Quest for less technology

[Eric_75]

A bit razor sensitive I find them.

I would agree with that from my own experience, my friend.

 

[WhiskerLess]

Looks like Rapira Platinum Lux did not perform well. And its not a cheap blade compared to others on the list.

 

[Eric_75]

Looks like Rapira Platinum Lux did not perform well. And its not a cheap blade compared to others on the list.

I get along with that one very well. Ah, the mystery of blades.

 

[Jay21]

Looks like Rapira Platinum Lux did not perform well. And its not a cheap blade compared to others on the list.

This one is surprisingly rough on me as well. The Swedish Supersteel worked great so I bought 200 Platinux Lux before they became impossible to find. Now I'm stuck with about 195 of them until I can figure out how to use them better.

 

[blethenstrom]

Looks like Rapira Platinum Lux did not perform well. And its not a cheap blade compared to others on the list.

It would appear so. I find it inconsistent and razor sensitive. In the "right" razor it works just fine. Like I mentioned though is that I have another tuck of it and we will see if my opinion of it will change. I will also say something that might be a bit controversial. Cost of blades does not necessarily correlate with how well you like the blade. This also applies to other things as well like razors, shaving soap.....

 

[blethenstrom]

Looks like Rapira Platinum Lux did not perform well. And its not a cheap blade compared to others on the list.

I just went back and looked at my shave log for the Rapira Platinum Lux and it looks like the later blades in the tuck have better shave ratings. It was also about 8 month or so ago and I have made great strides in skill level since then. At least I want to think that. I think the next tuck of Rapira Platinum Lux will most likely be better.

 

[RvL]

Well another month is coming to an end and June is here tomorrow. That means one thing and that is a statistical update.

From a usage standpoint I finished up the Derby Premium blade tuck and it was a very nice solid and consistent blade that provided me with many top notch shaves. As we will see below it also propelled the blade into the 2nd position of the blades. the second blade used this past month is the Ladas Super Stainless and it also has provided nice pleasant shaves. However, it has also been more inconsistent and I have had some irritated shaves with it. It is a sharper blade than the Derby, but as we all know sharpness is not the whole story. The Ladas does not have any issues though of lasting through an entire week of shaves for me. We will see what this blade holds in the shaves and blades that is left in the tuck.

During May I have been using a variety of razors. I started with the RR Mentor which does have some alignment issues, but gives me very nice shaves. @Darth Scandalous was so kind to send me a new RR Mentor head that he did not use and that head is much more solid in the alignment area. I have not tried it yet, but it will get much use.

The trusty Matador de Luxe got a few shaves and it is one of my top rated razors. An up and coming razor star is the Swing SB and this one is a slight bit more efficient than the Matador, but it is oh so comfortable. One of my more troubling razors also had some shaves and that is the Merkur 41C. This one seems to have a bit of alignment issue, but the puzzling thing about it is that while it seems very mild it also have a tendency to generate irritation. We will see if I can tame this razor in the future when I bring it out again.

Lastly the RR Quick-Change TTO is a razor that I had written off, but I decided to bring it out of hibernation. It has been a great surprise for me how well this one works. IB lists this razor as a mild one, but I would place it solidly in the medium to upper-medium aggression range. This means that you have to be on your game using it. It can bite and cause irritation as I have experienced in the past with it. However, once you realize this and treat it accordingly it is a great shaver. I will continue to use this razor this week and it will make appearances with other blades. It is also rising in the razor rankings.

Here is the blade statistics as it stands today. I have update quite a bit the ways I calculate this. I now use a transformation to make the data more normal distributed and then I take the z-score of the transformed data to normalize it. Some movements happened because of this, but the same blades are heading up the pack. It did bring the BIC CP up quite a bit and I am not sure why. We will see more of the BIC CP in the future since I have a full tuck to run through. Maybe that will give us a fuller picture since I only have 2 blades worth of shaves on it. I would take the Dorco Titan with a bit of a grain of salt since it only have 6 shaves on it. I should probably put in a filter and one show those blades that have maybe more than 10 shaves on them.
View attachment 1854924

Razor statistics. Also here I introduced the new calculations and there was a couple of small changes as well. The top three razors kind of traded places. We will see once I have a few months with of reports with this new scheme and the changes that it made. The RR Quick-Change TTO is slowly rising a bit from being one of the lowest ranked razors. It traded place with the Merkur 41C, which makes sense to me based on my thinking as well.
View attachment 1854926

Shave # on a blade has no real new information, but I am thinking of limiting the table to 6 shaves since that is what I normally use the blades for. This is a critical range. The interesting thing with the Ladas is that it seems to indicate that the shaves gets worse during the week. I do have an outlier for the 7th shave, but that is just one single shave so I would ignore that. It is interesting to see the Ladas down so low on the list close by it's brother the Rapira. They are made in the same factory and it will be interesting to see once I try Rapira again if it lands in the same area. I think I have both the Rapira Platinum Lux and Rapira Swedish Supersteel blade tucks coming up.
View attachment 1854927

Well that is all she wrote folks for this month. Comments and suggestions are always welcome and if you would like me to pull some other data out please let me know. Good riddance!

This is some nice data! As a software tester, I love measurable results!

Perhaps it is common knowledge amongst the more experienced DE shaver (or maybe it's even explained in your journal somewhere), but how do you define the quality and comfort of a shave? As a newcomer to DE shaving I can feel if a shave is comfortable or not, but quantifying it is another thing.

 

[blethenstrom]

This is some nice data! As a software tester, I love measurable results!

Perhaps it is common knowledge amongst the more experienced DE shaver (or maybe it's even explained in your journal somewhere), but how do you define the quality and comfort of a shave? As a newcomer to DE shaving I can feel if a shave is comfortable or not, but quantifying it is another thing.

Yes I have my definition of my ratings back buried in my journal. Actually defining the ratings is very subjective and difficult so we have to be a bit careful that we do not read into the data things that are not there. Also it makes it very difficult to compare data between people. The best I can hope for is that I am consistent with MYSELF in my ratings and even that is more difficult than you think. As far as ratings go, here are mine. Coming up with your own ratings is the first step in trying to record it.

 

[Balin]

Morning Shave - 05/31/24
Razor: RazoRock Quick-Change TTO
Blade: Ladas Super Stainless (5)
Soap: BSS #1
Brush: RazoRock Hive 24
Aftershave: Clubman VIBR
Rating: 8.5/10
A slightly more challenging shave this moring. It felt slightly rough and maybe I am accumulating some irritation, but we will see. Just a little bit skin sensitivity post shave. Missed a few more stubble areas than yesterday, but still a very presentable and good shave. DFS

First time trying out my auto-generated SOTD, for real, and it seems like it worked just fine. Also by incorporating some BB code you can tailor the formatting as well. I added some bold field headers, nothing real fancy.

I have some work to do on my shave pass reduction project. This mornings shave was a bit rougher and I do not think it was due to the blade nor razor. The blades have proven themselves for a couple of weeks now and do not seem to have an issue going for a full week and the razor is growing on me and giving me great shaves. I think it is my skin not being used to this new routine of just a WTG and then an ATG. It leaves a lot more stubble for the ATG pass which might be the issue. I need to see if I can start off with an XTG pass instead first. Since I only normally have 24 hours worth of growth I think it will be just fine.

May the shave be with you.....always

It took me a while to figure out how to get a similar shave in 2 passes that I had been getting in 3. I sport a goatee about 50 weeks out of the year, meaning I shave it off once a year and then let it grow back . I am not much help with 2 passes for the moustache and chin areas. For my cheeks I do a N-S WTG for 1st pass and Ear to Nose XTG for the second pass. I bull frog along the jawline for this pass too as its more ATG along the jawline. My neck/throat area is harder to explain so I will attach a few diagrams.

1st Pass

2nd Pass

It ends up being 2 ATGish passes for my neck/throat area but I find it really effective and it keeps irritation down.

 

[WhiskerLess]

Yes I have my definition of my ratings back buried in my journal. Actually defining the ratings is very subjective and difficult so we have to be a bit careful that we do not read into the data things that are not there. Also it makes it very difficult to compare data between people. The best I can hope for is that I am consistent with MYSELF in my ratings and even that is more difficult than you think. As far as ratings go, here are mine. Coming up with your own ratings is the first step in trying to record it.

I suppose this is your rating definition for razor statistics? It can be defined by the result and how you feel after the shave.

I wonder how do you rate blade statistics. There are many variables. Poor lather, weepers, cuts etc can be driver error or razor vs blade combo.

I’m confuse and inexperience but I try to keep mine in 4 category.

Sharp and smooth
Sharp but harsh
Dull but smooth
Dull and harsh.

 

[blethenstrom]

It took me a while to figure out how to get a similar shave in 2 passes that I had been getting in 3. I sport a goatee about 50 weeks out of the year, meaning I shave it off once a year and then let it grow back . I am not much help with 2 passes for the moustache and chin areas. For my cheeks I do a N-S WTG for 1st pass and Ear to Nose XTG for the second pass. I bull frog along the jawline for this pass too as its more ATG along the jawline. My neck/throat area is harder to explain so I will attach a few diagrams.

1st Pass
View attachment 1854993

2nd Pass
View attachment 1854998

It ends up being 2 ATGish passes for my neck/throat area but I find it really effective and it keeps irritation down.

Sounds very similar to my 2.5 pass shave. My 0.5 pass is my second ATG pass on my neck. It works well. What I am trying to work out is if I can go down to a true 2-pass shave if I make some modifications to my shave patterns. Maybe I can do more of a XTG on my first pass. I do not know yet. I will keep on experimenting and see what I can get by with.

 

[Balin]

Sounds very similar to my 2.5 pass shave. My 0.5 pass is my second ATG pass on my neck. It works well. What I am trying to work out is if I can go down to a true 2-pass shave if I make some modifications to my shave patterns. Maybe I can do more of a XTG on my first pass. I do not know yet. I will keep on experimenting and see what I can get by with.

If it is any consolation, I have been doing 2 passes for almost 2 years now and I still find minor tweaks to incorporate into my routine .

 

[blethenstrom]

I suppose this is your rating definition for razor statistics? It can be defined by the result and how you feel after the shave.

I wonder how do you rate blade statistics. There are many variables. Poor lather, weepers, cuts etc can be driver error or razor vs blade combo.

I’m confuse and inexperience but I try to keep mine in 4 category.

Sharp and smooth
Sharp but harsh
Dull but smooth
Dull and harsh.

I see your point here. Here is how I look at it. I look at it more from a wholistic point of view. My ratings are the combination of blade, razor, lather quality etc. It is very difficult, at least for me, to separate them. They are a package deal. I do make an assumption here though and that is that as my skill level gets better. My technique using the razor and my skill of making good lather should get better and better and become a non issue. Of course you might have a bad lather day, but they should become the exception and not the rule and therefore disappear in the averages.

Yes one blade may be not as sharp as the other blade, but if I get great comfortable shaves from it for a week, should it degrade the blade rating? Personally I do not. I also do not necessarily think that having many categories for our shave records are better. We are dealing with highly subjective ratings here. I opted for fewer rating based on the entire shave experience. By using my blades in various razors etc things will average out and I still will be able to make determinations regarding if a specific blade is good or bad for me.

Come up with a rating system that works for you. Just make it easy to do to remove as much ambiguity as you can. Define the ratings as well as you can to make is less subjective, if that is possible. Measurable things is best, but many times impossible. Furthermore, if you have a lot of different ratings it becomes challenging to join them together for an overall shave rating. You might want to put more weight on this parameter or this one etc and it adds another level of subjectivity. Also, a simpler rating system you are more likely to stick with longer term. Just make sure to assign numerical values to your ratings so that you can do statistical analysis later.

 

[blethenstrom]

If it is any consolation, I have been doing 2 passes for almost 2 years now and I still find minor tweaks to incorporate into my routine .

Yeah I am sure I will be tweaking things for a long time. I do think however, I will stick with my 3-pass shaves for my evening shaves since I need the closest shave I can get to hold me through the following day. For morning shaves I can do a bit less and be perfectly fine.

 

[blethenstrom]

Morning Shave - 06/01/24
Razor: RazoRock Quick-Change TTO
Blade: Ladas Super Stainless (6)
Soap: BSS #1
Brush: RazoRock Hive 24
Aftershave: AV Classic
Shave Comfort: 10/10 (Smooth)
Shave Quality: 5/10 (SAS+)
Shave Rating: 7.5/10
A quick one pass shave to look presentable through the day. I normally wait until Saturday evenings for my shave, but I needed to go somewhere so I wanted to look decent. Single pass shaves are usually not my cup of tea and yeah it shortens whiskers, but it is not satisfying. Anyways, it was an easy shave and it served it's purpose. SAS+

Evening Shave - 06/01/24
Razor: RazoRock Quick-Change TTO
Blade: Ladas Super Stainless (7)
Soap: BSS #1
Brush: RazoRock Hive 24
Aftershave: AV Classic
Shave Comfort: 10/10 (Smooth)
Shave Quality: 9.5/10 (DFS++)
Shave Rating: 9.75/10
Daily Double! I had a very nice shave this evening after a day on the road. Another great end to a great shave week with a great blade. The Ladas has been quite the consistent performer with sharp enough and comfortable shaves. Still have a couple of blades in my tuck to enjoy. Solid smooth and plenty close shave. No complaints. DFS++

Evening Shave - 06/02/24
Razor: Assured For Men 3-piece
Blade: Assured For Men Blade (1)
Soap: BSS #1
Brush: RazoRock Hive 24
Aftershave: AV Musk
Shave Comfort: 10/10 (Smooth)
Shave Quality: 9/10 (DFS+)
Shave Rating: 9.5/10
I cannot lie and say that I was not a bit intimidated and fearful of this razor and blade, but you know it goes to show that we can overcome a lot of different situations. We just have to take it slow and easy and it will be fine. Slow and steady did it and I escaped without weepers and no irritation. Actually quite a nice shave. DFS+

Lots of things going on this weekend. I had my granddaughter's dance recital on Saturday so that ended up a full day trip, but it was well worth it. We had lunch with my granddaughter and son-in-law afterwards and it was a very nice time. We live about 2 hours from them and we just made a day trip out of it.

However, that meant that my Saturday was a DAILY DOUBLE! I did a quick single pass morning shave before we left which is not very exciting. You just get off enough to be presentable. Isn't it funny how your expectations has changed once you started wet shaving? This would have been a fully acceptable daily shave in my past, but not now. For me a single pass WTG pass is not enough to satisfy me.

This meant that when we returned home from the dance recital that evening it was time for a "proper" shave. This was going to be the last for this blade before binning it and it did not disappoint. It was a very smooth ride and a result that was very comfortable. It has been a great week for the 3rd of the Ladas Super Stainless blades and I am looking forward to the next one. I need to pull out some other razors for that. I will probably do a week+ with the Parker SoloEdge on it and then we will see of the last blade.

Attention! Attention! We interrupt the program for an important announcement! Mr. @blethenstrom has supposedly signed up for the very difficult and exceedingly dangerous mission of using the infamous "Assured For Men" 3-piece razor and the supplied blades for a weeks worth of use. Yes I will take a break from the Ladas tuck for a little bit while I complete this task.

I cracked open the razor on Sunday evening and while the razor is light and kind of on the flimsy side it looks like it has very solid blade alignment. Indeed the blade exposure is a bit intimidating, but this is what I signed up for. The blades was double wrapped and they had no markings on them whatsoever. We will see how this goes this week. Looking at this it is certainly not a newbie razor. Even though I have been at this 1.5 year by now I had some reservations.

Oh yes there is the blade on my skin was my first thought and I played a bit with the angles and found something that would work. I went for it. Due to it's lightness it felt like it was bouncing a bit going WTG, but it certainly mowed down my whiskers. I decided to go for my normal 3-pass shave after the first pass since it went over all well. It was going easier now XTG and then ATG. I think once most of the whiskers were mowed down it did not feel so bouncy. Also I think I found a good angle. I did ride the cap on the ATG pass and it was not half bad. Now the upper lip with it's super tough whiskers was a bit challenging. the razor wanted to bounce like crazy and it is not the sharpest tool in the box, but I trucked on and I actually ended up with a very nice irritation free shave. I was very impressed. Not even a weeper. A nice solid DFS+ bordering on DFS++.

We will see how this razor performs for the rest of the week and if the blade will keep up. Anyways it was a pleasant start to this challenge.

May the shaves be with you.....always

 

[blethenstrom]

Was just looking around on YT for my favorite nyckelharpa player and I found that he had released a new video. It is fantastic. Check it out!

 

[blethenstrom]

Now why did I go and watch all of that. Now I made myself homesick! Been a long time I lived in Sweden, but from time to time it happens.

 

[Jay21]

Here’s a fun rabbit hole to go down. She’s very talented and has many great videos.

 

[blethenstrom]

Morning Shave - 06/04/24
Razor: Assured For Men 3-piece
Blade: Assured For Men Blade (2)
Soap: BSS #1
Brush: RazoRock Hive 24
Aftershave: Skin Bracer
Shave Comfort: 8/10 (Weeper)
Shave Quality: 9/10 (DFS+)
Shave Rating: 8.5/10
Well that was a very quick lived blade! Super tuggy, but I managed to still get a very respectable shave from it. I really do not have any irritation, but the shave was so rough that I downgraded the shave comfort. Razor is bouncing all over the place while shaving. I think it calls for a new blade next shave. DFS+

Well the blade that comes with the Assured For Men razor is no super star. It would certainly not even make it in my normal rotation, if I now had a rotation. It is by far the worst blade I have used. I can do one shave with it, but the second one is really challenging. Now I was able to get a decent result somehow, but it was not pleasant. I did get two small weepers, but by some miracle I have no irritation to talk about and I am pretty smooth so from that standpoint I guess it did what it was supposed to do. I will definitely switch blade for the next shave. The shave was like one of those dirt compactors that vibrates to settle the ground. That is how it was while shaving. Only when I reached the ATG pass did it calm down. It hopped and skipped on my stubble until then.

On a different front I have now developed the "circle of despair" in my first tub of BSS #1. We will see how many shave it will be before it is fully used up. I am at 178 recorded shaves on it so far and about 40 or so before I started recoding. Looks like I will land maybe in the 250 shave range on it. I think I will 3017 my Palmolive Sensitive Shave Cream after that. That should not take too long.

May the shaves be with you.....always!

 

[lasta]

Morning Shave - 06/04/24
Razor: Assured For Men 3-piece
Blade: Assured For Men Blade (2)
Soap: BSS #1
Brush: RazoRock Hive 24
Aftershave: Skin Bracer
Shave Comfort: 8/10 (Weeper)
Shave Quality: 9/10 (DFS+)
Shave Rating: 8.5/10
Well that was a very quick lived blade! Super tuggy, but I managed to still get a very respectable shave from it. I really do not have any irritation, but the shave was so rough that I downgraded the shave comfort. Razor is bouncing all over the place while shaving. I think it calls for a new blade next shave. DFS+

Well the blade that comes with the Assured For Men razor is no super star. It would certainly not even make it in my normal rotation, if I now had a rotation. It is by far the worst blade I have used. I can do one shave with it, but the second one is really challenging. Now I was able to get a decent result somehow, but it was not pleasant. I did get two small weepers, but by some miracle I have no irritation to talk about and I am pretty smooth so from that standpoint I guess it did what it was supposed to do. I will definitely switch blade for the next shave. The shave was like one of those dirt compactors that vibrates to settle the ground. That is how it was while shaving. Only when I reached the ATG pass did it calm down. It hopped and skipped on my stubble until then.

On a different front I have now developed the "circle of despair" in my first tub of BSS #1. We will see how many shave it will be before it is fully used up. I am at 178 recorded shaves on it so far and about 40 or so before I started recoding. Looks like I will land maybe in the 250 shave range on it. I think I will 3017 my Palmolive Sensitive Shave Cream after that. That should not take too long.

May the shaves be with you.....always!

Are you still pledging blade agnosticism?