I currently work as an Environment/Hazardous Materials Engineer. I inspect properties and test for contamination, design remediation systems, supervise the installation, monitor, etc.
I have been doing this for over 25 years. Previously, I was an Archeologist, but that did not
pay the bills very well.
Why the intro? Well, it's to show I like stats and playing with data to squeeze out the hidden patterns. There is always a pattern, always. We may not know what they mean or even notice the patterns, but they are there.
What about Chaos? No Pattern there! (some may say). But yes, a total lack of a pattern is in itself, a pattern. While you think about this, my cat will sit in judgement.
Now my shaving history, don't worry, the graphs and logs will be following.
I started shaving in 1978 with a Gillette Trac II, used for a week (snagged my Dads blades), I got plenty of irritation, bumps and weepers. I then tried the Atra, (new and shinny but had to talk my Mom into getting me the "special" blades). I used it for a couple weeks, decided shaving was not for me and started to grow a beard. I had a full beard by early 1980.
I kept the beard edges clean with an Atra then a sensor until 1991, then I had to loose the beard for my work. As a Hazardous Materials person, I had to be clean shaven so that I could, if in an emergency, wear face respirators. This meant a DFS minimum whenever I was working.
Oh, the pain, irritation, bumps and bloody mess. My face did not like shaving. I didn't shave on weekends to save my face and let it heal.
After putting up with this for about 4 years I decided to start searching the Web for some advice. None of my family or friends (or their families) were very good at shaving, their advice was shaving was bad for everyone, so learn to live with it (I cleaned up the language they used
).
I found advice on Traditional Wet Shaving methods (prep, lather, post shave, etc.) and decided to give that a shot. Using a non-cart razor was out of the question for me, I mean, if a cart was that hard on my face, a safety razor had to be sooo much worse (or so I thought at the time).
I got a dime store Old Spice shaving kit (long since gone) and started practicing Traditional Shaving with a Sensor cart. I made progress, things got alot better. I tweeked and practiced until shaving wasn't horrible, not good, just not horrible. The Mach 3 came and went, that razor just does not like me (even to this day), the Sensor was better. Then came the Fusion!
My first Fusion shave was great, a gift from the heavens! I then upgraded my brush to a badger brush (Tweezerman, gave me over 8 years of great usage. I still have it), upgraded to quality glycerin soap, and was a happy camper. I easily got DFS shaves with a BBS couple times a week. I had some slight irritation by Friday, but not shaving weekends fixed up my face by Monday.
I worked on my technique, procedures, etc. until I could get 10 DFS or better shaves per Fusion Cart (2 weeks). But buying blades, that was irritating. Locked displays, pain in the rear getting help, I dreaded buying new blades. Online? ya, I tried that. Most Fusion blades online are counterfeits and horrible to shave with. But I trudged on. Until....
March of 2017, I decided I have been a relatively good boy, and I was going to splurge on a new brush and some fancy soap. I went to a shaving shop, and browsed the soaps based on fragrance and feel. I picked Martin de Candre original scent. Then saw the price but already liked it, had the cash on hand, and bought it. I then wanted a nice brush, so I came to this forum (been lurking about for years) and based on what I read, got a Simpson Colonel in best badger. But as I read the posts on this forum, the thought crept in, should I try DE shaving??
After weeks of research, I decided to take the plunge, I ordered a EJ89. When I told my family about going into DE shaving, my Mom went searching and found her old Gillette Super Speed Flare Tip from 1957 and gave it to me. I now had not 1 but 2 razors!!
Well, I officially started shaving with a Safety Razor on June 3, 2017. I was a little over enthusiastic (kept re-lathering and making passes) until I had over a dozen weepers and a couple of nicks. Funny thing, not my worse shaving experience! So I gave myself rules to follow. I let my face heal a day, used a Fusion the next few days, then restarted using a Safety Razor on June 8 and have not used a cart or missed a shave day since! (I still skip weekends, its my way of sticking to the man, be a scruffy rogue..... but now I kinda am the Man so I maybe sticking to myself....
).
Since the beginning of June, I have added a 46/49 Ball Handle Gillette Tech and a RR Mission Razor. Unfortunately, the RR Mission and SS-Flare Tip are too aggressive for me. Ya, I have a baby face. But the EJ89 is perfect as well as the Tech, so I do have options.
(editor's note, I have recently purchased off the net a Schick Injector, Model G4 "66" and an open comb new style Gillette (not sure if short or long, the angle of the photos seem to indicate a long comb, but they were a bad angle so I will know for sure when I get it).
So now the charts!!!! (hey, if my monologue didn't suck, it wouldn't be a SucKO story).
The following is my shaving diary showing the razor used, blade, soap and after shaves. A new blade is designated by left had justification, subsequent shaves are justified to the right. Colors are: Green is Great or Very Good, Blue is Good, Orange is Poor, and Red is Bad/Ugly/Sad Memories. The June and July charts:
and July
Now that is alot of raw data, nice to look at, but are there any patterns? preferences? Can we find Hoffa's location??? Well, here is a basic breakdown of how often I used certain items and the quality of the shaves (combined stats for June and July)
Well, there we are. I had good, successful shaves 78% of the time. I really like GSB blades, and the RR Mission and Gillette SS-Flare Tip were not nice to me. I am getting around 3.5 shaves per blade, that is mostly due to me chucking blades that did perform for me.
DE shaving has been very good so far, I am surprised at how well things have gone.
BUT, I am in no way really competent enough at this point to say a blade or razor will never work for me, all these impressions are to me right at this moment, based on my technical skill level (not very high).
Back next month with more cat pics and how the Schick Injector G4 "66" works out.
Also, going to use a GSB and a 7-O'Clock Yellow in my Tech.
Have a Great One Everyone, and kinda surprised you made it this far.
I have been doing this for over 25 years. Previously, I was an Archeologist, but that did not
pay the bills very well.
Why the intro? Well, it's to show I like stats and playing with data to squeeze out the hidden patterns. There is always a pattern, always. We may not know what they mean or even notice the patterns, but they are there.
What about Chaos? No Pattern there! (some may say). But yes, a total lack of a pattern is in itself, a pattern. While you think about this, my cat will sit in judgement.
Now my shaving history, don't worry, the graphs and logs will be following.
I started shaving in 1978 with a Gillette Trac II, used for a week (snagged my Dads blades), I got plenty of irritation, bumps and weepers. I then tried the Atra, (new and shinny but had to talk my Mom into getting me the "special" blades). I used it for a couple weeks, decided shaving was not for me and started to grow a beard. I had a full beard by early 1980.
I kept the beard edges clean with an Atra then a sensor until 1991, then I had to loose the beard for my work. As a Hazardous Materials person, I had to be clean shaven so that I could, if in an emergency, wear face respirators. This meant a DFS minimum whenever I was working.
Oh, the pain, irritation, bumps and bloody mess. My face did not like shaving. I didn't shave on weekends to save my face and let it heal.
After putting up with this for about 4 years I decided to start searching the Web for some advice. None of my family or friends (or their families) were very good at shaving, their advice was shaving was bad for everyone, so learn to live with it (I cleaned up the language they used
).I found advice on Traditional Wet Shaving methods (prep, lather, post shave, etc.) and decided to give that a shot. Using a non-cart razor was out of the question for me, I mean, if a cart was that hard on my face, a safety razor had to be sooo much worse (or so I thought at the time).
I got a dime store Old Spice shaving kit (long since gone) and started practicing Traditional Shaving with a Sensor cart. I made progress, things got alot better. I tweeked and practiced until shaving wasn't horrible, not good, just not horrible. The Mach 3 came and went, that razor just does not like me (even to this day), the Sensor was better. Then came the Fusion!
My first Fusion shave was great, a gift from the heavens! I then upgraded my brush to a badger brush (Tweezerman, gave me over 8 years of great usage. I still have it), upgraded to quality glycerin soap, and was a happy camper. I easily got DFS shaves with a BBS couple times a week. I had some slight irritation by Friday, but not shaving weekends fixed up my face by Monday.
I worked on my technique, procedures, etc. until I could get 10 DFS or better shaves per Fusion Cart (2 weeks). But buying blades, that was irritating. Locked displays, pain in the rear getting help, I dreaded buying new blades. Online? ya, I tried that. Most Fusion blades online are counterfeits and horrible to shave with. But I trudged on. Until....
March of 2017, I decided I have been a relatively good boy, and I was going to splurge on a new brush and some fancy soap. I went to a shaving shop, and browsed the soaps based on fragrance and feel. I picked Martin de Candre original scent. Then saw the price but already liked it, had the cash on hand, and bought it. I then wanted a nice brush, so I came to this forum (been lurking about for years) and based on what I read, got a Simpson Colonel in best badger. But as I read the posts on this forum, the thought crept in, should I try DE shaving??
After weeks of research, I decided to take the plunge, I ordered a EJ89. When I told my family about going into DE shaving, my Mom went searching and found her old Gillette Super Speed Flare Tip from 1957 and gave it to me. I now had not 1 but 2 razors!!
Well, I officially started shaving with a Safety Razor on June 3, 2017. I was a little over enthusiastic (kept re-lathering and making passes) until I had over a dozen weepers and a couple of nicks. Funny thing, not my worse shaving experience! So I gave myself rules to follow. I let my face heal a day, used a Fusion the next few days, then restarted using a Safety Razor on June 8 and have not used a cart or missed a shave day since! (I still skip weekends, its my way of sticking to the man, be a scruffy rogue..... but now I kinda am the Man so I maybe sticking to myself....
).Since the beginning of June, I have added a 46/49 Ball Handle Gillette Tech and a RR Mission Razor. Unfortunately, the RR Mission and SS-Flare Tip are too aggressive for me. Ya, I have a baby face. But the EJ89 is perfect as well as the Tech, so I do have options.
(editor's note, I have recently purchased off the net a Schick Injector, Model G4 "66" and an open comb new style Gillette (not sure if short or long, the angle of the photos seem to indicate a long comb, but they were a bad angle so I will know for sure when I get it).
So now the charts!!!! (hey, if my monologue didn't suck, it wouldn't be a SucKO story).
The following is my shaving diary showing the razor used, blade, soap and after shaves. A new blade is designated by left had justification, subsequent shaves are justified to the right. Colors are: Green is Great or Very Good, Blue is Good, Orange is Poor, and Red is Bad/Ugly/Sad Memories. The June and July charts:
and July
Now that is alot of raw data, nice to look at, but are there any patterns? preferences? Can we find Hoffa's location??? Well, here is a basic breakdown of how often I used certain items and the quality of the shaves (combined stats for June and July)
Well, there we are. I had good, successful shaves 78% of the time. I really like GSB blades, and the RR Mission and Gillette SS-Flare Tip were not nice to me. I am getting around 3.5 shaves per blade, that is mostly due to me chucking blades that did perform for me.
DE shaving has been very good so far, I am surprised at how well things have gone.
BUT, I am in no way really competent enough at this point to say a blade or razor will never work for me, all these impressions are to me right at this moment, based on my technical skill level (not very high).
Back next month with more cat pics and how the Schick Injector G4 "66" works out.
Also, going to use a GSB and a 7-O'Clock Yellow in my Tech.
Have a Great One Everyone, and kinda surprised you made it this far.
.
