Funding or Grants funded by non Industry for Shaving Research
- Thread starter BBSSBOSS
- Start date
There is a pretty interesting paper produced by Gillette researchers. I don't have the link, but I am sure someone does.
There is also this and all the cited papers:
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
There is also this and all the cited papers:
Insights into shaving and its impact on skin - PubMed
Male grooming has its roots in antiquity. Control and styling of facial hair has invariably required the development and use of metal instrumentation. Once crude and unreliable, it has latterly become sophisticated and subject to intense research and development at the highest scientific level...
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
lasta
Blade Biter
Unfortunately no. Most of the shave related research are funded by big companies (mostly Gillette) for patent filings. You can try to read them with a objective mindset though. A lot of knowledge to be gained from razor design/blade manufacturing patents.
FYI, a Tech, some Gillette Silver Blues, Omega boar brush and a tube of Palmolive will cost you ~$50 and give you as good a shave as possible in the "traditional wet shaving" DE universe.
Anything else is just YMMV.
FYI, a Tech, some Gillette Silver Blues, Omega boar brush and a tube of Palmolive will cost you ~$50 and give you as good a shave as possible in the "traditional wet shaving" DE universe.
Anything else is just YMMV.
Well said!
- Thread starter
- #6
Thank You, reading thru them.There is a pretty interesting paper produced by Gillette researchers. I don't have the link, but I am sure someone does.
There is also this and all the cited papers:
Insights into shaving and its impact on skin - PubMed
Male grooming has its roots in antiquity. Control and styling of facial hair has invariably required the development and use of metal instrumentation. Once crude and unreliable, it has latterly become sophisticated and subject to intense research and development at the highest scientific level...
- Thread starter
- #7
That's what I am curious about, how we have abundance of choice in brands yet no objective way to discern value. A $150 shave relative to $50 shave has to be somewhat objectively better in a defineable and repeatable way or we just have YMMV to fall back on.
Refinedshave has some blade testing. Also the wiki on this site has blade data including thickness.
www.refinedshave.com
Razor Blade Sharpness Testing
Razor Blade Sharpness Testing If you are only interested in the Razor Blade Sharpness Summary and already know how the testing works, click here to see summary tables. I have a background in Materi…
www.refinedshave.com
This is hardly unusual in the personal grooming space. A $5 buzz cut does essentially the same job as a $300 salon cut, but the perception of value is contingent on a wide range of factors.
Personally, I don't really care about value too much in shaving; I'm paying for my enjoyment and that, as the ad says, is (within constraints) priceless.
lasta
Blade Biter
Better than most consumer products to be honest. Here we have sharp, smooth, aggressive, mild, shiny shiny etc to describe our toys.
Imagine what the ladies have to deal with when they debate La Mer vs SKII!
As for discernible value, I put in a lot of work into polishing, plating and commissioning customs made handles for my Tech, it's worth a lot more to me that $150.
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- Thread starter
- #11
Fair points, value is some parts perception and some parts utility.
Where am coming from is given the abundance of choice say for e.g. in Shaving creams, multiples of sample packets cannot make a dent in narrowing choice, so if as an user am focused on slickness or latherability or fragrance one hopes to narrow down choice from many wonderful providers to a smaller number.
You can make it as frugal or luxurious as you like there is no need to spend X amount to achieve Y results.
If you are bored you can read through these 1 month challenges we did a while ago. You will see that many shaves were great to outstanding with a rather modest kit.
April Frugal Follies Cheapskate Challenge (AFFCC) - 2021.
This is a shaving game/challenge which grew out of a conversation begun on another shaving game thread... The challenge is to show how cheaply a den can be begun (for less than the cost of common "starter" DE razors) and still provide satisfaction... Oh, and to have fun!! Rules: 1) You have...
www.badgerandblade.com
April Frugal Follies Cheapskate Challenge (AFFCC) - 2022 Edition
This is a shaving game/challenge which was initiated last year by @BubblesUK and which we want to replicate this year as well. The challenge is to show how cheaply a den can be begun (for less than the cost of common "starter" DE razors) and still provide satisfaction... Oh, and to have fun...
www.badgerandblade.com
lasta
Blade Biter
OK, here's my stab at it, just one person's opinion, I'm sure someone will jump in to refute soon enough:
Razors: focus on the combination of blade exposure, blade gap, and cutting angle. More exposure->more aggressive (more blade feel, potentially more hair removed per stroke), more gap->wider range of cutting angle (for the given exposure), angle: shallow vs steep, slice vs scrape, purely subjective, I like shallow but can work with both, a lot of people like steep.
Blades: Balance of perceived sharpness and smoothness, these are not mutually exclusive. General rule is sharper for milder razors, milder for aggressive razors. But again, preferences come in to play, I like sharp.
Soap/cream: (IMO<-get the trend?) scent is the biggest differentiator. Some need more water to soap ratio than others, but most are slick enough to shave with. Some people like a lot of added oils/butters in the ingredient list, but that's mostly for people with dry skin. I only need soap for lubrication, enough soap and water and all perform equally. Palmolive is every bit as slick as Saponificio Varesino, but I have not tried Martin de Candre or Sebum etc. Someone recently said that the very affordable Vi John is every bit as high performing as Palmolive, I haven't tried that either.
Level of enjoyment? I wouldn't trade 12 of my custom handled vintage Gillettes for 2 Wolfman razors...Actually I would, but I'd pass one of it on and buy back those 12 razors.
Value is only in matherials that are beeing used
Zamac will cost less than stainless steel, witch is less than titanium
Evwryting else is brand name and subjective opinion
Some manifacturers are using slow production to limit the nubers, and that way they can rise the price.
All in all you can get very good shaves with 10$ razor 10$ brush and 2$ cream, everithing else is your choice and preference
Zamac will cost less than stainless steel, witch is less than titanium
Evwryting else is brand name and subjective opinion
Some manifacturers are using slow production to limit the nubers, and that way they can rise the price.
All in all you can get very good shaves with 10$ razor 10$ brush and 2$ cream, everithing else is your choice and preference
+1! First, my guess is that B&B folks are much more discerning than the typical Gillette customers.
Second, I am more happy with ‘traditional’ hardware and software as I am with the ‘newest’ and ’best!’ During my cart days I found ‘new,’ and ever more expensive, carts were no better (often not as good) an my older carts.
Third, the best product evaluations and reviews are often from the folks right here at B&B!
In the end, the only opinion that really counts is my own! Sorry, but its my hard-earned $ that I am spending!
- Thread starter
- #16
The study quoted by erkrusselreserve above (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ics.12330) seems to indicate that hydration of facial hair is key to the shaving process then followed by the blade (indicates a 5-blade cart with lube has higher efficacy then say a disposable razor). So, the soaps and creams other than for fragrance might have lower utility "assuming the razor has its own lube strip".. is that a reasonable deduction?
Only the first part. Hydration and a proper lather play a bigger role than the tool that will scrape your whiskers away. Btw Lubra strips are the Devil
I agree with your B&B statement. I trust the people here far more than I would some sort of testing done in a lab environment with grant money... funded by someone. Here, other than vendors which are identifiable, no one is selling anything. This is perhaps the most unbiased shaving research center on the planet.+1! First, my guess is that B&B folks are much more discerning than the typical Gillette customers.
Second, I am more happy with ‘traditional’ hardware and software as I am with the ‘newest’ and ’best!’ During my cart days I found ‘new,’ and ever more expensive, carts were no better (often not as good) an my older carts.
Third, the best product evaluations and reviews are often from the folks right here at B&B!
In the end, the only opinion that really counts is my own! Sorry, but its my hard-earned $ that I am spending!
And guess what? Even with a well designed study, it would still come down to "YMMV".... I'm sitting here thinking... I guess if you segregated the shavers into groups aligned with their shaving preferences, you might end up with more of a consensus among each group... that's sort of what happens here. Each person starts shaving... and determines what kind of razor, brush and soap works best for them... then they find other people using similar products and compare notes. You can't do that until you start. You have to put soap and blade to your face.
Traditionally, lube strips would be after the blade. It only took those geniuses 30 years to put the lube strip BEFORE the blade. I have never tried shaving with only a front lube strip, although I have shaved plenty with only water with a post blade lube strip twin blade fixed disposable. Hot hot water was important when doing so.
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