I used it for a while and liked the entry system but found the statistics it provided to be limited. I now use a google sheets workbook that I set up with pull-down menus to give me the same functionality for shave entry, but I am able to manipulate the data any way I want so that I can track shave ratings by things like the number of shaves on each kind of blade in a given razor. It also tracks my inventory so I have an estimate of the number of shaves I have left on any soap, aftershave, or blade type. I can access it from my phone or any computer.
Shave Buddy
- Thread starter fhalden
- Start date
They have a website for feedback. It doesn't look very active.
Shavingbuddies - Birthplace of the Shaving Buddy App
Shaving Buddy is a mobile application for wetshaving enthusiasts.shavingbuddies.com
The support e-mail never gets any responses. The app is good to document what you used, but that's about it. The statistics feature is a joke!
The upgrade is optional and only a couple dollars. I never had an ad of any kind. The beta cloud setup on it works fine, it keeps my entries updated on any device I’m using.
Yep no ads, but if you want to add more than 5 of any item, you gotta pay for the upgrade. As a minimalist tho, I've never had to pay a dime
- Thread starter
- #25
It's definitely a pretty simple database app. You can certainly outdo it with Google Sheets, you just have to do the work. And know how to do it.
Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
You're correct. I have attached a link to a sample shaving log spreadsheet showing some of the methods I use. It is view only, but if you have a Google account under the file tab you can select Make Copy and it will save a copy into your Google Drive. You can then play with it and see some of the commands I use. Under supplies just type in the blades, razors, brushes, etc that you use and it will populate the pull-down menus on the other sheets. It is set up for 100 of each.
I find that it works great for tracking my collection and my shaving items. I like to post SOTD and this makes it easy to just select the items used and then copy and paste. I occasionally use the shave log to help recall where I am at in a rotation. It is well worth the two bucks to me.
- Thread starter
- #28
This is an example of how I track mine. I do this in Apple Numbers but you can do it in any spreadsheet program, like Google Sheets which is web based. This is a great easy way to objectively pare down and examine a particular piece of gear. I originally perceived GSB's to be too sharp but when I used this sheet to filter that blade, and lather Quality, it was just fine! With personna Blue I found it was not good for me, even when the Quality of my lather was perfect.
I just checked the app store. There is also a similar app called"Shaving Collection" that looks pretty good. Has a higher rating.
I have been using shaving buddy for about a year now, and while it was well worth the $2 or $3 I spent on it.
I do wish that the developer would support it and update it, but they have not responded to any of the suggestions that I have made in regards to the product.
I also started using a google sheet to track and rate everything. I used a template from another member here. It can be found at:
The main thing that I was looking for was the ability to rate or score the different items used in the shave.
In shaving buddy you give a single score for the shave. I don't like this, as one bad item can bring down the score for other items. Say you try a new blade with your favorite setup....and you rate it a 2 out of 5 because the blade was awful. Now your soap, brush, razor, aftershave, pre-shave, etc all have a rating of 2 for this shave.
In the google spreadsheet, you can rate individual items, and you can tweak the formula for your liking. For example: in my calculation, post shave contributes 10%, brush 15%, lather 25%, razor 25%, and blade 25%. I then have a rating of individual items. I then take that rating and average it against the user rating; 1-10 on how I liked the shave. This lets me compare a single item, without other items affecting their rating.
The case could be made that the razor and blade need to be rated as a combo unit, and I can see that. However the spreadsheet was already setup in a particular way, and I didn't want to completely re-invent the wheel.
Another big gap for Shaving Buddy is that it wont do any cost tracking. The google sheet template I used has cost tracking.
I did tweak the formulas for how the costs are accounted for in my version of the spreadsheet. I allocate all the cost for an item on its first use, and as it is used each subsequent time the cost for each use (past and present) is lowered. I figure that the stores don't let me buy items by a single use, so tracking cost with the assumption that something is going to be used a particular number of times doesn't give me an accurate cost. Here is an example: I buy a soap for $15. The first use of that soap in the spreadsheet gets $15 of cost allocated to it. Each additional time I use that soap, the spreadsheet updates the cost of all the uses of that soap. If I use it another 14 times (15 total) the spreadsheet would tell me that it cost me $1 each time I have used that soap. If something happens to the item; I decide I hate the soap, it goes bad, gets thrown out by wife, kids destroy it in the shower, etc....in my mind the accounting is accurate to what I actually paid out of pocket for the number of uses I got. I am not estimating number of uses a product will last, or the lifespan of a razor, brush, etc.
I do wish that the developer would support it and update it, but they have not responded to any of the suggestions that I have made in regards to the product.
I also started using a google sheet to track and rate everything. I used a template from another member here. It can be found at:
Google Sheets: Sign-in
Access Google Sheets with a personal Google account or Google Workspace account (for business use).
docs.google.com
The main thing that I was looking for was the ability to rate or score the different items used in the shave.
In shaving buddy you give a single score for the shave. I don't like this, as one bad item can bring down the score for other items. Say you try a new blade with your favorite setup....and you rate it a 2 out of 5 because the blade was awful. Now your soap, brush, razor, aftershave, pre-shave, etc all have a rating of 2 for this shave.
In the google spreadsheet, you can rate individual items, and you can tweak the formula for your liking. For example: in my calculation, post shave contributes 10%, brush 15%, lather 25%, razor 25%, and blade 25%. I then have a rating of individual items. I then take that rating and average it against the user rating; 1-10 on how I liked the shave. This lets me compare a single item, without other items affecting their rating.
The case could be made that the razor and blade need to be rated as a combo unit, and I can see that. However the spreadsheet was already setup in a particular way, and I didn't want to completely re-invent the wheel.
Another big gap for Shaving Buddy is that it wont do any cost tracking. The google sheet template I used has cost tracking.
I did tweak the formulas for how the costs are accounted for in my version of the spreadsheet. I allocate all the cost for an item on its first use, and as it is used each subsequent time the cost for each use (past and present) is lowered. I figure that the stores don't let me buy items by a single use, so tracking cost with the assumption that something is going to be used a particular number of times doesn't give me an accurate cost. Here is an example: I buy a soap for $15. The first use of that soap in the spreadsheet gets $15 of cost allocated to it. Each additional time I use that soap, the spreadsheet updates the cost of all the uses of that soap. If I use it another 14 times (15 total) the spreadsheet would tell me that it cost me $1 each time I have used that soap. If something happens to the item; I decide I hate the soap, it goes bad, gets thrown out by wife, kids destroy it in the shower, etc....in my mind the accounting is accurate to what I actually paid out of pocket for the number of uses I got. I am not estimating number of uses a product will last, or the lifespan of a razor, brush, etc.
I just got the app. This looks like it will be a lot of fun. I am an IT guy so this is right up my alley. Thanks!!!
I've been using the Shaving Buddy app on my Samsung phone for a few years now and really like it. It makes it easy for me to juggle the two razors, two blade types, nine lathers, seven aftershaves, and 19 brushes I keep in rotation. If I forget where I'm at, I check the shave list for what I've done over the last couple of weeks.
Obsessive?? Absolutely! But it's part of the fun of the hobby.
Obsessive?? Absolutely! But it's part of the fun of the hobby.
I just figured out that if you go back to your shave, hold that share down you can EDIT the shave and add comments to it. Love this option so that I can better understand what went good and what needed more work on.
I almost exclusively use my phone for everything and built a spreadsheet with lookups etc.. In Google Docs but shaving buddy just works. I copy and paste to the sites I post my SOTN to.
As soon as try that soap implements hardware collection like they have for software, it will most likely take over. Especially if they add blade uses tracking otherwise will still use shaving buddy for that or grab some dice
As soon as try that soap implements hardware collection like they have for software, it will most likely take over. Especially if they add blade uses tracking otherwise will still use shaving buddy for that or grab some dice
