Sorry for the long post, I am chronically wordy. TLDR bolded at the bottom.
I have been looking around the forums lately and many people rate their shaves. It seems that the common scale for this is either 1-10 or 1-100. There is a thread, "What did you use today? +Rate the shave 1-10 (10 best)." In the thread, some people do a decent job of explaining why a particular shave was really good or really bad but some people let the numbers stand on their own merits.
I got curious about people's rating systems and did a number of searches using the search bar. After looking through almost a hundred pages of posts, I didn't find a thread on the topic (there is a large change that I missed it) but I did find a post from the end of this past year that sums up part of my issues with numeric rating systems in a post from December 2019 by @TinyT:
This ties in with my general distaste for ratings and reviews based on the star system. I think that they get shifted higher than necessary. For example, Lyft or Uber drivers are expected to have a 5-star rating or they can lose their gig. A driver who picks me up, gets me to my destination without an accident, and is not rude is the expectation, which for me would warrant 3 stars, but I feel I have to give them 5 stars because they are decidedly capable. My issue is that this doesn't leave room for the people at the top who go out of their way to make your experience enjoyable/convenient and who make the experience something special. The vast majority of drivers I give 5 stars to are not 5 star drivers but they should be allowed to continue driving.
Bringing it back to what we care about on these forums, I am curious how people who rate their shaves do it. What are the factors that you consider? Do you have set points for each component of the shave (pre-shave, blades, razor, soap, brush, aftershave, etc..)? Do you do more of a subjective holistic approach? Do you lend even credence to how it feels during the shave, right after the shave, and a few hours down the road? Do you spend far less time thinking about it, it is only shaving after all, and just give a general impression?
Obviously there is a lot of subjectivity in rating our shaves and it seems like people regularly get good shaves (many of the rated shaves seem to be high.) I have been tracking my shaves more over the past year and am using a system that asks for a rating of each component followed by an overall rating for the shave, however, I find myself constantly putting 7 or 8 in every category. I think this is because to get a 9 or a 10 a shave should be better than average or change my opinion about shaving in some way. Pretty much the only exception to a 7 or 8 across the board was when I swapped a new brand of blade in to the same exact setup I had been using for a month and got horrible razor burn and could hardly cut the hair.
If you are still with me at this point, I am interested in hearing from people how they rate their shaves, what they prioritize in their ranking and how they think it is working for them. I am not interested in trying to establish a universal ranking system (sounds boring) or in arguing over the nuances of each approach to determine a superior method. That said, I might steal ideas from people I like to start making more informed choices in my own shaving journey. I appreciate your time and your thoughts.
TLDR: I see a lot of people rating their shaves and want to hear about their system.
I have been looking around the forums lately and many people rate their shaves. It seems that the common scale for this is either 1-10 or 1-100. There is a thread, "What did you use today? +Rate the shave 1-10 (10 best)." In the thread, some people do a decent job of explaining why a particular shave was really good or really bad but some people let the numbers stand on their own merits.
I got curious about people's rating systems and did a number of searches using the search bar. After looking through almost a hundred pages of posts, I didn't find a thread on the topic (there is a large change that I missed it) but I did find a post from the end of this past year that sums up part of my issues with numeric rating systems in a post from December 2019 by @TinyT:
If I hadn't tried the Tech, I'd probably still be struggling away with the Merkur, convincing myself that all razors are basically the same. They may well be in the right hands, but not in my hands and I know for a certainty that the Tech is a much better razor for me. But here's the rub. Whatever I think of as being the best, whether that's a razor, a blade, a soap or even an individual shave, I know that better is possible. Whether I can find it or not, or achieve it or not is a different question. That's the problem with rating shaves out of 10 and why I don't do that anymore. I once rated one of my shaves with the 34C a 9 out of 10. Today, that shave wouldn't be any higher than a 5. It's all relative. I'm at the beginning of my journey, so the differences and gains are still quite pronounced but as I progress, they will become smaller and it's likely that at some point the plateau effect will occur. At least, thats what I expect, as I follow my plan. It may not work out that way, but that's ok too. There's a saying in chess that it's better to have a bad plan than no plan. I have that, at the very least.
This ties in with my general distaste for ratings and reviews based on the star system. I think that they get shifted higher than necessary. For example, Lyft or Uber drivers are expected to have a 5-star rating or they can lose their gig. A driver who picks me up, gets me to my destination without an accident, and is not rude is the expectation, which for me would warrant 3 stars, but I feel I have to give them 5 stars because they are decidedly capable. My issue is that this doesn't leave room for the people at the top who go out of their way to make your experience enjoyable/convenient and who make the experience something special. The vast majority of drivers I give 5 stars to are not 5 star drivers but they should be allowed to continue driving.
Bringing it back to what we care about on these forums, I am curious how people who rate their shaves do it. What are the factors that you consider? Do you have set points for each component of the shave (pre-shave, blades, razor, soap, brush, aftershave, etc..)? Do you do more of a subjective holistic approach? Do you lend even credence to how it feels during the shave, right after the shave, and a few hours down the road? Do you spend far less time thinking about it, it is only shaving after all, and just give a general impression?
Obviously there is a lot of subjectivity in rating our shaves and it seems like people regularly get good shaves (many of the rated shaves seem to be high.) I have been tracking my shaves more over the past year and am using a system that asks for a rating of each component followed by an overall rating for the shave, however, I find myself constantly putting 7 or 8 in every category. I think this is because to get a 9 or a 10 a shave should be better than average or change my opinion about shaving in some way. Pretty much the only exception to a 7 or 8 across the board was when I swapped a new brand of blade in to the same exact setup I had been using for a month and got horrible razor burn and could hardly cut the hair.
If you are still with me at this point, I am interested in hearing from people how they rate their shaves, what they prioritize in their ranking and how they think it is working for them. I am not interested in trying to establish a universal ranking system (sounds boring) or in arguing over the nuances of each approach to determine a superior method. That said, I might steal ideas from people I like to start making more informed choices in my own shaving journey. I appreciate your time and your thoughts.
TLDR: I see a lot of people rating their shaves and want to hear about their system.