed razor. I thought 4 was ridiculous, but I love 5. Where does it really end.

(On a side note, I shaved today with a single blade razor. I thought it had gone reasonably well if slightly less comfortable. Then I turned around and noticed about 50 tiny dots of blode coming from my neck. So maybe it is more than just minimal comfort.)