in which Nick Experiments: Razor Blades
As you may recall, I recently shifted to safety razor shaving in an effort to save money and have a more satisfactory shaving experience. On the whole, I've greatly enjoyed the change - shaving feels more like a ritual than a routine, the quality of my shaving (and resultant face!) has been great, and on the whole I just smell better due to better products. That said, I got a bunch of different razors for Christmas, and am just now finally getting around to trying them out over the Merkur's that shipped with my Merkur Razor. I find myself invariably comparing the two, and since I've got 7 others (to say nothing of the fact that I'm vaguely-OCD and a scientist), I'm going to run a little blade comparison experiment.
Let it never be said that I'm not precise.
The Experimental Plan:
- Shave as normal*, as thoroughly as possible, with whatever blade is in the assembly every Thursday morning.
- Change to the new blade (and thus brand) on Fridays. Shave as normal.
- Do not shave Saturday or Sunday.
- Shave as normal on Monday.
- Shave as normal on Tuesday.
- Do not shave on Wednesday.
- Repeat.
This ensures a few things:
1) I use a new blade on 1 day of stubble.
2) I use a new-ish blade on 3 days of stubble.
3) I use an older, used blade again on 1 day of stubble.
4) Finally, I use an older, clearly used blade on 2 days of stubble.
Since blades have a typical (or so they say) usage of 3-6 days, this hits a happy middle of 4 while still ensuring a full range of different, common scenarios and stubble-levels. It also allows me to have a set number of uses to track wear over usage as a constant.
*Normal Shave Procedure:
- Lather face with fresh lather from warm cup.
- Shave with grain of face, using only one pass per area of flesh.
- Re-lather from now cooling cup.
- Shave against grain of face, again using only one pass per area.
- Wash face.
- Stypic pen if necessary for cuts.
- Aftershave
How Blades will be Ranked:
- Value - Cost per blade. Likely using Amazon and West Coast Shaving for comparison of both single and multi-pack options.
- Wear - How well did they hold up over the experiment? Visual and usage comparisons daily. I may even take pictures.
- Effectiveness - How well did they cut hair? How much stubble is left? How did this change over the week?
- Lethality - How much damage did the blade do to my face? Did I need to stypic? How much, and how often?
- Feel - Subjective. How did the blade feel when shaving? Did it skip, tug, or drag? Was it smooth? Was more force necessary to move it over skin? How did this change over the week?
- The Ladies - Subjective, and via 3rd party. How does my face feel after? Does this change day-to-day?
Constants:
- Equipment - I'll be using the Merkur #180, the Omega #63171 Brush, Proraso Shave Gel, Nivea Shave Balm, and the espresso cup I bought from BB&B. Other than blades themselves and changing the washcloth I use daily (which never touches blade), my equipment is constant.
- Time of Day - I shower/shave at approximately 6:45AM MST each weekday morning. Since I'm skipping weekends, this will be constant.
- Stubble level - In line with time of day and procedure.
- The Setup Procedure - I wake up, shower, shave immediately after, and then go about the rest of my morning. My routine is constant.
- The Experimental Procedure - Each blade will be subjected to the same 4-shave, 7-day routine. Each blade starts the routine brand new. By going slowly and using the same process each day, I ensure each blade is subjected to the exact same stresses and that my face is at roughly the same stubble/wear level each day of the experiment.
- Lather Layer - Each day the lather will be applied as a consistent, semi-translucent layer using the same daily process.
- Parties involved - I will be doing the shaving and the rankings, and the same 3rd parties (or party, as is more likely) will be used for "The Ladies" criteria.
- Pattern - I keep my sideburns consistent in both length and width, and don't have other facial hair at this time. Thus, the same areas will be shaved every day.
Non-Constants:
- Water Temperature - it'll be within the same range, +/- 5 degrees F. It's more or less irrelevant to blade effectiveness, anyway - the fact that water is there at all is what's important.
- Lather Consistency/Volume/Water Content - It'll be within +/-5% on each variable, but I'm not sure I can measure the exact amount of water I shake out of the brush each morning, nor do I wish to measure "one squeeze about the size of a dime" of lather out of the tube. Given that I've been doing this for 6+ months and that area will get only one pass per lather, it'll be relatively irrelevant so long as lather is there at all.
- Opinion - 2 of the 6 ranked criteria are opinions, and should be treated as such.
Reporting:
At the end of each experimental period, I will compose another LJ-post on that specific blade. I will rank it per the criteria above, though I may still modify said criteria over the experiment if new/better ideas occur AND I can still do said ranking for previous blades. After the 9th week of testing, a summary will be released with a total analysis and recommendation.
And, don't worry, each post will be lj-cut to let the many of you that don't care ignore them safely.
Disclaimer:
- Yes, this is nuts - a 2.5 month long project to compare razor blades. I get that. Still, I find the whole process and procedure of safety razor shaving inherently curious, and it's been years since I've run a proper experiment. This is somewhat close, I guess, and appeals to me. Also, it'll let me quantifiably say "screw THOSE blades, try THESE".
- Yeah, this is probably an indication that I'm terribly sick and might be a call for help. S'alright.
- And, yes, no one else cares. Fine. My LJ, my rules.
Let it never be said that I'm not precise.
The Experimental Plan:
- Shave as normal*, as thoroughly as possible, with whatever blade is in the assembly every Thursday morning.
- Change to the new blade (and thus brand) on Fridays. Shave as normal.
- Do not shave Saturday or Sunday.
- Shave as normal on Monday.
- Shave as normal on Tuesday.
- Do not shave on Wednesday.
- Repeat.
This ensures a few things:
1) I use a new blade on 1 day of stubble.
2) I use a new-ish blade on 3 days of stubble.
3) I use an older, used blade again on 1 day of stubble.
4) Finally, I use an older, clearly used blade on 2 days of stubble.
Since blades have a typical (or so they say) usage of 3-6 days, this hits a happy middle of 4 while still ensuring a full range of different, common scenarios and stubble-levels. It also allows me to have a set number of uses to track wear over usage as a constant.
*Normal Shave Procedure:
- Lather face with fresh lather from warm cup.
- Shave with grain of face, using only one pass per area of flesh.
- Re-lather from now cooling cup.
- Shave against grain of face, again using only one pass per area.
- Wash face.
- Stypic pen if necessary for cuts.
- Aftershave
How Blades will be Ranked:
- Value - Cost per blade. Likely using Amazon and West Coast Shaving for comparison of both single and multi-pack options.
- Wear - How well did they hold up over the experiment? Visual and usage comparisons daily. I may even take pictures.
- Effectiveness - How well did they cut hair? How much stubble is left? How did this change over the week?
- Lethality - How much damage did the blade do to my face? Did I need to stypic? How much, and how often?
- Feel - Subjective. How did the blade feel when shaving? Did it skip, tug, or drag? Was it smooth? Was more force necessary to move it over skin? How did this change over the week?
- The Ladies - Subjective, and via 3rd party. How does my face feel after? Does this change day-to-day?
Constants:
- Equipment - I'll be using the Merkur #180, the Omega #63171 Brush, Proraso Shave Gel, Nivea Shave Balm, and the espresso cup I bought from BB&B. Other than blades themselves and changing the washcloth I use daily (which never touches blade), my equipment is constant.
- Time of Day - I shower/shave at approximately 6:45AM MST each weekday morning. Since I'm skipping weekends, this will be constant.
- Stubble level - In line with time of day and procedure.
- The Setup Procedure - I wake up, shower, shave immediately after, and then go about the rest of my morning. My routine is constant.
- The Experimental Procedure - Each blade will be subjected to the same 4-shave, 7-day routine. Each blade starts the routine brand new. By going slowly and using the same process each day, I ensure each blade is subjected to the exact same stresses and that my face is at roughly the same stubble/wear level each day of the experiment.
- Lather Layer - Each day the lather will be applied as a consistent, semi-translucent layer using the same daily process.
- Parties involved - I will be doing the shaving and the rankings, and the same 3rd parties (or party, as is more likely) will be used for "The Ladies" criteria.
- Pattern - I keep my sideburns consistent in both length and width, and don't have other facial hair at this time. Thus, the same areas will be shaved every day.
Non-Constants:
- Water Temperature - it'll be within the same range, +/- 5 degrees F. It's more or less irrelevant to blade effectiveness, anyway - the fact that water is there at all is what's important.
- Lather Consistency/Volume/Water Content - It'll be within +/-5% on each variable, but I'm not sure I can measure the exact amount of water I shake out of the brush each morning, nor do I wish to measure "one squeeze about the size of a dime" of lather out of the tube. Given that I've been doing this for 6+ months and that area will get only one pass per lather, it'll be relatively irrelevant so long as lather is there at all.
- Opinion - 2 of the 6 ranked criteria are opinions, and should be treated as such.
Reporting:
At the end of each experimental period, I will compose another LJ-post on that specific blade. I will rank it per the criteria above, though I may still modify said criteria over the experiment if new/better ideas occur AND I can still do said ranking for previous blades. After the 9th week of testing, a summary will be released with a total analysis and recommendation.
And, don't worry, each post will be lj-cut to let the many of you that don't care ignore them safely.
Disclaimer:
- Yes, this is nuts - a 2.5 month long project to compare razor blades. I get that. Still, I find the whole process and procedure of safety razor shaving inherently curious, and it's been years since I've run a proper experiment. This is somewhat close, I guess, and appeals to me. Also, it'll let me quantifiably say "screw THOSE blades, try THESE".
- Yeah, this is probably an indication that I'm terribly sick and might be a call for help. S'alright.
- And, yes, no one else cares. Fine. My LJ, my rules.