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How do you form your shaving biases?

It might be random. This is taken from an article in scitechdaily dot com, an general interest level aggregator of published scientific research.

Quote:
“The act of making a choice changes how we feel about our options,” said co-author Alex Silver, a former Johns Hopkins undergraduate who’s now a graduate student in cognitive psychology at the University of Pittsburgh. “Even infants who are really just at the start of making choices for themselves have this bias.”

The findings are published today in the journal Psychological Science.

People assume they choose things that they like. But research suggests that’s sometimes backwards: We like things because we choose them. And, we dislike things that we don’t choose.

“I chose this, so I must like it. I didn’t choose this other thing, so it must not be so good. Adults make these inferences unconsciously,” said co-author Lisa Feigenson, a Johns Hopkins cognitive scientist specializing in child development. “We justify our choice after the fact.”
Endquote.

This reflects my razor choice experience. I have strong biases in favor of Schick injectors, vintage Gillette, and slants, my (almost) first razors from back in the groovy late 60s/early 70s era. Only the Gillette Techmatic, the first razor I ever purchased, was bad enough to get the boot.

Also, I'm a boar guy. Boars were the only brushes left in the mass market drugstores of my youth.

So did I really make choices, or did my choices make me the shaver I am today?

And what explains my aversion to sandalwood and my sudden infatuation with all those Gem blade SEs I've acquired? More research is required.
 
People assume they choose things that they like. But research suggests that’s sometimes backwards: We like things because we choose them. And, we dislike things that we don’t choose.


Interesting, my experience has been nearly the opposite. I dislike most of the shaving products that I've purchased. By and large they're all adequate, but not great. I've given up nearly all the products that I started out with.

I just keep buying more for research purposes hoping to find a couple that are perfect for me.

Now that I think about it, maybe I form my biases in order to justify buying and experimenting with more shaving gear... 😋
 
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In my case, lots of trying the multitude of great shaving options that we have!

Interestingly, the more I try, the LESS I seem to be biased!!

shaves 2016 2017.jpg
 
I've heard that theory before. That our liking something or not is rationalization after the fact. I believe there may be a kernel of truth to it. There's many things I like but I cannot for the life of me feel you why.
 
Imteresting.

After 11years of wet shaving, there are only three things that I am sure of. First, that I greatly prefer slaps to creams. Secomd, that I like synthetic brushes better than natural ones. Third, that I really like replaceable blade straight razors better than any other kind of razor.

I have no idea how much of this is bias.
 
Sometimes yes and sometimes no. I bought my first Schick Injector because it was on the shelf next to the fancy new Trac II cartridge razors. I KNEW I wanted just a single blade because that was what I had been using successfully and therefore it was my only choice. The Schick was cheaper too. Do I like them because I chose that one? Don't know. It certainly worked out with no regrets. I use that very razor still today.
 
Your question assumes the choices were biased.

My first razor and lubricant were cartridges and canned foam, but you wont hear me lauding their praises.

My experiences with traditional shave are:

My first brush was a badger, I love boars, after trying synthetics and horsehair in addition to badgers.

My first razor was a TTO DE bar razor, after trying other TTOs, adjustables, slants, OCs, and SEs. My favorite razor is a Gem, followed by an injector. The Only DE I kept was a New LC. A 3 piece, OC razor.

My first soap was a cream. I like hard soaps after trying croaps and non-lathering products as well.
 
Which sandalwood have your tried and didn't like?

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The only one I own is TOBS Sandalwood cream in the tub. I scooped a little in my sample bowl months ago. The remainder that has dried out and lost most of its scent performs better for me than the fresh product.

Most of the other sandalwood I've experienced is through other people's products.
 
@Clay S : Between your experience and mine with Gem blade SEs, we have to conclude they are simply superior razors. :thumbup1:

No bias involved. In fact I had to work on my technique to enjoy them.
 
Interestingly, the more I try, the LESS I seem to be biased!!

Wow. After having zoomed on the pic, I'm not sure whether I'm more impressed by the photography, the staging, or the collection.

I'm going to choose all three...

Superb collection by any measure! You've clearly put a great deal of thought into what makes a combo worthy of photographing. It begs the question what those criteria are. Perhaps more in alignment of the spirit of the thread, what "biases" inform your decision? It's hard to believe that you just photograph any old combo given your extraordinary attention to detail!
 
This is an interesting concept. I often see this go one further online. People find themselves requiring the ‘likes’ of strangers to justify their own choices. If so many other people like my choice then it must be a good one. Once convinced by the flood of likes that their choices are good they go on to attempt to convince others to make the same choice as them. This further justifies their original choice. Hey other people are doing the same as me, I must be right.

Humans loves likes and echo chambers. They strike a cord deep in within our dna and can be highly addictive. It’s a strange thing and like any drug no one is really immune to it.
 
The only one I own is TOBS Sandalwood cream in the tub. I scooped a little in my sample bowl months ago. The remainder that has dried out and lost most of its scent performs better for me than the fresh product.

Most of the other sandalwood I've experienced is through other people's products.
I suspected this may be the case. You have to try the real thing. You will never find it in a cheap soap though. I was the same as you in the beginning - in hindsight, I had no idea what sandalwood actually smells like. I was convinced I didn't like it, because the only thing I smelled was the cheap synthetic version of it.


Skip the first minute (I'm not sure why Nikhil wanted to sing in that one LOL!) Anyway, he is one of the most knowledgeable folks out there when it comes to natural perfumery, and in this video, he talks about the real sandalwood and some of the best fragrances (at the time) that feature sandalwood. It's a good starting point I think!

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Wow. After having zoomed on the pic, I'm not sure whether I'm more impressed by the photography, the staging, or the collection.

I'm going to choose all three...

Superb collection by any measure! You've clearly put a great deal of thought into what makes a combo worthy of photographing. It begs the question what those criteria are. Perhaps more in alignment of the spirit of the thread, what "biases" inform your decision? It's hard to believe that you just photograph any old combo given your extraordinary attention to detail!


Thanks, Nick, for sharing those thoughts and good words!
 
Also, on the choices... There are a few things I like but have not chosen so far. One is a shavette, for example - a Feather or a Kai. I really like them, but have never tried one. I can't explain it! I have about 150-200 straights in my collection, so getting one more is not going to make any difference. I love the one SE razor I own (modern), so everything fits - I simply don't feel the urge to buy/try a shavette, yet there are those two that I really like.

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I try as much different stuff as I can and let the products that feel the best (to me) and provide the best results (for me) rise to the top. :)
 
It might be random. This is taken from an article in scitechdaily dot com, an general interest level aggregator of published scientific research.

So did I really make choices, or did my choices make me the shaver I am today?

Choices and biases influence each other. The left hand washes the right hand and the right hand washes the left.

In high school, I used a Schick injector and canned goop. In college, a plentiful supply of Carts moved me in that direction, all the way from Trac II to Fusion. Using an ever increasing number of blades didn't provide better shaves so I standardized in Sensor XL. In my 60s, the Sensor carts became harder to find, and my OL gave me a 23c for a birthday present. That started me on DEs, with Derbys and Dial soap applied by hand. From shave one, it was better than the carts.

The 23c didn't survive a fall to a tile floor, thus opening up a rabbit hole. I bought vintage brass which wouldn't break, tried WMS with a travel AoS badger; the soap was slicker than snail snot, but I got a brushburn from the badger. so for a couple of years, it was boars all the way.

So my experience has been trial and error (heavy on the error). In my case, it seems that my biases have been formed by bad choices, and then my biases have guided my later choices.
 
To "know thyself" is life's greatest challenge and most important assignment.

Why we do things and why we don't do things are among the greater mysteries of life.
 
1. How I came to use DE: I hated shaving. Thus I avoided it as much as possible and when I finally shaved, the whiskers where a bit on the longer side. I begun with DE because I wanted something that does not clog as easily as cartridges. I never liked electric shaving because if you do not take time to shave frequently it will tug terrible.

2. How I ended up finding my RAD-killer: I always had a quite coarse beard but because of my disease I apparently got magnesium deficiency and it resulted in super coarse beard. Before this deficiency got serious I was able to use almost any blade coming from the St Petersburg factory (Astra, Gillette, Polsilver). As the disease progressed no blade from that factory worked anymore and only Feather was able to cut (with plenty of tugging). Thus I begun searching for a razor that gave as little irritation as possible with this coarse beard. About 30 razors later I found that iKon X3 slant works best. It holds the blade in a rigid way, which is important if you have coarse beard. Also because of almost no blade exposure the coarse beard will not force the blade to dig into the skin on the ATG pass. Also it got a huge gap and thus does not clog easily. Now that I am supplementing with magnesium I am able to use other razors and blades again, but iKon X3 remains my favorite. I even own razors I have never tried because I lost interest in trying razors.

3. Currently my favorite brush is Omega Boar 48. It is choice I made highly influenced of the shaving forums. Many gives it a good review and it is very affordable. It is something I bought recently and it was love at first try. My 3 synthetic brushes (Mühle and Yaqi) ended up in the trash.

4. After finding the cause of coarse beard (magnesium deficiency) I again begun experimenting with blades and I fell in love with the smoothness of Sputnik blades.

So when looking at all these choices I think my choices are made both by doing some research and also by trial and error. Many times I had big hopes for some razors and despite that I dumped them if they did not provide a better shave than the current favorite. So for me it did not help to have expectations.
 
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